Linux Can’t Kill Windows
April 13, 2005 – 9:57 pmI read an article today with the title “Linux Can’t Kill Windows”. Actually, when I first read it, the title was “Windows Can’t Kill Linux”, which was a little odd considering the piece was written about the fallacy of people claiming Linux would one day kill off Windows. This is the first time I’ve seen such a blunder in the title of an article, but it’s been fixed since I first found it.
Anyway, the author claims, with some strong elements of truth, that the primary reason Linux will not destroy Windows is because of the lack of a uniform Linux platform. The crux of the article is in the following quote.
But no matter how much money and dedication is poured into Linux, it will never put a dent in Windows’ mind share or market share because Linux is an operating system, a way — and probably the best way — to make system hardware do what it’s told. But you can’t turn Linux into a platform even if you brand it, box it, and put a pricey sticker on it.
I don’t think the article is completely true, because an enterprise could effectively build a platform from Linux by using the same distribution across all of their computers. In this sense, the author’s claim that “everything you create will interoperate with everything others write for Windows” is combated. Yes, third party software will always be developed for Linux which may not work beautifully with your distribution out of the box, but all of the important application software does (Apache, OpenOffice, Firefox, most multimedia players, etc.). The author implies he will write more about all of this in the near future, and I’ll definitely keep my eye open for it.
6 Responses to “Linux Can’t Kill Windows”
So, this article also popped up on slashdot this morning and I just gave it a quick read. It may be that I haven’t had my daily injection of caffeine yet, but I really didn’t like the article, and by extension, the guy writing it. To me, there was effectively no content in his article. It basically said “Windows is on top and will remain there. But don’t worry Linux, we’ll keep you around for the few things you’re good for.”
Right off the bat, it rubbed me wrong: “Show me charts and stats and benchmarks that prove Linux superior to Windows in every measure and I’ll not argue with you.” Sure, Linux isn’t superior to Windows in every way. Similarly, Windows isn’t superior to Linux and CERTAINLY is not superior to OS X in every way.
“Businesses and organizations of all sizes need consistent, predictable, scalable, self-contained platforms for server solutions. Windows wins.” It seems to me that even in the last couple of years Linux has gotten a lot more consistent and predictable. It’s ability to Just-Plain-Work (TM) has certainly improved. And, if companies go with solutions like Red Hat Enterprise Linux, they get the same support that they’d get from Microsoft to ensure that things work.
Also the whole “you can’t turn Linux into a platform…” statement seems rather baseless to me. He later mentions OS X which, despite having “operating system” in its name, is a PLATFORM based on UNIX. Isn’t it conceivable that Apple might take one of the Linux variants somewhere down the road and base its platform on Linux?
Now, as for the title of the article: “Linux Can’t Kill Windows”. I do agree with the title. Only Windows can kill Windows, I think. Or perhaps an outside chance of Apple killing Windows down the line. However, I would rate the chance of Windows killing itself as being not that small. As Linux becomes more useable, and as Macs become more affordable, Microsoft really has to watch out to make sure that it doesn’t become complacent. Longhorn better Just-Plain-Work (TM) on the same level as OS X, or I think more people will be driven into the open arms of Linux and Apple. Additionally, Microsoft has already been hit by monopoly lawsuits, copyright infringement lawsuits, etc. As long as they remain on top, I think they will continue to be a target for such things. While these alone won’t topple the company, they do distract it and allow competitors to get a leg up on the competition.
Okay, this is way too long, so I’m going to cut things off here. Comments Jeff?
By Adam on Apr 14, 2005 at 9:00 am
I can’t resist. Some of the comments on Slashdot are really good and much better than mine. But there was one thing in particular that I really liked:
‘Some people will crawl through mud to save a nickel. We call those people “the majority”‘.
The slashdot comments are here… I think…
By Adam on Apr 14, 2005 at 9:05 am
Ah, nothing beats a good Microsoft versus Linux debate! I haven’t read the article but I’ve read a million others like it. Personally I think these articles are good from a Linux standpoint. I’ve been playing with Linux for almost five years now and it has come a long, long way since then. With the current state of Linux, yeah I guess it couldn’t kill Windows. But in another five years, who knows. I think that if a PC manufacturer got behind a distribution and offered an affordable PC with a working, user friendly version of Linux and plenty of tech support, you could start seeing Linux make moves in the desktop world.
Most importantly though, OpenOffice needs to become more comparable to Microsoft Office. If they can do what Mozilla has done in the browser world, I think its feasable.
By Griztown on Apr 14, 2005 at 12:58 pm
“Microsoft versus Linux debate”… I kind of feel that my comments were leaning closer to being an anti-Microsoft flame. Which is not how I intended it, since I am, in fact, mostly a Windows user who occasionally uses UNIX/Linux. I was somewhat hopeing to convey my opinion that the article perhaps had less fact-driven content and more blind prophecy than any other article I have ever read. I rather feel that anyone who claims to know what Linux will or will not look like and be capable of 5 years from now hasn’t really got a clue as to what’s going on. Like you say Griz, if a PC manufacturer (and I would qualify that with the term “major” manufacturer) puts out a good Linux-based solution, the market could change very quickly.
I am quite anxious to see what new and wonderful things happen to Linux in the next couple of years. One of the reasons that I use Fedora is that I *know* that I’ll be getting a new OS a couple times a year with bleeding-edge stuff in it. And I think that things like Fedora, if it remains on schedule, could possibly be one of the driving forces behind Linux turning into a major competitor to Windows.
By Adam on Apr 15, 2005 at 1:55 am
I agree with your criticism, Adam, that the article is a lot of hand-waving. However, I think the author does a decent job of conveying the prevailing mindset amongst many corporate IT outfits, which is the notion that Windows provides a more uniform platform on which to launch and maintain critical application software.
Does Windows really provide a more uniform platform? Maybe. Probably even. Does it provide a more secure platform? Almost certainly not. And the uniformity can be mitigated by your above suggestions, where a OEM pre-installs some Linux invariant (instead of Windows) and runs with it. There are several reasons why that’s not right around the corner, but IT outfits themselves can combat the perceived lack of Linux uniformity by picking a distribution and sticking with it. Red Hat has been around a while and looks like it will be for some time in the future. Novell’s big step up to the plate with its purchase of SuSE is another confidence builder. Windows is just so “standard” that it will take a clear cut win for Linux to start changing minds and hearts of non-trivial portions of the computing public.
By jjk on Apr 15, 2005 at 3:17 pm
I’ve been very impressed with recent progress in Linux to provide a uniform platform. I downloaded Skype (a fantastic internet telephony application), for Fedora Core 3, hoping it would work on Redhat Enterprise 4. Oh boy, did it ever. A simple RPM, so it “just worked”. Not even any of the endless “accept these obvious defaults” windows that appears in Windows, it just installed. It found my soundcard and network settings fine, added itself to the relevant application start menu, and even added an icon to the system tray. In fact, it was perfect.
By Paul.za on Apr 16, 2005 at 1:56 pm