The Rotten Word

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Yesterday I posted Part 1, a little Q&A about the common issues surrounding a transition from the Windows desktop environment to Linux, specifically Ubuntu Linux. I tried to cover the basic Linux alternatives to commonly used software and ease some of the confusion about what exactly is available to someone using a Linux-based computer. The post got unwieldy, so I separated it into two parts, and here is the second.

Today, I continue to geek out, but this time I look more closely at the bigger-picture issues underlying Ubuntu’s active courtship of the average desktop user. If your eyes have already glazed over with boredom, I’ll understand. But if you’re still interested, please offer your thoughts, responses, and criticism in the comments.

The Tired “Windows Versus…” Conversation

While I’m not smart enough to wax nerdirifically on kernels and processes and other bits and pieces of the OS, I can tell you anecdotally that even the safest web surfers will eventually be crushed by an onslaught of malware and viruses on a Windows machine. I can’t speak to Windows 7, but Vista’s bloated security measures provided pretty much the same user experience that persistent malware does: constant pop-ups, confusing error messages, and a steady hum of foreboding.

But, then again, it has never been particularly difficult to find people who agree that Windows is on top more by virtue of its steadily-acquired and very real ubiquity than its everyday reliability and utility. Don’t get me wrong—Windows is usable. It’s just not secure, stable or reliable enough for me. Mac is more secure, stable, and reliable, but demands a lot from hardware (and wallets) and has enough market share to warrant attention from code-demons.

Linux, on the other hand, lacks the market share to justify intense development of malicious intrusion and destruction tools by hackers. That is not to say that Linux machines are immune—nothing connected to the internet is immune—they are just less prone to the rampant infection more common systems are known to suffer.

But the question isn’t whether or not Linux can beat Windows or Mac—I don’t think it can. And I don’t think it should want to.

Linux For “Everypeople”

Instead, the real question is whether Linux will ever be ready for the big leagues: the desktops of the average everyman and everywoman.

“Everypeople” as we shall call them, are not interested in the fact that Linux and its many iterations are open source software. They are also not too keen on command line interfaces and installation paradigms that don’t rely on files ending in .EXE or .APP. In short, everypeople want their OS to act like a great advertisement.

Although I’m not an expert on the subject, I think (and please disagree in the comments if you aren’t with me on this) that a great advertisement is invisible. You shouldn’t walk away from an advertisement saying “Wow, that was a really good commercial.” A great ad steps off to the side and blends into the background, while the product it’s selling sings and dances its way across the stage and into our hearts.

[  I realize that this may be a bad analogy, since Windows has never been guilty of such applause-earning theatrics, but I shall proceed as if I didn't notice the weakness in the OS-ad comparison, since I'm fairly confident that the point I'm trying to make is sound.  ]

The most oft-discussed iteration of Linux is Ubuntu. And, as CNET reports, IBM recently made a deal with Canonical, Ubuntu’s mother organization, to include the OS in “netbooks and low-end PCs.” (full story at CNET) Prior to that, Ubuntu announced a deal with Intel and Dell to include a “remixed” version of Ubuntu in Dell’s Inspiron Mini 10v netbook. (more info at Dell)

Proselytizing, Byte By Byte

But the truth is that Linux isn’t a great ad yet. It’s a good one, in my opinion, in that it makes itself and its creators known. It’s colorful and safe and useful and doesn’t take very long to get used to. It’s someone you meet at a party and realize you have a lot in common with. But it’s not great.

ComputerWorld’s Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols wrote a great article called “Five ways the Linux desktop shoots itself in the foot.” His post does a good job of explaining the underlying reasons for my hearing things like “What is ooobooontooo? Is that one of those fake computers?” It still requires some occasional coddling, some searching of forums for help, and a willingness to be patient while you get to know a new system.

But, despite its continuing struggle for mass appeal, Ubuntu is still a nerd’s dream. Slick, secure, and faster than the competition, especially on less-than-spectacular hardware, what it lacks in exhaustive software availability it gains in stability and doing the things it can do very well. Sure, there are open source alternatives to the well-known office programs, music management and playback applications, chat, email, and on and on and on. But Linux does have limitations, and the extent to which those limitations matter depends on who you ask and what they need from their computer use.

How Linux Will Find Its Way To You…Eventually

But that’s not really the point. Because, at least for now, and even if they don’t really know it yet, Ubuntu isn’t aiming itself at everypeople. It’s positioning itself for easy introduction by its legion of fans to the sayers of nay and the just plain techless folks among us. It’s shaping and molding itself into something just a little bit tastier and prettier and more exhaustively compatible with the myriad hardware options and combination available to the modern computer consumer.

And, to ruin the otherwise philanthropic tone I’ve tried to maintain thus far, Linux in general (and Ubuntu in particular, since it really does want to be on a big portion of desktops in the near-ish future) has to dumb itself down. That doesn’t mean a reduction in functionality or a simplification of the overall product. In my experience, the one thing everyone prides themselves on knowing to look at when something goes wrong on a Windows box, or they want to add or remove something from their installation, is the control panel. Ubuntu Software Center aims to help ease that transition. (screenshot) This and similar moves aim to reproduce the most useful and familiar aspects of mainstream operating systems and give users new to Ubuntu that warm, fuzzy “I’ve been here before” feeling.

For now, though, I’ll just keep on deflecting the snark and looking for informed people with which to debate the pros and cons of OS transience. After all, Ubuntu, issuing release updates every 6 months, is not prone to the laggard development schedule of larger beasts. So I’ll keep on backing up all my important data to SpiderOak, which I will review properly soon.

I will mention that they encrypt your data during transfer and on the storage disks (so not even their employees can access it), they store multiple copies of your data across different storage locations, they are totally cross-platform, they support synchronization across several machines, and their rates are exactly half their best and closest competitor. Backup has become a way of life for me. This way, as new features are added to my favorite OS, I can install updates without fear for losing my data.

I would tell everyone to wait for the prophecy to unfold, but the good news for open source advocates, tired victims of the Apple/Microsoft duopoly, and the just-plain-curious is that the prophecy is already here, and happening and accelerating. Let’s just hope it maintains that momentum.

The Pitch

Ubuntu 9.10 “Karmic Koala” will be released on October 29, 2009 and boasts some new features that aim to make it a more palatable full-time desktop OS for everypeople. You’ll be able to download the file (an .ISO image) and burn it to a CD. Boot from the CD to try Ubuntu without making any changes to your system. It will be slow because it takes time to read data from a CD, but it will give you a good feel for how the OS works. So give it a try. You’ve got nothing to lose.

Except maybe a few viruses.