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Are You Replacing Windows with GNU/Linux?
Have you replaced Windows with GNU/Linux on your computer(s)? That was the simple question I raised on a couple of listservs recently. Granted, it was a straw poll - by definition not the most scientific polling method available. I could have asked more questions, included restraints, etc. to create a scientific poll. Still, my question brought some very interesting, though not always surprising, results. I recently suggested that Windows is currently facing obsolescence in a free-market economy. This straw poll demonstrates why, anecdotally speaking. First, let's get the scientific pollster hoopla out of the way. I did not seek to create a scientific poll. Either they had replaced Windows on one or more boxes or they hadn't. While I initially requested the dual-booting folks to abstain, they ignored me, offering their invaluable insights anyway. That's the danger of a straw poll on a listserv. It also proved to be a good thing, at least from my perspective. So you have been fairly warned to take what I say here with a grain of salt. I received a stern warning from one listserv member that responses would be very biased, presumably due to the fact that I asked in a "pro-Linux" environment. Well it turns out that only some of them may have been biased. If I had asked the same question in a Windows-oriented listserv, half the people would have had to ask what GNU/Linux is. Frankly, many were brutally honest about why they keep Windows around. So, for all the potential bias, there were some offsetting, unbiased responses. I received a total of 72 responses from users on two listservs. I counted the number of machines each user reported as running GNU/Linux in a single-OS configuration. With two exceptions, I counted any dual-boot machines in the "no" column, as the two OSes co-exist. In the two exceptions, the users indicated he had not booted Windows in over a year. In my view, they may as well wipe it from the hard drive. I did get some direct "no" responses, along with reasons why not. I also got some "not yet" responses, which could indicate that some have a goal to do so. There was also the question of work vs. home use. A fair number of responses came from users who use GNU/Linux at work, as well as at home. Other respondents indicated they were using GNU/Linux at home, but Windows at work. I have kept notes of those cases, and did not count work computers where there was no option to use GNU/Linux. I included the systems of people who have the option to use GNU/Linux on their work laptops or desktops. It is safe to say that a fair number of these people run Windows on a separate system to maintain compatibility with proprietary applications or services. The total number of responses doesn't tell us much. We know absolutely nothing about the people who did not respond. However, 55 of the 72 have replaced Windows with GNU/Linux on at least 134 machines. Some indicated that they are also helping family and friends to migrate, although most of these still dual-boot. At least 9 of these replaced Windows over one year ago. Four indicated that they had not replaced Windows, because they migrated from OS/2, or used GNU/Linux all along. Only a few were actually 100% Windows-free. Several reported having one or more machines at home that still either run Windows in a single or dual-boot configuration for specific purposes. Remember that questionable Gartner study that suggested Asians were buying GNU/Linux PCs only to turn around and install pirated copies of Windows? Well, at least a couple of our respondents indicated that they bought Windows PCs, only to turn around and install GNU/Linux. This is not a matter of purchasing a Windows PC, and later discovering GNU/Linux. We're talking about people willing to get a PC with Windows because it's cheaper than one without, and then wipe the hard drive to install GNU/Linux right away. So Microsoft gets the credit in their financial statements, but GNU/Linux walks away with the hardware. The "no" and "not yet" responses shed some light on the reasons why people are not replacing Windows with GNU/Linux. The #1 reason people keep Windows around is for games. The #2 reason given for keeping Windows around was legacy, proprietary applications that as yet have no equivalents that users feel comfortable using on the GNU/Linux platform. The main applications were accounting and video editing. The other big reason for holding out was some piece of hardware that is not yet supported by GNU/Linux - at least not the distribution the user prefers. One respondent cited extensive reliance on the .Net platform. Several indicated that they had not yet completely replaced Windows, but were in the process of doing so. Finding or Waiting for suitable libre software replacements for proprietary programs is the one thing holding back many users. The lack of awareness of appropriate applications was a barrier for at least one person. He indicated his dilemma and received a number of responses pointing him to gThumb as a possible replacement for a Windows photo management program he liked using. There were no responses at all indicating that the difficulty of using GNU/Linux was holding someone back. While there's hardly enough data to address scientifically, I would say these results are, nevertheless, a microcosm of the larger reality. There are people who desire to replace Windows with either GNU/Linux or Mac, and that there are only a few programs or features of programs holding back any particular user or organization from choosing GNU/Linux for home, business or non-profit use. The fact is, many of these cases are single programs or single devices. That one last piece could literally bring Windows to an end on thousands of boxes around the world. People are also helping other Windows users discover that Windows is mostly irrelevant. They are helping family, friends and co-workers get started using alternatives to Windows. When people aren't replacing Windows with Macs, they are replacing Windows with GNU/Linux. Not that doing so indicates a mad rush, but people are discovering GNU/Linux through a variety of channels, and the more people who discover it, discover they no longer have any real need of Windows. The members of some families only use the Windows box until the GNU/Linux box comes open. So, while Windows commands the lead in the general OS marketplace, it is also on the verge of becoming irrelevant, if not obsolete. Many of the users that responded could change hardware or decide to do without a particular software feature until it is implemented in a GNU/Linux alternative. Others simply need to check out the GNU/Linux-Windows equivalent tables at Linux Questions or at LinuxRSP, a Russian GNU/Linux site (list in English and other languages), or ask questions on an appropriate listserv. I thought it was very interesting that Windows' only remaining use is as a game box. What about you? Are you replacing Windows with GNU/Linux? Is that your goal? On how many boxes have you replaced Windows with GNU/Linux? How many still run Windows? Did you buy a Windows box to replace with GNU/Linux? LXer previously asked what makes people switch to GNU/Linux. Now you can tell us whether you've replaced Windows, or what holds you back. Related story: Saving Windows from Obsolescence in a Free-Market Economy, by D.C. Parris |
LXer Encore Feature: 1-1-2006
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Comments (58)
one PC on GNU/Linux, one px on Win-XP
I absolutely hate the condescension of windoze- "if you dare view your system files, you could like really bork your machine!! are you sure you want to see them??" This on an XP box that makes you set up unprivileged user accounts during installation, then doesn't tell you about the secret administrator account with no password. Brilliant. And ordinary users can't do much, but any random bit of malware has free reign.
I have one win98 box for gaming. I love Myst and Riven and Quake and Doom. (Not very adventurous, I know.)
Linux has been my main workstation since 1999 or so. It's nice to just get work done, instead of fighting with the dern thing.
mcinsand,
If you specify the printer manufacturer and model, someone might have a solution.
Thanks for pointing out my nonspecificity on the printer... a Canon Multipass 730. Not a big issue, though, since I don't care about printing to paper, and Sims 2 still won't play under Linux. I know about Turboprint. However, kids are attached to Sims 2, and I like the way the game makes them think.
As for games and me, xpilot and nethack are all I need.
stan
http://www.plaintivemewling.com/articles/21
says he was able to get the MP730 printing using another Canon driver. Maybe you should contact him and see what he used?
I thought Sims2 was supported under Cedega? Maybe that was a special version you had to purchase from them though.
I'm running 3 Linux pc's (plus a couple of old laptops that I'm experimenting trying to get a Linux distro on) and 1 WinXP . That WinXP I keep because of a game I like to play.
Once I became aware of Linux I fell in love with it, especially the FSF/Open Source/GPL philosophy! Everything I use a pc for has a Linux equivalent.
I keep the WinXP for one reason, to run a particular game I love (Football Manager) Even Cedega cannot currently get this game to run properly. If it wasn't for that I would probably do away with Windows completely.
Have been using Ubuntu for just the last six months, but I'm finding I'm using the XP pc less and less :-)
Used to find this with some websites myself. However, recently found that Firefox has an extension called "IE Tab". If you place it on your navigation bar it can toggle the page you are viewing between Firefox and IE. Was a great blessing. I only used IE for logging on to my bank (which hadn't kept up with Firefox 1.5), now don't need IE at all.
*: I have three desktops, one laptop and one server running Linux, another laptop dual-booting Linux and XP for customer suppert (and to remind me of how much XP sucks: amongst other things such as a flock of design defects, the wireless is not reliable in XP and is rock-solid in Linux); my sister-in-law has one server and one workstation on Linux, one laptop on XP. The laptop runs Linux perfectly (suspends 'n' all) but she keeps it for kids' games and for a couple of graphics programs that only have MS-Windows implementations, anbd can't be bothered (yet: I'm waiting for the first virus) with dual-booting it.
Windows becoming irrelevant, if not obsolete???
12 earlier comments in the full thread.
Quoting:While we're on the topic of lazy monopolists -- can anybody here think of a single thing about Microsoft Office that makes it compelling if you remove the monopoly advantage of its closed file format?
Sure: Head-to-head cubicle competitions wherein you see who can produce the single longest wiggly green line. Oh, yeah, and the boss has to be away that day, too.
For you "managers" out there: formattting a 20-question test about Java or C or C++ in "Word". Make sure all the questions are of the "language lawyer" variety, and included "None of the above" as an answer on all or most questions. The autocapitalization feature combined with other nifty occasions when "Word" knows best will typeset your carefully-chosed questions as ambiguous gibberish! Watch the next job applicant try to determine whether he or she should answer "None of the above" based on "Word" having gibberized the premise of the question, or give the correct answer if you assume "Word" did some gibberizing! Fun for all ages of backslapping gladhanders!
But eventually the monopolist itself finds that fair competition is not attractive to them. They start to think "Hey we can do this *to* our customers" instead of "Hey, we can do this *for* our customers".
One can only hope that this is one of the faster moving glaciers.
Excel. Word, Powerpoint, and Access are obnoxious. But Excel is a well-crafted powerhouse. I believe it was created by someone else and purchased by m$, but I still have to give them credit for its development since then.
The biggest problem is the IE only web pages, our time reporting is via the web on one such site. So I installed VMware and have to use Internet Exploder to input my time/billing. (VMware runs as processes on top of Linux).
I used Crossover Office for a while which let me run some Windows programs more natively but it was just much time being spent fooling with stuff so I simplified and am only using VMware. Once I got a laptop with 1GB RAM it's been really good, fast, solid. Ubuntu is the perfect distro for this, it just works, everything, wireless, hibernation, suspend, very, very good.
PK
Quoting:The biggest problem is the IE only web pages, our time reporting is via the web on one such site.
Have you considered / tried Winetools for did? Sadly it didn't work out on my Gentoo-box, but it promises to run IE (!) on Linux without VMWare.
Did you also consider Win4Lin? I think it might be cheaper than VMWare, not sure however.
Not too long ago I had a fling with SQL Server - I am fairly proficient coding using Transact-SQL in Sybase and that's the language MS uses, although with the usual enhancements. I was appalled to see them throw away one of the strengths inherent in Sybase: temporary tables, which Sybase has really enhanced with version 12.5.0.3 (or quite near to). Then I believe it was something with a cursor command that boggled my mind - multiple commands (from memory now) not being quite right. No problem, they created a new command, but that lost you a very important ability I thought was needed that the other commands had.
Well as a simple database, Access may suffice, however, given MS's history I would be very careful on the degree to which I relied upon it.
Three years ago, when I first started getting serious with Linux, there was nothing that really matched that function... sure there were plenty of databases, but the front end tools were terrible and entirely targeted at the server rather than the desktop. Most of the database solutions in linux are in fact, way overkill for a database used on the individual desktop.
Fortunately, we've now got knoda, which in conjunction with sqlite very nice as a individual or small business solution. Actually, it now has drivers to extend the interface to any of the more extensible databases, so, knoda has already become a must have tool. Ah... and it also imports MDB, so I don't have to go through hoops to import my previous data.
However, that said, it would be extremely easy for an IBM or HP to step up and deliver such a solution, replacing the pre-bundled Windows with a pre-bundled Linux solution and using the cost of the OEM windows license to pay for the dvd decoder and codecs required, along with pre-configuring everything needed to get all the other multimedia stuff working. I would love to see someone do something like this with K/Ubuntu (my personal favorite distribution). My concern would be that the more, shall we say "emphatic" members of the community would shred them for including non-FLOSS bits with the system. But I'd probably buy hardware from that company for the same reason I fear many would attack them.
Alternatively, starting a project to reverse engineer all those codecs might be possible, but would be a huge effort and would almost certainly run into a patent minefield (subject for a separate rant), not to mention the possibility of DMCA lawsuits. Certainly this has been the case for DeCSS, which is also a subject for a separate rant. The only other hope would be that Apple, at least, might step up and release a version of QT for Linux, and that someone might start selling a DVD player (or at least sell a Xine or Mplayer plug-in) for encrypted DVDs. I would seriously doubt that we'll see MS Media Player version anything for Linux at any point though, and unfortunately, that denies accessing a lot of content on the web.
1 - Small disclaimer: Most of my boxes at home and at work run Linux or another *NIX, and I don't give a hoot about some of the rulings. I bought the bloody DVD and will bloody well watch it on whatever I want to (I cite fair use doctrine, which hasn't completely been eliminated in the US... yet). But I still fight constantly with getting various codecs working correctly and getting plug-ins to play the nifty stuff I find on the web without crashing my browser or locking up X. So yes, this is a real sore point for me, too. Just not enough of one to keep me from adopting Linux. But for a lot of users, I believe it is, and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. And yes, I know I could get a lot of this by just getting a MAC, but I prefer KDE to Carbon, and Linux to OS X. And all of the above to Windows.
beats me...but you need to know there are those that work well for everything. Keeping up with the distros is paramount to effective advocacy.
And I have a newer version of the win32 codec package installed than what PCLinux ships. Still doesn't play several types of media, and getting the plugins to work is still a pain, which is my main point. I wouldn't even mind paying 30-40 bucks if it meant I could stop screwing around with my boxes to come up with various workarounds and just do what I want. I spend enough time trouble-shooting OS and network issues during the day so that when I go home, I don't want to continue to do the same thing. I especially don't want to listen to my wife and kids whine about things not working, which they do a lot since they tend to go to sites that use mainly MS-based stuff and shockwave. They may be abominations against the RFCs, but its what they like, and I gave up long ago trying to educate them as to the differences between sites using standards and sites written by a bunch of CS dropouts using front page.
But none of this detracts from the main point of the author that the barriers *are* falling. I just see this one as one of the bigger ones to wide spread home use. I also have seen that if someone starts using something at home, they tend to bug IS util they get it (instant messaging would be one example). At the same time, if someone doesn't like something for whatever reason, they fight with IS tooth and nail and will even try to make it fail until they get what they do want. If linux begins to appeal to the home user and a large number begin running it there, the corp nets will fall to Linux easily, consumed from the bottom up. There are already some information indicating this may be happening in a limited capacity, based on some recent surveys of those who've adopted linux.
I my glass half-full way, I would like to think that the media thing will rise to the top of the list when desktop potential reaches the tipping point.
Legal, not technical, barriers make it what it is. Legal barriers are cleared away with license fees, a fact of life in the real world.
AMEN!
I have a disk with a "multimedia survival kit" I carry with me when doing installs of Kanotix, Ubuntu, opensuse....any of the distro's that don't have the stuff we need. I too am a bit exasperated by the lack of support for these features and honestly, it is a huge stumbling block to those who advocate Linux in the face of the Redmond Beast.
There is promising rumor of a "linux solution" for these problems, but I don't know any more than "it's coming...just wait".
Yes, that's my main point; that there are many legal, not technical, obstacles. The primary ones are, of course, that companies have patented various ways of moving 1s and 0s around so that we can't implement anything to read/write those formats without risking a patent infringement law suit. And given the current environment of an IP (That acronym really galls me. Can't we just say patents, trade secrets and copyrights? Or just PTSC?) feeding frenzy, it appears that many, if not most, companies have given up innovation as the primary source of their profits, and moved to a litigation model. This would make any FLOSS developer/distributor an easy target, and except RH, HP, and IBM (maybe a few others), none really have the deep pockets to try fighting this, giving the MPAA/RIAA, et. al. an easy precedent. And other than the non-free aspects of the various codecs/decoders/plugins, I think that may be one of the real reasons no distribution is shipping the stuff needed to deliver a true linux multimedia solution.
helios,
For those of us, myself included, struggling to get this working, if you'd post a list of packages/source tarballs from your survival kit, I'm sure we'd all be grateful.
On a somewhat separate-but-related note, has anyone looked hard at the new HTPC solution coming from Intel/MS? It looks to be extremely (and intentionally) linux-hostile. I'm talking about the VIIV stuff.
Regards
Laptop on Ubuntu, desktop on (broken) Win home edition
However, I tried Ubuntu Linux / Gnome about 3 months ago on my laptop and absolutely love it, particularly the package manager, so I formatted my laptop and put a full install on. Apart from a few early bugs in 5.10, which the Ubuntu team sorted pretty swiftly, I've had absolutely no problem with it. Indeed, the first time I managed to crash it was only last week, thanks to some bug in Firefox 1.5.
Much as I hate it, I have to keep a Windows install for my work as a web designer - ie4linux just doesn't work well enough in my experience - although it frequently goes untouched week on week, if not month on month. It's now broken because I haven't been bothered to register it yet and I'm naturally pretty loath to give Bill Gates more of my details than _absolutely_ necessary.
Are you saying that Linux or just FireFox that crashed? An application on Linux is not supposed to be able to crash Linux unless it is a hardware driver. If Linux that did crash, are you sure it was not due to a hardware/driver problem? I am not saying Linux doesn't ever crash, but I have been using it for 6 years, I had apps crash, but never had Linux crash on me once.
mostly converted.
I was an Atari, then DOS, then Windows user from the mid-eighties. I reluctantly gave up on OS/2 in 1996. I was never a for-a-living computer guy; always just a hobbyist. Back in the late '80s I wondered about Unix but couldn't take part because of the cost, both software and hardware. My first exposure to the name "Linux" was in a BYTE magazine article sometime in the early nineties, and considering my general curiosity about Unix, I looked for ways to start using it. About this time also, I became disenchanted with available hardware from the likes of Compaq and Packard Bell, and resolved to build a Linux computer from scratch.
There were milestones along the way:
After distribution shopping through Slackware, Red Hat, and Caldera, I finally landed on SuSE 5.2 because of the "kitchen sink" quantity of software on the CDs, plus the fact that was led rather painlessly into X for the first time.
Instead of a new computer one year, I devoted the money to one of those multiple computer, single display, keyboard, and mouse hardware switches. I still use it for some things.
I said bye-bye to dialup, hello to cable. This made Linux ten times more appealing. I was able to cobble together a dedicated firewall out of old parts using SuSE 6.4.
I bought a license for VMware. Since I'm not a Windows gamer, VMware took away the last reason to keep Windows running on its own hardware, which meant one less box on the shelf. I was still using some Windows applications, but now they were a mouse click away.
I bought a Compaq laptop that was Linux friendly.
Netscape for Linux gave way to Mozilla, which took away any reason to ever run IE for anything.
Finally, I bought a license for Crossover, which allowed me to run Quicken, my last remaining "must have" Windows program.
That was it. When I went to 64 bits I never got around to installing VMware for it. My current laptop, an HP, has never booted Windows. My Treo syncs flawlessly with kontact. I guess that is the end.
The point of it not being libre is a sore one with many, but I will bring up an important point. To my knowledge, there is not a developer of open source software that is going to keep up with the tax and stock updates for free. That in itself turns into a full time job and I can understand why no one would be interested in doing so. That being said, the Kmymoney2 release is nothing short of magnificent. If I were to start a business today or only had a small amount of time and data within my quicken/quickbooks, I would look at Kmymoney2. They have done some magnificent work there AND it is open source and free in all aspects.
Why does MyBooks seem like such a big secret though? It's like no one's ever heard of it or used it. That said, at one time, it was - iirc - open source, and they do still offer the source code if you're willing to pay for it. I think they should just pull a Red Hat and use a trademark. Still, I have wondered why there haven't been more libre accounting apps. despite my opposition to anything proprietary, I have downloaded and will run the trial version just to give it a spin.
As far as MyBooks Pro, I don't know why they are still in the backwaters. I will call Joanie Mann today and see what I can find out and also see if I can get a new interview with her. I believe she spends two weeks in December in Jackson Hole WY.
Tough duty.
As for MyBooks, I bet they have a nice business, even if not quite booming. I'm glad to hear about MyBooks working on payroll. GnuCash is a pain to split transactions. I have to re-read the instructions and re-enter the splits a dozen times to get it right. I've heard others complain about its not-so-user-friendly interface.
I'm a convert from Windows to Linux
What, you mean people still use that stuff?...
Win98 Games Machine
For playing my old games I keep a machine with Win98 on it (I won't by a more recent Windows version and won't run an illegal copy) to play my older games. As a result I haven't bought a new game for a couple of years. I tried Transgamings product but couldn't be arsed with fiddling to make games work (mind you from recent games reviews sounds like Windows users have to fiddle to make the most recent games work!)
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Last year, I put Fedora-2 on the old 466 MHz Celeron Windows 98 computer, and it hasn't touched Windows, since. That computer was not rebooted over the course of a year on Linux and FreeBSD, and it was faster than the XP computer (even after de-spywaring, defragging). When the XP PC had trouble, I put Linux on it for a while, which really helped debug some hardware issues. Unfortunately, Cedega can't handle Sims-2, and Linux doesn't yet handle our printer. So, I upgraded my Linux PC and let the family stay with XP.