Is Using Linux Too Frugal?, Mar 25, 2009

Development of new technologies on a commodity platform like Linux allows startup companies to enter the market with less capital and compete more effectively with their larger counterparts. In addition, using free open source applications and technologies encourages innovation and creation of new products for technology-hungry buyers. For smaller companies and startups, maintaining a high level of frugality is necessary for survival in any market environment.

I have a solution for your XP woes. Unless you've been lobotomized, you might think you've guessed what it is: Linux. But you would be wrong. I don't generally recommend Linux. I recommend Ubuntu. You see, Ubuntu is a special version of Linux. Ubuntu is Linux for human beings. That's their tag line, in fact, and it needs some explanation.

Linux has achieved success on servers, but can it make a go of it on the desktop? Panelists at a technical conference Tuesday evening debated the question, with a Red Hat official wondering whether the issue is even relevant anymore.

Prominent open source executives make the case for lower-cost alternatives during the economic crisis.

A bad economy is good for open source, declared Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst in his keynote at Open Source Business Conference 2009, but open source's value proposition should play well in any economy.

You have to hand it to Steve Ballmer. The man is never short of inaccurate statistics or words to take a dig at the two rivals which Microsoft has been confronting in recent times - Apple and Linux.

Linux distributions (the Linux kernel plus a desktop and applications) come in many flavours.

A worm has been used to build a botnet consisting of DSL routers running Linux, which may be still evolving.

The Linux operating system is free; you can download it without paying any licensing fees. You can use it in the home, you can run a business on it, even a data centre. You can embed it within tiny custom hardware. Despite this, Linux hasn't become a household name. Paradoxically, it may be the perceived dearth of commercial applications which is a cause.

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