Several times this weekend I used the phrase “unixlike” or “unixy” to describe applications or devices.
This is what I meant:
- Most importantly, it means that you play well with others, as in the Unix concept of standard out: Whatever your application does, it is able (intended, really) to be used as the input to another application.
- It does not mean using the command line, but does mean it has an extremely lightweight interface. There is no fade, no glass and no glow. Unix applications are true utilities, though they may still be extremely fun to use.
- The scope of a unix application’s purpose is extremely narrow. It does exactly one thing, and it does it extremely well.
- It was built in the 1970s by ornery geniuses with beards.
Linux and open source computing is going to have a great 2007. In spite of a few hiccups in some communities, and the astonishing lack of penetration into the mainstream brain, it is obvious that we are seeing more and more people getting it.
Just check out IBM’s Linux praise page if you want an overview. And governments are getting it too, in Korea, Venuzela, and India. And then there is Chicago.
When you think of Windows server, you think of rebooting the server, of always having to apply security patches. You think of viruses … Linux and Solaris prove to be a lot less headaches than any other platform.ÂAmy Niersbach,
Chicago geek-honcho
Of course, it is a bunch of elitist BS to pretend that the only reason people don’t “get” desktop Linux is because they are just ignorant — Linux is hard. Switching is hard-ish.
These governments are not doing something that is totally obvious — they are, but contrast, pioneers, and they are taking no small risk in putting Linux desktops in front of their municipal employees. I mean, really, I just can’t see *my* Dad using ifconfig to fiddle with his network settings. Only recently has Linux distributions emerged that I would consider suggesting to my family, much less my family’s coworkers.
(By contrast, of course, Linux as a *server* platform has had success for so long, and open source software is clearly dominant on the server.)
Ever since the Ubuntu Linux campaign began a couple years ago, we have all seen how much it makes sense (in terms of attracting an audience) to focus on getting things to Just Work on a *personal computer*. Ubuntu has ridden the hype skyrocket right past Debian and Suse etc … well, because they have a millionaire at the wheel … but also because they have taken on the closed-source OS’s head-on with regard to *usability.* They put a lot of time into making a Linux distribution that would recognize your iPod (and monitor and printer and keyboard …) the first time you plugged it in. They even have a branch devoted to a kid-friendly version, edubuntu. And they have done a lot of steady work to make a more useable experience generally (even if they aren’t rewriting the Gnome desktop). I think their whole approach deserves applause, despite all the remaining gotchas of linux. (Certainly there is not a Linux desktop the tops the Mac OS usability experience, in my opinion.)
Related reading on usability:
Check out the recent preview of the KDE desktop, which has been designed by a wonderfully talented, small team.
And then there is the fascinating approach to the UI taken by the $100 Laptop folks.
I think that Tux Magazine started a couple of years ago.
For a number of reasons–not all financial–the model we had built for TUX was not sustainable. At this point, a group of us who were involved in TUX are tossing some ideas around. Where it will go we are not sure but let me assure you that enough of us feel TUX needs to exist that we will try our best to come up with, as they say, “Plan B”.
Their goal was to server the “new Linux user,” with glossy color articles about installing the latest KDE, understanding the differences between the various distros, and getting your new printer to work with Ubuntu.
It was an interesting niche that seemed really promising. (Several other Liunx magazines exist, but are written more for the hardcore geeks.)
Alas, just before their 21st issue, they have just announced that they are closing down.
I wonder what this means for the state of the Open Source OS in 2007?
Just found this nice, basic, summary of the various Linux distributions.
Linux is an operating system that was initially created as a hobby by a young student, Linus Torvalds, at the University of Helsinki in Finland. Linus had an interest in Minix, a small UNIX system, and decided to develop a system that exceeded the Minix standards. He began his work in 1991 when he released version 0.02 and worked steadily until 1994 when version 1.0 of the Linux Kernel was released. The kernel, at the heart of all Linux systems, is developed and released under the GNU General Public License and its source code is freely available to everyone. It is this kernel that forms the base around which a Linux operating system is developed. There are now literally hundreds of companies and organisations and an equal number of individuals that have released their own versions of operating systems based on the Linux kernel.
If you are new to Linux, this may help to explain a lot of the confusion in your head about the numerous versions of the platform.
http://linux.wordpress.com/2006/06/24/linux-the-choice-is-there/
WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: LinuxChix Africa
“LinuxChix Africa manages to shatter two stereotypes at the same time: the idea that women aren’t interested in free/open source software development; and the idea that women in Africa are bound to traditional cultural roles. Founded in late 2004 by Anna Badimo, a computer science graduate student in South Africa, and Dorcas Muthoni of the Kenya Education Network, LinuxChix Africa seeks to build Linux skills among African women, as well as to support more generally the use of free/open source applications and systems across Africa. Like most Linux and F/OSS communities, much of their work entails professional software development and public advocacy of open source, but LinuxChix Africa adds a unique twist: they focus their outreach on encouraging young women to pursue careers in computing.”