Tag: John C. Dvorak

Dvorak Likes Linux – Good or Bad?

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Dvorak hosting Episode 19 of CrankyGeeks.
Image via Wikipedia

We like John C. Dvorak. He’s a well known tech pundit, very outspoken, and interesting to read. However, one of the most interesting aspects of reading Dvorak is how often we disagree with him.

Dvorak has finally discovered Ubuntu 8.10, four months after the current version was released.

Many of its problems, for me, stem from its inability to run on my overloaded hardware, or the occasional driver that makes the OS impossible to use without hand-tweaking something or other.

To disagree with Mr. Dvorak, Linux has made great strides in hardware support, with both independent developers and hardware manufacturers working to ensure support. The simplest way to ensure you don’t come across a device that isn’t supported under Linux is to check before you buy it. Most devices are. So far, since we switched to Linux, we’ve only found a noname GPS receiver, a Canon Scanner, and a Radio Shack postal scale failing to work under it. But we usually check before we buy. Most minor hardware issues can usually be resolved with a little online searching. Even he admits Linux support is increasing on new hardware.

He does point out many good things about Linux during his exploration of Ubuntu.

  • The lightweight nature of it makes it perfect for older machines. Many distributions offer lower memory(RAM or HD) alternatives to programs, such as Abiword instead of OpenOffice, XFCE or Sugar instead of Gnome or KDE, etc.
  • “There is probably a Linux program that will substitute for just about any Windows programs with as much or more functionality.” Not sure we agree with him on Photoshop vs. Gimp, but we’re not artists.
  • Linux is mostly immune to malware and viruses, as the bulk of such things are written for Windows.
  • The Windows registry is ultimately flawed. It is an increasingly unwieldy database that over time, slows Windows to a crawl.

He does note that the Linux desktops are not as polished as Windows. However, we’re not sure whether or not he tried Compiz Fusion, which enables all those nice windows animations. We loved watching them, but we loved speed more, and ultimately turned them off. For productivity use, we’d rather simplify.

Even the French police recognize the wonder of Linux. They’ve saved millions by migrating to Ubuntu. Currently, they are running Ubuntu on about 5,000 workstations with long term plans to have their entire organization (90,000 workstations) running Ubuntu by 2015. Their budget has been reduced by seventy percent without losing any functionality.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Comment with your thoughts.

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