29 November 2006

Linux about to leap forward

I have not used Linux on a regular basis for about 6 years now. I know there must have been many leaps and bounds between what I used in high school and freshman year. It is no longer a operating system that is only used for programmers and checking code. I recently have been liking more and more OS X architecture and design. It has gotten me anxious to explore other operating system options. So I figured it was time to do some research. I found this blog post at Linuxbloggers.com. I think I might test out a few of the more "windows like" Linux distributions at the office.

But I wanted to tell you about Xandros and SLED, because I think these two distributions are the closest anyone has ever come in the Linux camp to providing a plug it in and go system that office workers in the enterprise could actually use. For SLED especially, it even looks somewhat like Windows. Linux purists hate it when a Linux distro looks like Windows, but frankly, it is bridge products like these two that help fuel the migration from one system to another.

I am beginning to wonder if Linux will ever take a dominant place in desktop computing. If desktops do move from 32 bit to 64 bit environments, that might be one opportunity for Linux to attack the status quo. When people are replacing massive numbers of systems, that is the best time to look at alternatives. If Linux hs a great 64 bit solution, provides a really easy migration path with many programs that look and feel similar to Windows, yet also starts to offer other compelling alternatives and new solutions, it could happen. In order for such a thing to happen, Linux would have to run great on 64 bit systems, the hardware vendors would have to cooperate, and Linux would have to have a very good multimedia and gaming answer - and communicate effortlessly with iPod systems and other MP3 players, or it just won't happen, period.


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