Desktop Linux: it ain't a better Windows

Sam Varghese
Wednesday, 20 May 2009 06:33

Opinion and Analysis

Take the case of 64-bit Linux as an example. Three years ago, when I started using the AMD64 port of Debian, there was no means of watching Flash videos. For some, this would have been something unbearable.But this is not of great importance to me. I switched operating systems nearly nine years ago for reasons that go far beyond this.

Since the day in August 2000, when I pulled up stumps on Windows, I have always told people that they should never expect Linux to be a better version of Windows. There are plenty of good reasons why one should opt for GNU/Linux but then one has to be fully aware that there are shortcomings too.

I know a large number of GNU/Linux users who used to run dual-boot systems so they could play their favourite Windows games. Now most of this group has switched to virtualisation in order to indulge themselves.

The reason why many games are not ported to Linux is well-known. These are things one should be prepared to live with. We should not try to spread myths about GNU/Linux.

I think that for a time the two big companies that produce Linux distributions, Red Hat and Canonical, were caught up in this myth too - that GNU/Linux can be a better Windows than Windows.

But now reason has returned and while both continue to produce excellent distributions in the shape of Fedora, Red Hat Enterprise Desktop and Ubuntu, both are aware that the balancing of the budget has to be done by selling other wares.

Given this, one would expect that sites which claim to be GNU/Linux-aware would be willing to be honest about the situation and push GNU/Linux on its strengths - and not on the myth that it is a better version of Windows.

One would expect too, that the people who run sites like Slashdot would examine the tea leaves and realise that one big reason for failure of the print media in the US is the simple lack of honesty and openness. You can fool the public just so many times.

Sadly, this is not the case with Slashdot. If traffic can be obtained by spreading wrong notions, so be it. Far from trying to educate people, the site is actively involved in dumbing things down and keeping people in the state of ignorance Gore Vidal described so well.