Why doesn't everyone just run Linux?

David M Williams
Thursday, 20 November 2008 18:22

Opinion and Analysis

The second most significant factor, to my mind, why people opt out of Linux is because they genuinely do require Windows because some key bit of software they wish to use is Windows only.

We see this all around us. The Australian Tax Office's e-Tax program for submitting tax returns electronically was a Windows-only product.  Legacy software will always be part of our lives and it's certainly no stranger.

For some, the need to preserve their age-old apps is the key deciding factor in the operating system to be used. Which sort of brings us onto software in general ... sure, Windows has more programs available. Yet, Linux trounces Windows solidly in a very important aspect.

The way Linux handles software packages is infinitely superior to the Windows philosophy of as many different custom installers as there are grains of sand on the beach.

These installers are well known for not always cleaning up after themselves and periodically we will all have seen advertisements for uninstallation utilities which aim to rectify the mess.

By contrast, Linux is far cleaner. The package management tool effortlessly adds or removes software, fully deploying it or fully removing it.

Best of all, it's a single repository for a treasure trove of Linux apps. We're not just talking updates to the kernel. We're not just talking patches, or even merely applications by the same developer.

Instead, the Linux package managers are really the forerunner to the recently popularised AppStore for iPhones. You can uncover a vast range of programs to meet the bulk of your computing requirements.

What is especially nice is you don't even have to know in advance the name of a program which will do what you want (and perhaps this is fortunate given the abstract naming given to many notable tools!) because you can search for keywords in the program's description.

So, want a tool to handle zip files, or something to make PDFs, or something totally different again which will play Internet radio? You don't have to know a suitable program before hand, just describe what you want to do and Linux comes to the rescue.

So, why isn't the world running Linux? Well, what we've identified above are two pretty significant barriers and I'm sure you could name others with equal importance. Yet, it is Linux that offers a much more powerful means for finding, installing and removing software.

What other things do you think prevent the general public from considering Linux and from adopting it, and what do you think FOSS advocates can do in response?