Windows 7 The Linux killer and Ubuntu Going Mainstream
Filed under: Computers, Software | By: Daniel
Posted on: January 12, 2009 | 22 Comments
Last month hundreds of controversial software developers met at Mountain View, Calif (Google headquarters), this group of people are very capable of overthrowing the likes of Windows. Everyone at this meeting was talking about billionaire Mark Shuttleworth and something called Ubuntu (the most popular form of Linux).
Ubuntu and its leader (Mark Shuttleworth) have plans of going mainstream, it’s his view that “the open process produces better stuff” and Ubuntu has amazed many at it’s success in a Windows marketplace. You can read the full details of this meeting at Google HQ and why Ubuntu could make a lot more ground on Windows over at nytimes.
On Network World they have a very different view about Linux and Ubuntu, it’s their view that Windows 7 is a Linux killer and will stop any chance of Linux gaining on Microsoft Windows. We are not sure why they see Windows 7 as a Linux killer and not a Mac killer but what does all this say about Vista?
They show details on loads of open source apps for Windows and give reasons as to why Windows 7 will kill Linux, it’s funny that Open Source apps have been a focus considering they have always been on Windows. Check out their article here.
Do you see Windows 7 as a Linux killer?
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Let’s not forget that Win2k,WinXP as well as Vista was tagged as Linux killers. and needless to say, Linux installations did not decrease but increased.
Let not forget that Linux is free as well as open source. That’s a hard combination to “kill” now days.
linux is too strong!
To strong?? Linux is the BIGGEST joke OS. Microsoft just works and thats all you need from a OS. I tested Linux-Ubuntu 9.04 in 3 laptops and 3 desktops!! The biggest waste of time nothing but problems! No sound, no wireless support and the list goes on. I even paid for support know I wasted time and money. I rather pay and get a product that WORKS then waste time with a junk OS like LINUX!!!!!
Considering that yours is the ONLY criticism of this open-source OS, if you want ANY credibility you need to publish your bonafides: who are you, really? do you work for MSN? what are your qualifications to comment? Prove you are not a spreader of disinformation, since your unsubstantiated claims of having run the OS on 6 pcs requires a HUGE “willing suspension of disbelief” as Lewis Carroll said. Are you in the pay of MSN or any of its subs or fellow travelers?
Matt, I need some of the stuff you are smoking. It is painfully obvious to the rest of us that you have never tried Ubuntu and simply shooting from the hip with no bullets.
I’ve installed Windows and Ubuntu on on dozens of machines. I’ve found that it is easier to install Ubuntu than it is to install Windows. Windows is clueless if you don’t provide a motherboard driver cd. Ubuntu works on first boot.
Maybe I need to send my 9 year old son to come and install Ubuntu for you. It appears he is capable of doing stuff your are still having trouble with.
If you have trouble with 6 machines, the problem might not be the OS, go look in the mirror.
According to these same “journalists” Linux has no market share to speak of anyway, so what is there to “kill”? In other news, Microsoft spends hundreds of millions of dollars in print and online advertising every year, and that is what largely pays the salaries of these “journalists”, but of course these folks wouldn’t consider this any kind of conflict of interest.
I think Microsoft will have more and more difficulties convincing people of the value added of his desktop compared to product like Ubuntu desktop. Canonical is dedicated to make the Linux desktop succeed and I think they have what it takes to make it happen!
I, for one, am ready to bet on Ubuntu on the desktop. It is the reason why we launched allmyapps, a linux app store focused on ubuntu today! We thought an app store was definitely needed for the linux desktop to succeed…
> Do you see Windows 7 as a Linux killer?
Well, Microsoft must certainly strike back, after the Vista debacle (which is a quite funny story if you think about it: the most important OS of the planet going down the drain).
The fact is that nowadays Linux, especially in its Ubuntu incarnation, is spreading like fire, at least in Europe, and when you see that proprietary graphic drivers à la Nvidia are being more and more ported to GNU/Linux, it means that the last barrier: cutting edge games, is already in sight.
This “proprietary porting” is not only happening for graphic drivers: most wifi cards that come out now, for instance, work perfectly with GNU/Linux, BECAUSE they better do… if they want to hope to have a future.
Photographs leaving photoshop and turning to gimp and (powerful) Linux dcraw implementations, gamers beginning to enjoy cutting edge games on their most recent Nvidia cards, either trough wine or native, even music fanatics beginning seriously to consider linux alternatives… and surely the most impressive results are the non geeks that use Ubuntu without any problem whatsoever and with all the huge advantages that NON having those norton cans of worms and windows firewalls running below the hood means in terms of security, stability and speed. When people discover the speed, security and stability of a well trimmed GNU/Linux system there’s no way they would go back to a windows system, that moreover is also supposed to be paid for: a cruel joke.
Moreover Windows 7 cannot be a Linux killer, whatever Microsoft’s hopes may be, because there’s no way a proprietary system developed by a restricetd number of paid developers, without open published source code (and therefore full of bugs that remain undiscovered for a long time) can keep abreats with a open system with published source code and its army of helpers PLUS thousands of developers that work for free, or next to it.
So, yes, Microsoft might further delay the moment for a little while, but the fortress is already broken, and free and open source software and OSsystems have already won the battle (Apple is also going to disappear together with its own proprietary and closed model, despite the recent gains they also made thank to the Vista huge moronic blunder).
Was about time, I would say.
hi
i am some what agree with you but still there is one section where window is dominted, in business.
actually i was big fan of linux from it’s early days when you have to compile the file to install it on pc from strach.
but still i didn’t find linux as window alternative as none of my business app running on linux.
like i am trade in currency i am using saxotraders from saxobank, and meta traders from alpari and fxdd. also using odin diet for trade in commodity and equity market of india.
so still i don’t want to use window i have to stick with it.
i know many like me who want to use linux but because of this limitations only use linux as hobby only and not as principal os.
even the website of mcxindia (indian commodity exchange) open only first page in mozila, but if you tried to click some link in it, only open in IE. not in any other browser.
so if any of you have solution of all this limitation please tell so i can linux as my main os.
thank a lot
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. But even still, the vast majority of users, let’s face it, prefer Windows because:
1. it’s familiar.
2. it runs the apps they’re familiar with
3. it’s (mostly) backwards compatable
From a business perspective, these are the Linux killers.
You can have the most stable environment possible, but if you have to train people how to use the OS and additionally train them how to use new apps (especially anything MS Office Suite related) then you’ll have a revolt on your hands. Even when you need to train someone, it’s rare that they aren’t familiar with the Windows environment.
Consider this:
MS Office 2007 has new formats for Word documents (.docx) and Excel Spreadsheets (.xlsx). If you email a document or spreadsheet and forget to save as the backwards comp. version, then the receiver won’t be able to view the attachment without downloading a patch.
Let’s take the same analogy a step further;
Your organization has a top-down implementation of Linux and you communicate with other non-linux organizations. Even though your office can send documents and spreadsheets in supposedly compatable formats, there is still a problem with the display on the other end. They can see the spreadsheet, but some things are off (formulae, etc…).
Let’s say that the receiver is depending largely on what you have sent them to decide whether your company is awarded a contract or not. Do you want to risk it?
Loyal Linux (and Mac) users tout their respective systems as having better security. But let me throw this out there: Could it be that that Mac and Linux security seems better because there hasn’t been nearly as much motivation to write Mac or Linux viruses? If so, then the Mac/Linux stance is analogous to me saying I’m invincible and bullet proof, because no one is pointing a gun at me!
I would postulate that as any OS becomes more common, so too will viruses, worms, trojans, etc FOR that OS.
Case in point: Mac is experiencing more security trouble now because sales are up and hack/crackers are now sufficiently motivated to develop malware for Mac. If someone were to target the community via a website that lots of mac users visit, then they wouldnt even know they had been infected, since no one runs a virus checker.
I have been windows software developer for 15 years. I have to use windows in order to provide support to my existing windows software clients. For my everyday work (design, web applications, office, mail, web and audio) I already use Gimp, Open office, Evolution, Audacity… and tons of very useful utility software. Right now I’m learning Gambas and I believe I will be able to make some useful applications soon. So, reading your article I asked myself: What made me switch from windows to Ubuntu?
Huh… it just doesn’t matter. Too long story to write here. I believe I will switch completely when Windows 7 will be available. After that no Windows would be Linux killer for me.
I am looking forward to something succeeding against Microsoft. Their OS and its calamity of design have cost users untold amounts of money chasing viruses and malware. The OS is a sieve letting anything through.
You pay $150 for the OS then have to pay another $50+ a year to attempt to protect it from attacks to design flaws that Microsoft left in it!!!
It is a mess, I hope Ubuntu punches a big hole in Microsofts hull…
Its not going to be Linux! I rather pay for a system that works. I tested ubuntu and other linux-baesd system on six computers hoping to change from microsoft. It was the biggest waste of time not one computer worked. Nothing but problems form wireless cards to no sound the list goes on. Linux is so bad even the drives dont work. Then I even paid for support I would have had better results burning my money!!!! My company has nearly 20 computers. I would never try Linux in one of them again. Sorry but we pay microsoft for a product we can use!
Long live “free” Ubuntu!
hi
i am some what agree with you but still there is one section where window is dominted, in business.
actually i was big fan of linux from it’s early days when you have to compile the file to install it on pc from strach.
but still i didn’t find linux as window alternative as none of my business app running on linux.
like i am trade in currency i am using saxotraders from saxobank, and meta traders from alpari and fxdd. also using odin diet for trade in commodity and equity market of india.
so still i don’t want to use window i have to stick with it.
i know many like me who want to use linux but because of this limitations only use linux as hobby only and not as principal os.
even the website of mcxindia (indian commodity exchange) open only first page in mozila, but if you tried to click some link in it, only open in IE. not in any other browser.
so if any of you have solution of all this limitation please tell so i can linux as my main os.
thanks a lot
Is this a joke?
If its so, they could have done earlier!