The Linux OS: Compatibility and Affordability in One Package

In the early 1990s, a young man by the name of Linus Torvalds designed an operating system that soon revolutionized computers around the world. Torvalds was a student attending the University of Helsinki in Finland who spent his free time developing this open-source OS (operating system), later known as Linux.

Most people when they think of Linux picture lines of complex code in white writing on a black screen. This text based interface, while a necessity to many programmers who like the ultimate control, was not acceptable to the non-programming public; thus, GUIs (Graphical User Interface)s were incorporated into many distributions of the Linux OS. Users that are familiar with the Windows or Mac interface welcomed the addition.

Linux is well on its way to becoming a big competitor against the almighty Microsoft that has dominated the market. Microsoft and Apple are known for their standardized and visually appealing desktops, but Linux is rising to meet the challenge. Over the last few years, major developments have been made to GUIs attracting more general users.

There are seven major reasons for the growing popularity and growth of the Linux OS:

1. It's free. Unlike Windows and Mac, Linux is free and you do not need to purchase licenses to install it on multiple computers.
2. It's open source. You are able to access the source code, modify it, and distribute it freely.
3. It is constantly being improved upon with updates made available ASAP.
4. It's adaptable to almost every computer-new or old, the resources needed to run Linux are far less compared to the latest versions of Windows or Mac.
5. It is not susceptible to many computer viruses that befall the notorious Windows OS.
6. You can find lots of free software for Linux that can do just about everything the Microsoft programs like Word and Excel can do.
7. You can do just about everything a Windows or Mac OS can do.

Linux is a great operating system, but it does have its disadvantages. When converting your computer to Linux, you'll need to download new hardware drivers. You also need to keep in mind that many of the popular programs are not compatible with Linux, so you'll need to download their Linux equivalents (which are usually free). Some programs are programmed to run on Linux, but those are few and far between.

One alternative to downloading all your favorite software is to download Wine. Wine is a free program that lets you run some of your Windows applications on Linux; however, it may have some bugs and not all software and Windows OS versions are supported. It is an open source project and is still under development. You can download it at www.winehq.org.

There are a number of Linux distributions available, most of which are free. Some of the most popular include: Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, Debian, Mandriva, PCLinuxOS, Mepis, Knoppix, Slackware, Gentoo, FreeBSD, Linspire, and Xandros. You can find more information on the various Linux distributions at www.distrowatch.com.