So here we are in January of 2007. Technically it’s the Chinese year of the pig, but I’m trying to help make 2007 the year of the penguin. It is my opinion that the time is now for the Linux community finally to realize what issues are holding them back from gaining some ground in the desktop market. In the past, it was the necessary for a geek to download, install and operate the Linux environment, but as of late it is evident that the installers are getting much easier. They may even be getting easier than a Microsoft installation. Compatibility has also gained a lot of ground in the world of Linux, with more and more hardware being added to the list each day.

     My parents, friends and family are constantly asking me why I’m always trying to get them to at least fool around with my Linux desktop. The answer is simple. Literally, it’s just easy to use, intuitive by nature, and has tons of really neat features. Aside from all that, it’s FREE! I, for one, have way more fun with something that was given to me as a gift or for free than with something I had to pay for, and I feel the same way about my desktop.

     My sister once had to type up a paper in my home office. While I was working on my homebuilt workstation, she turned around and asked me how she could print her paper, because there were no printers installed. (I hadn’t gotten around to adding the network printer on a machine that was running Mandriva Linux.) Needless to say, I was shocked when I turned around to find her in OpenOffice, after having typed up her whole paper, while researching on the internet using Firefox. I asked her if she knew that she was using Linux and she said “Well, I knew I wasn’t in Windows”.

     This came from a self proclaimed computer illiterate and I was thoroughly impressed at both her accomplishments as well as the Linux desktop that she was using. She was used to using a start button, so it was easy for her to click on the bottom left of the screen, and then navigate up to “OpenOffice.” The Firefox icon was on the desktop, so there was no real genius needed there either. Either way, I knew that this moment meant something.

     If non-technical users are able to use an operating system without technical guidance than the desktop environment was making huge strides in the right direction.

     Recently a friend of mine showed me his latest install of OpenSUSE 10.2 on his laptop. (OpenSUSE is a Linux operating system managed by Novell.) He showed me all the new features like “Beagle” (Beagle is a built-in document indexing and search utility to help you find documents quickly), and the new programs menu. I loved it. I loved how it looked, I loved how it worked, and I loved how easy it was. I even loved how the little green SUSE chameleon followed my mouse pointer with his big eye-ball. That night, I came home, and downloaded the latest OpenSUSE torrent from www.opensuse.org and quickly burned it to a DVD image. That night, I sat in bed with my laptop, and pulled out my external USB hard drive. I partitioned it, formatted it, and then booted from the DVD and 30 minutes later I was using my new Linux desktop without touching the contents of my laptops hard drive. The laptop was issued to me from school, and I am not supposed to modify or install software on it.

     Having fallen in love with the latest OpenSUSE release, I knew that this year had to be the year for Linux on the desktop. If Firefox was able to spread like wild-fire, then the next step would be to give Microsoft a run for their money and start getting people to use Linux as an operating system, or at least have it as a boot option on a dual boot machine. This way the user can chose to boot into Windows or Linux, depending on their needs.

     I started thinking about how regular users could begin to experiment with the Linux operating system and I thought of something which might cause users some pain. Applications today are generally not written in POSIX (POSIX is a method of programming which uses common standards which allow programs to be programmed, compiled, and eventually run [used] on any operating system). This means that business users will have to continue to use Windows because their applications are primarily designed to run in a Windows environment. It’s the classic “chicken or the egg” story. It’s the same problem which is plaguing automotive manufacturers from using new fuel technologies like Hydrogen. Who’s going to buy a car that they can’t fuel? Who’s going to use an operating system where their applications will not run?

     This really upset me. I thought to myself, “Its 2007 now, and software manufacturers are not interested in designing cross-platform software.” Why wouldn’t they do it? Why would they limit themselves and their growth potential to being strictly Windows? I mean, I understand from a business perspective that if 85% of the market you’re catering to is using Windows, then why program for anything else. Why not program software which can be used on 100% of the market?

     This paper is a plea to all software developers out there. We need to think for the future, we need to think outside of a myopic market (borrowed the phrase from an eWeek article). The repercussions of a virus that affected 85% of the internet would be devastating. 

     I, for one, want to make a difference in the market place and though I do not like programming all that much, I think I’m going to start making software. If not me, then who will start the trend? Microsoft? I don’t think so. Many people who have businesses modeled around SAAS or Software As A Service have the right idea. Their applications help businesses and their applications work in any operating system environment (thanks to internet browser standards).

     Once the market has comparable software readily available for all operating systems, then Linux as a desktop or workstation operating system has a fighting chance. Microsoft knows this also, they are not dumb by any means. This is why they are talking with Novell (the parents of the OpenSUSE project) to possibly work together. I just hope Novell plays it smart and doesn’t get caught up with all the fame and fortune that Microsoft may try to blind them with.

     In conclusion, I think the time has come. The market needs to come together as a whole and start leaning towards POSIX style programming. I want to be able to use a program I buy in any operating system. I don’t think anyone should be forced to own a specific operating system because their software company was cheap and only made it compatible in one environment. Linux is just as easy to use, if not easier to use than Windows. If we have some Apple fans out there reading this, don’t get upset. To me, the Apple desktop is basically a proprietary Linux desktop, which is fine by me. The intuitive nature of the Open Source desktop (as well as OS X) is a beautiful thing, and I want to embrace it.