Linux and Open-Source will prevail...

I've been a technology professional for 25 years and during that time I've seen many changes take place. Some good, some not so good.

I remember attending a trade show around 1990 and stumbling onto a software package named Minix, that was for sale at a very reasonable price. It touted being a Unix operating system that could be run on an IBM PC. At that time, I had never understood why somebody would want to continue using a character based operating system and type long, archaic looking command strings, when everybody I knew was putting DOS to the side and using Windows.

Nevertheless, I purchased that Minix package because the techie inside me hated having an opinion, without really knowing what I was talking about and I thought that by working with this PC based UNIX system, I could learn some things.

After struggling a bit, I managed to get my IBM PC to boot the Minix operating system from a floppy diskette. This seemed like a monumental accomplishment to me, at the time. What I didn't account for was, what to do next?

So there you have it. That was my first hands on experience with UNIX.

Fast forward to 1998. I joined a company that provided high-speed, broadband, wireless Internet connectivity. There I met a bunch of what I'll fondly refer to as 'geeks' who used to belittle me (in a fun way) over my use of Windows and my background in Visual Basic programming. They used to talk trash and ask me when I was going to start using a real operating system.

One day I finally said, what OS? Linux??? (In a very snide way). As you might expect, the response was, 'absolutely!'.

Having gained some respect and admiration of these new 'geek' friends of mine, I decided I would take a look at Linux, so I asked where do I get it? The response... 'you download it'. What the !!! It's free. Your kidding? What the !!!

Well they weren't kidding and after deciding that I would be their pet project, they helped me get Red Hat Linux Version 5 up and running on my own lab PC. It wasn't long after that that I was introduced to Apache, MySql, and PHP. (LAMP as industry professionals refer to it.)

I was officially in love with Linux and the open-source movement. I had found a platform where I could exercise my creative nature and web applications, without going broke in the process. What a concept!

I've never considered myself a serious Linux advocate. Sure I've continued to use it since 1998 to create web applications of various kinds, but when the tools like Apache, MySql, and PHP were all ported to run in a Windows environment too, I started doing all my development within my trusty Windows XP environment. This continued on and into the Windows Vista environment.

During my years as a technology professional, using Windows XP, I started to gain some type of disdain for Microsoft. They seemed to be getting greedier. The price of their products was rising, they seemed to be manipulating the business world with forced upgrades, there were inter-system imcompatabilities, and the list goes on.

Fast forward to Christmas 2006... I purchased a new Toshiba laptop for my daughter, who is in college. It came pre-loaded with the spiffy new Windows Vista and an evaluation version of Office 2003. I remember when we first powered it on that Christmas day and how cool the graphic effects were. It wasn't long before I discovered I didn't really know how to get around in this new OS. All these pop-up warnings about security were taking place. The pre-installed evaluation version of McAfee Security Center was something I wasn't familiar with either. Where was this? Where was that? I don't know what the $#%$ I'm doing!!!

Flashback... do you remember one of the key value propositions for adopting a Windows system? If your an industry veteran like me, you do. Hmm... seems like Microsoft forgot something. Oh well... who cares, we need to feed our bottom line! Can't believe that? Read on...

Now that we've got this nice, new, shiny laptop, with this slick new operating system, let's get some of that software that we've spent money on over the years, installed. Uh... what do you mean, 'not compatible with this operating system'? Hmmm... disdain 2356 points, favor 0 points.

So... here I am... mid 2007 and my laptop starts faltering, so I go out and buy another nice new shiny Toshiba laptop, with it's slick new Vista OS pre-installed. Well let's see now... this is now the second laptop that I'm going to have to invest additional dollars into to get my software upgraded. Am I excited about repeating this pattern for my wife and son's computers? Not!!! (I feel so cool when I use younger generation terms.)

So that leads me up to why I decided to make this post. Over the last few months, I've had the opportunity to spend a lot of hands-on time working with Linux. It's hard for me to believe how far this OS has come and how much quality software is available for it.

To that end, I've started an experiment to determine whether or not it's time for me to make a full-scale transition over to Linux from Windows. I can tell you that my instincts tell me yes, it's time. However, having considered this a few times over the last five years, I'm still cautious. It seems like I can do everything I need to do in Linux. Write documents, create spreadsheets, build project plans, create graphics, print, scan, surf, chat, read e-mail, write applications, create databases, and the list goes on.

I know it's time and my heart wants me too. Still, it's hard to break the old habits. Hence this experiment. I downloaded this great open-source virtual machine software named Virtual Box (http://www.virtualbox.org) and because I need to use Linux in my job, I've set up a few Linux based virtual environments. (Ubuntu 7.10 - Fedora Core 8 - CentOS 5.1)

This approach gives me the ability to learn about some of the differences between the various Linux distributions, before deciding which one I want to adopt as my ultimate desktop solution. Starting out I'm going to place my focus on using Ubuntu Linux as my primary desktop system. Primarily because it has received quite a bit of good press as a good candidate to replace Windows for folks like me who want something different. (Mac users, don't bother chiming in... I think Macs look awesome and I stop in at the Mac store and drool whenever I go to the mall, but that's not on the horizon for me yet.)

So there you have it. I'm going to start doing all my work in my Ubuntu Linux environment, only dropping out of it, if I absolutely can't accomplish something and I'm constrained by time. I'm hoping this won't happen. If I can do this for a few months, without dropping back into Windows, I'll probably drop the Vista OS off of my laptop and make a 100% cutover sometime in 2008. I actually believe this will happen, based on what I've seen so far.

So how does this relate to the title of this article? Well to begin with, I don't think I'm the only person who is starting to feel like I'm spending too much money on Microsoft these days, what with 4 PC's in my house. And secondly, as best as I can tell, most of the kids graduating with degrees in Computer Science and Engineering are coming out of college with a very astute understanding of Linux and the Open-Source movement. They live it, they believe in it, and they are building the tools of the future. If this weren't true, then I wouldn't have the tools I have, that are enabling me to even consider this radical change.

I've been around a long time and have been actively involved with PC's since they first came out. (I still have my Timex Sinclair) It's this experience and retrospective view that causes me to believe that Linux and Open-Source will prevail and may likely become the dominant desktop OS within the next 10 years.

To all the open-source contributors that have made it possible for people like me to have a choice, I say thank you! You are truly an awesome group of individuals.