[CoLoCo] Boulder Daily Camera newspaper on Linux

[Neal McBurnett]

Wow.  The front page of Boulder's Daily Camera newspaper had a 2-inch
Tux on it today, linking to a full-page image of penguins on the front
of the business section, and a full-page article on page 10.  The text
is here:

 http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/sep/10/cover-story-linux-toeing-the-march-of-the/

and included below.

Several mistakes, but not bad at all....

There was also a "Linux: Pro and Con" sidebar that I don't see online.

This would be a good time for some helpful comments in their online
page or some letters to the editor.  Someone from the Boulder LUG
already put up a URL for them.

Neal McBurnett                 http://mcburnett.org/neal/

----

March of the penguin: Linux emerges as option for Windows

By Arwyn Rice, For the Camera
Monday, September 10, 2007

Shopping for a home computer involves more than just choosing
hardware â buyers must also pick what kind of operating system they
want to run that new machine.

And for most people, that's long meant choosing between Microsoft's
Windows, which runs on PCs, or OS, the system that operates Apple's
Macintosh.

For the last two decades, there have been few challenges to the battle
between Windows machines â which overwhelmingly dominate the consumer
market â and pricier Macs. Unix, standing separately as an operating
system for servers as well as university and large corporate computer
systems, was simply far too expensive and far too difficult for the
average computer user.

Enter Linux, an operating system created by Finnish university student
Linus Torvalds as a hobby.

Once only a toy for geeks, Linux now is vying for a place in the
consumer operating system market. While Linux long has been used by
hardcore computer enthusiasts to improve their machines' performance
and to protect from viruses, a new user-friendly generation of the
operating system is ready to offer its services to the average user.

A short history

of Linux

In 1991 Torvalds created Linux, a free, open-source operating system
based on the powerful Unix system. Thousands of computer programmers
joined the Linux camp, altering, improving and adding to the Linux
code in their spare time.

In a famous 1996 experiment, the Los Alamos National Laboratory
created a supercomputer by wiring 68 personal computers together while
running Linux. The do-it-yourself computer ran 19 billion calculations
per second. Three months later, the system still did not need to be
rebooted, a testament to the stability of Linux.

However, Linux still was not quite ready for the consumer market.
Early Linux users had to find a server, download Linux, put it on
floppy disks and install the program. Even practiced technicians had
some difficulty with the installation process, earning Linux a
reputation for being difficult.

Yet the system continued to grow in popularity and there were an
increasing number of applications available for Linux-based systems.

"It was due to a bunch of nerds that have the ability to dig into the
system." said Chris Schenk, director of computer operations at the
University of Colorado's department of computer sciences.

When the turn of the century arrived, there were competing Linux
distributions. Red Hat, SUSE and Caldera offered commercial versions
of Linux that could be purchased in a store and easily installed by
novice computer users, while Debian offered similar downloads for
free.

By 2004, more than 5 percent of home computers used Linux operating
systems. New Linux "live" distributions were offered. SUSE, Knoppix,
Ubuntu and others offered further ease of installation and technical
support.

Meanwhile, free support software entered the market, including Star
Office and Open Office productivity suites, image editing programs
such as The GIMP and a multitude of games, many featuring the Linux
penguin mascot "Tux."

Linux was finally ready for the consumer market.

Ready for prime time?

"Linux has come a long way in the last few years, especially the
Ubuntu distribution" CU's Schenk said. "It has all the standard stuff
any regular person would need."

Most people are looking for multimedia, which can be a difficult to
configure in Linux, and there are difficulties in getting Linux to
work with wireless systems, Schenk noted.

Computers shipped with Linux do not have this difficulty, as they come
pre-configured, eliminating the most difficult step in Linux usage.

Larry Call, a 70-year-old computer user from Boulder, switched from
Windows to Linux two years ago when he purchased a new Dell laptop
computer and couldn't get Windows to work with his wireless network.
The computer technician he hired to fix the problem suggested Linux.

"I read about it for the first time several years ago," Call said. "I
told him to install it."

The technician installed the system and Call has had no problems with
his computer since.

"I just thought it was easier," Call said. "Everything, the whole
thing is easier."

In December 2004, WalMart announced the Balance, a laptop computer
marketed with the Linux distribution Linspire. It was the first time
computers were shipped pre-loaded with Linux, and cost only $498, a
low price that could be offered because the cost does not include a
Windows license.

The Balance eventually was discontinued, but, in 2006 Hewlett-Packard,
Dell and Lenovo became the first major computer manufacturers to offer
Linux pre-loaded on their machines.

HP has the most extensive variety of computers pre-loaded with Linux
and offers a choice of Linux distributions including Novell SUSE, Red
Hat and Debian.

Dell offers three models pre-loaded with Ubuntu 7.04 â two desktops
and a laptop. Dell plans to offer additional options later this year.

Lenovo (formerly IBM) offers another distribution of Linux on SUSE
Enterprise Desktop 10 on the Thinkpad T60p.

System76 also offers a variety of laptops and desktops pre-loaded with
Linux.

Linux in the real world

Counting how many computers run Linux is difficult. Market shares are
calculated by sales of new computers with a pre-loaded operating
system. Sales of computers pre-loaded with Linux doubled between
September 2006 and August 2007, creating an apparent market share of 1
percent.

However, most Linux users purchase standard Windows computers, build
their own computers or purchase computers without any operating
system. Users then erase Windows and install Linux from online
downloads or from shared CDs. It is nearly impossible to count the
number of home based computers that use the system.

According to IDC information technology research company, thanks to
the emerging Linux market, the market share of new and used PCs
shipped with Linux is expected reach 7 percent in 2008. That would put
it nearly even with Mac, which posted a 7.6 percent market share in
May 2007.


Comments

Posted by tcrjunk on September 10, 2007 at 9:35 a.m. ([40]Suggest
removal)

Or you can try linux out without ever leaving windows. Just install
colinux.

Posted by LightningRose on September 10, 2007 at 11:52 a.m.
([41]Suggest removal)

Anyone interested in learning more about Linux is invited to contact
the Boulder Linux Users Group.

[42]http://lug.boulder.co.us/
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