Linux Part III

Linux Part 3 – As you can see, my experimentation with Linux is not quite over. After writing last week’s column about my troubles installing Skype for Linux, I got an email the next day by a Linux user who knew how to fix the problem. Interestingly, the online version of my column posted by Whistler Question each week (www.whistlerquestion.com) was added to a Linux User’s Group (or LUG), and I got no fewer than seven responses in the two days after publication, all different, on how to fix the problem.

Without going into the details about how I eventually did get Skype running, (let’s just say that it’s been challenging, I tried so many different methods that I’m still not completely clear how I did it) I find it very interesting that there is such a fervent and dedicated community of Linux users who want to help each other. It has always impressed me that whenever I am looking for an answer to a computer problem, no matter how obscure, somebody somewhere has solved the problem and has taken the time to post his solution on a newsgroup, and that that answer can be so easily found on the search engines. (I say “his solution” not to be gender-biased, but it does seem that the majority of geeks out there are male). Linux User Groups are a great example of this community spirit.

Even though I remarked on the difficulty of installing applications on Linux (and trust me, no matter what they say on the user’s groups about how easy it is, it isn’t), the number of people who are willing to help is truly overwhelming. There is also a palpable undercurrent of disapproval for Microsoft Windows among the Linux community. The reasons are many: Windows is considered overpriced, is vulnerable to security problems, and until Windows 3.1, 95, 98 and ME were finally retired Windows was also very crash-prone; Linux by comparison is extremely stable and secure. Lastly, Microsoft’s licensing structure is so rigid that re-installing Microsoft software can be a nightmare if the user has lost his original installation CD and/or license number. And Good Luck getting help from Microsoft.

In stark comparison to Windows, it is entirely possible with Linux to have a fully functional and fast computer system with any software application imaginable, all for free and without licensing encumbrances, if one is willing to take on the learning curve. With any of the major distributions such as Red Hat, Debian, Suse, Mandriva or Ubuntu, you have most of the software you really need already included. Most people still use MS Office, Internet and e-mail more than anything else, and Ubuntu comes with equivalent applications built in, along with an abundance of games and utilities. OpenOffice (freely available for Windows as well) has all the features of Microsoft Office and can even read and write MS Office file formats. The only drawback with Linux that I can see is the incredibly complex approach to installing software – did I mention this already?

As I reached for last week’s Question, I noticed on the very same page that my column appeared on that there was a big advertisement for a new Linux User’s Group, right here in the valley, going by the name of Mountain Linux User’s Group, or MLUG (http://www.mountainlinux.ca/). Their first meeting will be on March 7^th, location as yet undisclosed, and I might just go and see what it is all about.