Ubuntu – Humanity to Others
Sep. 14, 2006 by ravishan
So, what is Ubuntu? It is an African word and translates roughly to “I am what I am because of who we all are“. Also, “It is a complete Linux-based operating system freely available with both community and professional support.” Look at http://www.ubuntu.com/ for more details. I should say that I didn’t hear about this until I read a story about how Ubuntu is taking on Microsoft. When I went to their site to read further, I came away pretty impressed with what is going on with Ubuntu… I am thinking about installing it on my laptop for a test drive.
Why developments like these are important to us? We need to seriously look at this to see if there is a place for Linux OS in our universe. Why is it that our users are not taking to Linux as a desktop operating system? Why should we care?
We pay close to $95,000 a year in Microsoft license and because it is Windows OS we also need to purchase virus protection software for the desktops. Most of what we do on a daily basis (there are always exceptions) using our desktops revolves around email, meeting maker, web browser, word processing and spreadsheet. There are exceptions like web editing using frontpage or golive, and other applications like Adobe products or iTunes etc. The days when we ran many desktop applications are gone.
So, the question is, do we care what OS runs our computer, as long as it can offer the services that I am looking for in a way that works for me? Linux OS packaged with most of what we need has existed for a while now, including OpenOffice for word processing and spreadsheet and graphics programs. However, it has not picked up as a desktop operating system for various reasons. One is the “Eudora Syndrome” or the installed base problem. Change is very hard to come by. Once the users get used to a particular mode of operation, there is a lot of inertia to change unless there are very compelling reasons to do so.
If the claim by Ubuntu is accurate – that they are the most user friendly Linux OS and that edubuntu , a version targetted at K-12 now, but soon to be expanded for University use, will always be free then may be it is time for us to look at this. May be the science faculty and a few computers in certain public labs can be targetted for this, after we have done our homework on whether this is indeed what it claims to be…
Combine this with what Google is doing with writely (web based word processor) and spreadsheet and the last few desktop applications may become obsolete faster than we think. On the other hand, it is Google… They are in the search business…. Do I want my documents and spreadsheets searchable by others???? Hope not!!!
I’ve actually got Ubuntu running on one of our computers right now, mostly because I’d been hearing about it and wanted to try it out. It doesn’t seem like anything particularly *new* to tell the truth, but it does come off as being really slick. It is based on Debian (my personal favourite distro and what I run on everything I own), meaning there are a wealth of packages for it as well as a *very* solid base.
I’d recommend it whole-heartedly as an out of the box desktop linux – a concept I’d say is quite conceivable since I know many people who have done so with success over the years. In fact, the only reason I have to switch into Windows these days is for Internet Explorer of all things – go figure.
If 90% of what the user does is Linux friendly, we need to focus 90% of our efforts on that last 10%. Between WINE and Parallels, I think we can find a solution. I agree that we could replace desktops with linux and have a workable solution.
Of course, Apples are basically linux boxes these days. I think they should be strongly considered as we have the remote management tools, imaging tools and support of a large company. They also offer the user the same programs they are looking for such as FileMaker or iTunes. Where there is no Mac or linux solution, there is WINE or parallels. Seems like all three OS’s in one box would make everyone except for Bill Gates happy…