BY: ELIJAH

Ok, ok, I admit first that it depends on the use. But for desktop performance it surely has improved its foothold against the famous software monopoly that we have today.

Have you seen the Asus EEE pc? By default it's built with linux pre-installed, although there are some geeks who switched it to windows there are many non-techy users enjoying the thrills of a stable desktop platform that linux can provide, some don't even realize they've been using linux all the time. This linux ultraportable laptop is named as 'America's Most wanted Christmas Gift' according to Amazon and CNET and everyone just love it for it's features, portability and price. Can you imagine how much this would cost if vista / xp is installed in it? The Linux laptop gave great insights as to the usability of a linux desktop platform, that is if done right. Those big menu icons in the 'easy' mode of Asus eee made a big difference in user-friendliness. Yes, linux desktop works for everyone. A lot of people are now buying one for their non-geeky parents, kids and even grandparents.

Demo: http://honeypothack.com/eee/



Asus EEE comparison to a 17" macbook (image courtesy of jaaron)

"Yeah, yeah, but what about gaming?" Another big part of the linux desktop improvement is the almost constant release of wine. As of this post we already have Wine 0.9.50. With even an earlier release I was able to play a good round of Warcraft3 and Ragnarok online. Plus, there are many linux games that are unheard of in the Windows realm... I gotta admit most of them are geeky but they are very playable. What about all those new games? well, that is where we draw the line, if you are not an avid gamer then linux may not be for you. But if you are one of those who like quick and easy games without all the fancy graphics then give linux a try.

Hardware. Yes, linux has had a history of compatability problems because many hardware providers do not release the code of their own drivers, making it difficult to hack one that works. But in my experience, hardware support is getting more and more better and faster. All my hardware works now unlike before, my laptop works out of the box and all other peripherals without compiling a new driver.


Screenshot from oldmanstan

Productivity, what about it? Openoffice.org for office applications, maybe abiword for quick doc editings, or if you prefer a better text editor we have gedit, kate and so many other text editors. Programming? try eclipse or just a plain text editor. Web development? ok, so you need IE? have a look at this screen renderer it's free, but you can also try out vmware or virtualbox (my favorite). Then fire up your firefox web development tool or firebug and you're all set. For visual tools we have here a gold mine of it: nvu, quanta, bluefish, etc, etc... If you are after multimedia applications we have exaile, amarok, vlc, mplayer, totem, etc for music/video. We have gimp, inkscape even photoshop! (under wine) for image editing. Emails and browsing? Evolution, thunderbird, firefox, opera ... the list goes on. Linux shines here.



"What if I encounter a problem?" Easy, consult the web or read the documentation offline. There are MANY support forums and mailing lists out there, take a pick and you'll have your answer in no time. This one is popular. What is great about linux is that your error messages are logged and most of the time is displayed on screen, unlike one proprietary OS out there that spits out gibberish and vague messages and most of the time won't even tell you what is wrong.

Linux is getting more and more better suited for even the most non-techy audience, it's stability and security will win everyone over. It's really getting better.

Try it: Linux

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