Linux on Mobile Devices
Of course, Microsoft still has a lock on the computer market and it isn't going away. And Microsoft, we have to admit, has gotten to be number one because they've earned it. They aren't always the nicest company or the most popular with the web audience, but they still were in the right place at the right time when the computer revolution and the Internet age came along, and they helped make computers simple enough for the common person. We'll always respect that.
But being technology enthusiasts, we can't resist saying that we'll always have a soft spot for Linux. We know it's really called "GNU/Linux", but we're going to keep it simple. We know there's a niche market out there that demands Linux and nothing but, and we respect that, too. ASUS is one company who addresses that market, selling Linux installed on their Eee PC 701 series. Dell is another manufacturer who has responded to demand, offering Linux preinstalled on its full line of Inspiron laptops. ASUS has Xandross Linux, and Dell has Ubuntu Linux.
And right there's where you lose some people. "Hey", they go, "just how many different kinds of Linux are there?" Oh, brother. How, how, how do you explain Linux in a single article? How do you explain Shakespeare or quantum physics? Linux is open source and free software, licensed to the entire world with the GNU General Public License. That means that you, dear reader, right now, without even knowing it, own every single byte of Linux source code, just as much as anybody else does. If the 500 or so versions (called distributions or "distros") of Linux aren't good enough for you, you can grab the source code, mix up your own mad creation, and create your own distro and publish it. Name it after you. You can even sell it! Just so long as you release it under the same license.
Some distros are produced commercially, by a company, but most of them are just willy-nilly volunteers working free. That isn't to say that they're hobbyists; they're professionals in the field. They're doing it for the community, and because sometimes the Linux solution works better. Compare Linux's security record to Microsoft's; clearly there has to be something to this open source model.
Linux may be making huge headway on the desktop, but its main appeal has been and will always remain the technology enthusiast. The true "geek". Geeks find Linux fun. Fun like other people find recreational drug use fun.
How do you explain the charm? There are parts of Linux, especially the parts inherited from the Unix school of computing, that are downright ugly. Run "Midnight Commander" or Emacs in a terminal and see what we mean. Or ponder command lines - try finding some really long, wicked-looking examples posted online. Or consider that there's programs in Linux that are named "grep" and "wc" and "awk" and "gimp".
And yet, you never saw a more powerful system. Linux can do anything, anything at all. It powers the CERN Large Hadron Collider, the New York Stock Exchange, Google's servers, and IBM's supercomputers, including the Blue Gene and MareNostrum. Linux runs in the smallest devices, too - mobile phones, PDAs, game consoles, and even routers and ethernet gateways. Chances are, there's a device in your home right now with Linux embedded in it, like a DSL box or a digital camera. There's still a version of Linux called "Tom's root-boot" which fits onto a floppy disk - it boots and runs a full system! Linux also invented the concept of the live CD.
Because it's an open source system, it usually comes packed with open source software. Even a very small Linux distribution comes with ten times the pre-installed programs that a Windows system has. A Linux system is set up "out of the box" to have everything you'd possibly need.
And while Linux can be ugly, it can also be beautiful. Most major movie studios use Linux-based graphics software to render 3D animation, and general film-effects CGI, for that matter. For graphic desktops, there's Gnome and KDE, but there's also more niche desktop systems such as XFCE, FVWM, or Fluxbox, which also manage to look great while running fast and efficient. There's the Compiz 3D desktop, the one with the rotating cube, and there's the Elive Linux distro running the Enlightenment desktop, which looks like - anything and everything.
Finally, Linux is quirky. It's not just all the funky names or strange conventions. We don't track all the infighting and groups who fork their version of a program and change its name from Ratt to Pidgin. We don't know what to make of the menagerie of bizarre quotes in the fortune program. We can't explain why most distros come with a punched-card generator or a tape backup program or a program that does nothing but factor numbers. We have no idea why people get such a kick out of playing Nethack in text mode or running Lisp artificial-intelligence chatbots.
We don't always understand Linux fans, but we have to love them anyway. And even though we won't always talk about Linux, we'll have to give it its due that it is one plucky mud-in-your-eye, rebel operating system for the rugged individualists out there. Which is a real blessing, because it keeps them busy and out of trouble.
Filed Under: Mobile Computing
