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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Desktop open-source operating systems are ready for prime time and available from Wal-Mart. But if they look and act just the same as software from Redmond, what's the point?
Mar 3, 2003 | Sam Hiser, a technologist who spends much of his time promoting open-source alternatives to proprietary software, has an interesting way of describing the main difference between Microsoft's Windows operating system and Linux, its open-source competitor. "It's something I call the 'Windows pucker,'" Hiser says. "That's the feeling Windows users get when they're about to open a fifth program and they're so worried, they're clenching up their butt cheeks because they just don't want the system to lock."
Even if you haven't thought about it in such graphic terms, Windows pucker, or a sense of dread very much like it, is probably something you've come to expect from life. Computers -- whether PCs or Macs -- aren't perfect. Sometimes applications blow up. You'll try to do something complicated, like play an MP3 while you're opening a PDF document, and you'll inadvertently awaken some demon deep inside the machine, and you're screwed. The anxiety, Hiser says, is constant, a background stress that most of us don't ever quite notice and might think of as a necessary evil of the modern world, like a two-hour daily commute or PCBs in the drinking water.
But life doesn't have to be that way. "You don't have Windows pucker with Linux," Hiser says, echoing one of the main arguments of people who prefer Linux to Windows -- that the open-source system is more stable than the proprietary one, and that people who use it forget about such routine Windows occurrences as "crashing" and "rebooting." Linux is, very simply, built to be solid.
But if Linux is so great, why do the overwhelming majority of computer users boot up Windows every day? That's a question many open-source advocates have long puzzled over. Though some blame Microsoft's illegal business practices, the best answer is probably this: Using Linux is perceived as no picnic. To the extent that Windows users ever think about Linux, they picture an OS deeply unforgiving of novices. You've got to be some kind of shaman to use Linux, typing in occult commands to get it to do the simplest thing. If you've never used a computer before, Linux is not the OS you start with.
That's the popular thinking, anyway -- but there are now a number of open-source developers and businesspeople trying to change the perception that Linux is just for experts. Easy Linux on the desktop is not a new idea, but it's becoming increasingly popular among developers. And the two most prominent versions are built by companies that are unashamed of copying the look, feel and business strategy of their main rival, Microsoft.
These firms are Lindows and Lycoris. Each sells a version of Linux that's easy to install, easy to use, and compatible with all sorts of third-party peripherals and applications. The companies have managed to break into Wal-Mart, the ne plus ultra of American retail, where their OSes come preinstalled on several low-cost PCs.
Desktop Linux systems like those offered by Lindows and Lycoris would seem to have a lot going for them. People who only want a PC for a few limited uses -- using e-mail, browsing the Web, and working in a small number of office applications -- may find it hard to justify the extra cost of Windows. Because of this, Michael Robertson, the founder of Lindows, believes that sooner or later Microsoft "will cede the bottom 25 percent of its business to a lower-cost provider" like his firm.
But does anyone believe that Linux has a chance of becoming the dominant operating system for everyday computer use, or even nearing parity with Microsoft? No. When you talk to proponents of Linux on the desktop, it's surprising how resigned they seem to Bill Gates' hold on the PCs of the masses. The desktop Linux companies are putting up a valiant fight against a moneyed enemy, but they're really only vying for second place, looking to get some respectable share of PC sales. Why this attitude? Because, at least in America, Windows is more than software to run your computer; the operating system is an institution, and, a bit like the internal-combustion engine, it is firmly entrenched in the economy. Entire industries have been built up around the ubiquity of Windows, and those won't fall easily. Windows pucker isn't going away anytime soon.
But the disappointing thing is that -- unlike Apple, another Microsoft rival -- the desktop Linux companies have in the face of the Redmond behemoth decided to build systems that resemble, as much as technically possible, every aspect of Windows. These OSes look like Windows and work like Windows, and they're meant to appeal to people bred on Windows who'll find fault with any part of the system that doesn't behave like Windows. Lindows and Lycoris say they're offering consumers a choice, but if you use their machines, you'll see that there's nothing really innovative about the software.
Still, there's one good thing about having an alternative to Windows, even if the alternative's a kind of Windows Lite -- Microsoft might have a reason to improve its software. Competition, finally, is making its way into the world of desktop PCs.
