The article defines the basic requirements that non-tech savvie users would typically require from a pc for their normal everyday use and outlines the pros and cons of satisfying these requirements on a typical Windows platform vs that of a Ubuntu installation.

There are one or two points in the article I disagree with (not all aging Linux versions provide support ad infinitum, just like Windows) but overall it serves as a fantastic starting point for non technical computer users that would like evaluate alternatives, or who would like to cut operating costs and downtime losses stemming from their computer infrastructure and software. It does point out one or two negatives of the current FOSS landscape (most notably Microsoft Office document interoperability) which newbies would be wise to take note of.

Given the continuous upgrade cycle (hardware and software) required to run the latest and greatest Microsoft software there is a very strong case for evaluating Linux and FOSS software, but the Linux landscape is extremely confusing for the non technical end user. Using Ubuntu Linux as a reference point in the article makes a lot of sense and is probably the best advice to give to newcomers.

There are a myriad of references to other pieces from within the article providing tons of additional information that will benefit the inquiring user tremendously, and overall its a great, well thought through and well written article that will help to promote the use of Linux and free/open source software.

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My previous installation was Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) 10 SP 1. I was very happy with SLED, it is really rock solid, and has a really nice and polished feel about it. The guys at Novell really has turned this into an enterprise level desktop that can be used by power users and normal users alike.

So why change? Well, openSUSE has a much newer kernel, it has Gnome 2.20, and a myriad of other new and cool things which SLED will only have in it’s next big release, and being a geek at heart I like to play with all the new things as they come out.

The installation process:

Painless, and straight forward. I found the secret is to have your /home folder mapped to a separate partition than your root partition, that way you can swap out OSs and keep all your files intact without having to use an external drive to backup and restore your personal files in the process. And the best part of it, openSUSE picked up my user account from the SLED install, I selected it, and voila – logged in to openSUSE with my SLED account on the first start up and had my whole environment set up almost exactly the same as before. What a pleasure.

Gnome 2.20

I do like eye candy, and typically find myself installing new versions on software just to see what the new UI looks like. Gnome 2.20 doesn’t appear much different at first glance, but looking through the release notes it is clear that this is a serious desktop packed with loads of features. There’s nothing vastly different, just a whole bunch of added features making your every day experience that much nicer.

1 click install

From the sound of it, you can expect that these guys will patent the term, and they probably should. The concept is straight forward, go to the openSUSE website, search and select some additional packages that you would like to install, click the link, and let the magic begin. A truly great idea, and endless amounts of fun if you find yourself at the end of a broadband connection.

Compiz

Straight out the box I couldn’t notice too many visual differences, although it has been upgraded to a newer (0.5.4) version. I did some research and discovered all the eye candy is now in compiz-fusion. I 1-click installed it, and all of a sudden I didn’t have borders around my windows anymore and neither any cool spinning cubes with fish stuck at the center – mind you, I didn’t even have a spinning cube anymore. There are means and ways around this, and I did skip a few steps in the installation process, so I’ll have to get back to this sometime in the near future, because the compiz-fusion feature set is the ultimate eye candy right now!

KDE 4

openSUSE 10.3 also ships with a preview of the new KDE4, and seeing as I’ve never been a KDE fan, I haven’t spent any time on having a look to see what the fuss is all about. Personally KDE has always been too over the top for me, where I prefer the simplicity of Gnome, but if KDE is your thing, then you are sure to get some value out of the KDE4 preview.

Tomboy notes

This is probably one of my most used applications, and the’ve improved the new version and now they are offering a to do list as well. You can create tasks for a certain date, and set a priority as well. Completed tasks can also be hidden once marked as completed to reduce the clutter, or they can stay visible for you to witness your accomplishments.

Overall I am definitely impressed with what I have experienced in the last 2 days of the weekend since I’ve installed it, but as I use Linux as a tool in my daily work activities the real test will start tomorrow, and reliability and scalability will be proven. I am convinced the 2.6.22.5 kernel will prove it’s mettle and make for many pleasant work hours, and the rest of the openSUSE 10.3product will deliver the same.

Watch the video, and follow the discussion around it on her blog and notice the amount of fun these people, who are very non-technical it would seem, are having with the Ubuntu OS.

It’s really refreshing to take a step back from the sometimes inane technical issues about which product/distro and what versions of which systems we should use, and watch how normal end users actually experience the things we as IT professionals tend to get completely caught up in.

Great victory for Linux once again, but here’s the interesting bit:

On Sunday, Microsoft and Novell said Dell has agreed to buy Suse Linux Enterprise Server certificates from Microsoft and that the computer maker will set up a services and marketing program aimed at getting users of open-source platforms to switch to the new Suse Linux offering.

Why oh why is Dell buying SLES licenses from Microsoft? It seems as if the “Micro-vell” pact reaches a lot further than just the initially mentioned 3 points, and it seems as if Microsoft actually found a way to make money from the one thing that actually stood a chance to diminish their monopoly – Linux.

Under the partnership announced in November, Microsoft said it would offer corporate customers a chance to license its Windows operating system as part of a package that includes maintenance and support for Novell’s Suse Linux platform

Now Microsoft keeps their big clients that were threatening to adopt Linux happy by giving them Linux and still keeping them as Microsoft customers, more money to Microsoft, who already distributed in excess of 52 000 of their annual 70 000 quota SLES licenses by March this year – clearly they arranged this bandwagon at a very critical point in their continued monopoly existence and used their existing customer base to fill all the seats to the brim with a few people still standing in the aisles.

I predict that this will drive a big wedge into the Linux community, and that this is the beginning of the 2 distinct camps forming among Linux users – the die-hard geeks that like Linux because you can recompile the entire kernel if you feel like it, and the new breed of “Microvell” users that will never have a clue as to what Linux actually means or where it comes from. This fact will however not negatively impact the Linux success story though.

Linux will now be seen in more data centers and more desktops thanks to Dell, Microsoft, Novell, and Ubuntu. The above arrangements have taken Linux out of garages and dark bedrooms and underground server rooms and vaulted it into the mainstream spotlight where it will continue to make a dramatic impact on the ever-changing computing world, as it deserves to. This is perhaps not Linux’s originally planned destination, but Linux is evolving with the times and adopting to the requirements and delivering more and more by the pound with each iteration, and hopefully we will continue to benefit from it’s mainstream exposure…

There will be a whole spat of debates within the Linux community on which distribution they should have actually chosen, and which one is more friendlier etc etc, but the fact of the matter is that all new PCs sold will no longer by default come with Windows – think about that for a second…

This is by no means only a victory to Ubuntu and Mark Shuttleworth, it’s a victory to our right to freedom of choice! Well done Ubuntu!