Kairos Computer Solutions

This is a question that gets tossed about on many news sites and blogs. I think the answer is a qualified “Yes”. It all depends on what you need to do with your PC. If all you need is email, web access, an office suite, and basic games like solitaire, then Linux is definitely ready.

If you need accounting software, you may have to turn to using wine to get Quicken or MSMoney to work in Linux. However, there are a number of personal accounting packages available for Linux to cover everything from basic check book balancing, to advanced accounting needs.

If you need advanced graphics software, there are some powerful options, such as the gimp, and animation software such as Blender. There may be some features power users need that are not yet available.

If you need a gaming system to run all the latest PC games, Linux is not ready. There are some games that will work in wine or its commercial cousin Cedega. I am not a big gamer, so I have no direct experience on this point. There are however, many free games available, from solitaire, majong, and asteroids clones, to turn-based games like FreeCiv a Civilization clone.

Many Linux distributions also come with a variety of educational software such as language study software for reviewing vocabulary, or typing tutors. There is even a high-quality stargazing software, Celestia. Linux has a wide variety of software available and much of it is free, like Linux. Some programs are better than others, but the same is true of Windows.

Perhaps the biggest complaint is the lack of good documentation that explains what you need to know in a concise format so you can get what you need out of a program. Thankfully, in the world or open source, many people volunteer their time to work on documentation, if they are not programmers. It is only a matter of time before all programmers who develop programs for Linux learn that better documentation is the key to their program gaining wider acceptance.

Another complaint is the lack of a common standard for graphical interfaces. Some programs try to perfectly emulate their Windows counterparts and work and look great, but are inconsistent with other Linux “standard” user interfaces. This too, is improving, and is becoming more of a minor issue.

Many complain that they do not want to learn the CLI (Command Line Interface) in Linux. With the improvement in Linux, one does not need to use the CLI unless desired. It is not needed for the majority of uses. The same is true in Windows, but power users will still find the CLI quicker for certain functions, like renaming all the text files in a directory.

For what the average PC user needs to do with their computer on a daily basis, Linux is definitely ready for the desktop. It gets better with each new release, and of course is cheaper and more secure than Windows.

If you want to try Linux without installing it, try Knoppix, the Debian-based Linux Live CD. A Live CD is a bootable CD that has an operating system on it that can allow your PC to run from the CD instead of the hard drive. It is an easy way to test your hardware to see if Linux is an option on your existing hardware. Unlike Windows, Linux does not require expensive or major upgrades to work with your PC. Windows always ends up running better on a PC that has 50% more than the minimum recommendation, Linux does not have this problem. Linux is a great option for extending the useful life of your older PC by many years beyond what Microsoft would prefer. Unless you have a commercial Linux distribution, there is little or no cost for obtaining the new version to upgrade

Linux is a stable and powerful operating system with a wide variety of software readily available. It is ready for the general user, and it is rowing more ready for other users. In a couple of years, we will look back an wonder why this was even an issue.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 7th, 2006 at 12:25 am and is filed under Linux. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.