Linux: Alive and well on my desktop!

Michael J. Jordan, Linux Online Staff

June 22, 2001

Since the demise of Eazel, the purveyors of doom's favorite topic has been about the doubtful appearance of Linux on desktops of the world. These same people are saying that we in the Linux community should be content to see our beloved OS achieve the position it has in the server market (despite what Gartner's survey says) and call it a victory and forget about the desktop crown. That's a lot like when your favorite baseball team loses the World Series and someone says "Well, at least we're the AL champs!". No real baseball fan would ever say that. The goal is to win the World Series and the goal of all of us in the Linux community, in my opinion, should be to conquer the desktop. No wonder why the KDE people named their web browser "Konqueror". I'm going to ask David Faure, Konqueror's maintainer, whom I interviewed here some time ago, if that was in fact their intention. There's more at stake really for people who use computers than just market share. Linux is more than an operating system. It's the flagship for a whole philosophy. It's imperative then that Linux community work toward conquering the desktop.

A lot of people don't want us to have that coveted number one position, even people who like and use Linux. David Coursey over at the Ziff Davis websites even published a piece giving us a list of 9 reasons why we should not expect Linux to be appearing on our desktops in the near future (or maybe ever). As early as yesterday (June 21), Intel's CEO, Craig Barrett talks about Linux's dubious future on the desktop. On June 20, OS opinion ran a piece about AOL possibly creating their own flavor of Linux. It was very friendly to Linux, but there's a sentence that says: "AOL has been working on a Linux version of its software for some time, and yet at the same time it can be argued that the Linux desktop is not yet ready for prime time." I suppose that no article about Linux is complete without getting in that little "dig" about the Linux desktop being "a pipe dream" or "not ready for the average Joe/Jo Ann user". In all fairness, Garrett Mickelson, the author of that piece did go on to extoll the virtues of KDE, GNOME and probably the most user-friendly Linux distribution of them all, Mandrake. But, then again, there's my little objection. Everybody's got to bring up the Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, for Linux- friendly that they may appear to be, at least once. I suppose what happened was that Eazel, who promised to make the Linux desktop "easy", ( 'ease' is something which really needs to be debated), folded. A lot of people in the mainstream tech press equated Eazel and everybody being able to use Linux as the same thing. Eazel's gone, ergo, Linux is not going to be easy to use. Ergo, Linux is "doomed" on the desktop. I think there have been two main reasons for this. One, is the reason for writers like Garrett Mickelson. It seems that if you don't mention the "difficult" desktop horizon in association with Linux, then, taking into account the demise of Eazel and the dominance of Microsoft, then you're being irresponsible as a journalist. I understand that reasoning.

The other reason for mentioning this is the David Coursey type of reason. This one that I also understand, but that I can't abide by. Mr. Coursey is a big-time tech journalist who appears on TV as well as in print. He makes his living trying to guess where technology is going and then write and/or speak about it. The problem for him and for all of us in this information business is that we're at an important crossroads in our history in terms of technology and its relationship to intellectual property. It's the the seventh game of the World Series and the people like Microsoft who defend the "status quo" of intellectual property and the people who defend the new open model, which Linux is the most famous example, are tied in the bottom of the ninth inning. The game could go either way. The Microsoft model could win or the Linux model could win. I personally think that people are getting tired of the screw-balls that Microsoft and their model is throwing and that the Linux hitters have gotten wise to them and we're going to hit one out of the ball-park sometime very soon and Linux is going to then be on its way and be welcomed into homes and offices around this globe. People like Mr. Coursey, on the other hand, want us to believe that the game is going to go into extra innings, overtime. But what does this amount to? Intellectual fence-sitting. I suspect that he has some internal FUD, so he appears to say how wonderful Linux is while at the same time telling us that we can't compete against Microsoft. They've already won the World Series, long ago, according to him. In a sense, he's catering to his two possible meal tickets, Microsoft in the present and Linux in the future.

John F. Kennedy's favorite concept was taken from Dante, author of The Inferno. He said that Dante reserved the lowest parts of hell for those, who, in times of crisis, didn't take a stand. I am going to take a stand. I think, in fact, I'm convinced that Linux is not only going to dominate in the server market, but will in the next few years achieve equal status with Microsoft and even take over in the "desktop" market. I put the word "desktop" in quotes, because I think that this concept is changing quickly and Linux is in the best position to take advantage of that. There are a couple of reasons why I think this way.

The difference between being in your early twenties and your early thirties is not just a question of mathematics. I am in my early thirties (OK, I'm 35- middle thirties). That means that when I was using computers in the 80's during my college years, I was using MS-DOS. When I opened my own business in the late 80's and ran it during the early 1990's, I was using Windows. Sure, I could have used a Mac, but there was that perceived software gap. Windows had such a lock on the market that there was literally no alternative for me. But if I was in my early twenties, the story would be different. The other day, I was talking to a twenty-year-old student at the local university. He is studying what we used to call "Computer Science". He is using Linux. The computer center where he writes code and does his projects is called "The Linus Torvalds Computer Center". No kidding. I asked him if there was a "Bill Gates Computer Center". He gave me a dirty look. I get the idea that people who are in their early twenties and are using computers are using Linux. They are not using Microsoft products in the same numbers as people in their early thirties are. These are the people who will change the face (desktop) of computing. David Coursey thinks that everybody is "old" like him and me. I've got a surprise for him. Post baby-boomers like us are in a minority, at least in Western countries. Speaking of western countries, that brings me to my second reason: Eastern countries.

China loves Linux. Due to the open source nature of Linux, it is better suited to their own cultural model. Plus, Linux is free. Who's not going to love something that's as good as Linux, is freely modifiable and is free of charge. India loves Linux. India has a great number of highly-trained technicians. India is doing great things with Linux and I think Linux will do great things for India. Japan loves Linux. The leading producer of electronics in the world is putting Linux into more of their devices everyday. Putting Linux into a car may not constitute putting Linux on the desktop, but putting it into a set-top box does. This may be the desktop model the future has in store for us.

Ibero-American countries love Linux. A major Brazilian bank not only changed all their ATMs over to Linux, but all of their staff will be using a Linux desktop within a year. Mexico City has mandated that Linux be used on desktops in their city administration. Governments all over South America are finding out that they can save a lot of money in their budgets by not paying licensing fees to Microsoft. To boot, when Microsoft's new offerings appear, these fees are going to be higher than ever, so a lot of national, regional and local government administrations are dumping Redmond's offerings in favor of Linux and they're not looking back.

If you take into account the percentage of the population that lives in China, India and the Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries in South and Central America, Linux does look quite promising. There are a lot of people whose first encounter with a computer has been and will be with Linux on the desktop. That's where I see another flaw in the reasoning of people like David Coursey and all of the desktop nay-sayers. There's a geographical egocentrism to it. According to them, Linux is in an uphill fight on the desktop only because this may be perceived in the richer, "developed" countries of this world. I would say, from what I've read, from what I have personally reported on and from the mail I receive from all over the world everyday, that this is not the perception in all parts of the world. Quite the opposite actually. Linux is the future of computing and that by default means the desktop. I envision that KDE, GNOME, FVWM, Enlightenment or any other Linux offering will be showing up on people's screens more than Windows XP.

Linus Torvalds, who can always be counted on to be candid and honest, once said in an interview while speaking about Java, "If you're dead on the desktop, you're dead. Period". Linux is by no means dead on the desktop. It's been on mine since 1997 and very much alive and well. It will continue to make its appearance on desktops all over the world and it will grow and prosper. Applications to do practically everything already exist for Linux. New applications will appear to do more things and old ones will be improved. I spent a day with a Windows user not too long ago. I'm doing everything he's doing. In fact I'm doing more. I've got an office suite like him, I've surfing the web, listening to Real Audio, playing MP3s, chatting, sending and answering mail, organizing my life with a calendar application and manipulating images. I'm doing a ton of things with this Linux desktop of mine. Plus, I'm running a web server, and industrial strength database, developing dynamic web pages with GNU and open-source software. All of that came in the same package with my desktop stuff. Now, my friend can't do that. His Windows CD didn't come with that stuff. Bottom line? If, according to some, I'm losing the desktop war against my friend's version of it, then I'd rather be on the losing side! But I'm not worrying. I know we're going to win this thing. It's just a question of time.

Michael J. Jordan considers himself a "Linux educator". Michael started his stint in the workforce as a teacher and his mission in this world, at present, is to educate people and businesses on the benefits of using Linux. He can be reached at Michael.Jordan@Linux.org