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Linux, your free alternative to Windows |
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Written by Ben Thorpe
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Sunday, 09 March 2008 |
Unless you've been living under a rock for the last fews, you've probably heard mention of Linux, the open source alternative to Windows.
So what is Linux really, what can you use it for, and why would you want to?
Linux is a free Unix clone written by Linus Torvalds, who began the project in 1991 while still a student in his native Finland. Today it is the most popular Unix-style operating system on the market, and manages to tie together a grass-roots developer movement with support from big businesses like IBM and HP.
You may find that you already run Linux without even knowing it. Because of it's open nature, and modular design, Linux runs on a huge number of different hardware platforms. If you've got a Linksys router, or a TomTom satnav, or a number of other devices, then they're running Linux under the hood. A large proportion of the internet runs on Linux servers too. And if you've watched any Dreamworks animations in recent years, then these cartoons are rendered on farms of servers running, you guessed it, Linux. Web Hosting provided by Media-Slave also runs on Linux.
But how does that affect you in your day-to-day business? Well, Linux runs on desktops too. Your favourite open source applications are available under Linux - OpenOffice.org, Firefox & Thunderbird are all available, for instance.
Want to give it a try?
The 2 most popular Linux distributions at the moment are Ubuntu (sponsored by Canonical) and Fedora (sponsored by Red Hat, who sell their own server distribution, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, with support contracts). Both Fedora and Ubuntu are available in "LiveCD" versions, which will boot from a CD so that you can try them out without needing to install anything. You can download these CDs from their websites for free. If you'd rather, Ubuntu will even ship you CDs (minimum order of 10) at no cost at all! 
If you want to bite the bullet and give Linux a proper go, you can either install from CD, or purchase a machine with Linux preinstalled. Dell now ships some of its range with Ubuntu preinstalled www.dell.co.uk/ubuntu. 
If, on the other hand, you would rather experience a bit of the Linux community, which has always been one of it's strong points, then most distributions have their own forums too. Additionally, Ubuntu also has Local Community or "LoCo" teams. Most areas in the UK will also have a more generic Linux User Group (LUG) - see www.lug.org.uk to find the nearest to you. Or you might want to have a listen to some of the Linux-themed podcasts, like Linux Outlaws, Linux Reality, or my personal favourite LugRadio.
 LugRadio is a UK-based fornightly podcast that's been running for 4 years now. It attracts many of the big names for interviews, but manages to stay on the irreverent side of the community. They also run an annual 2-day conference in Wolverhampton called LugRadio Live!, which attracts a large crowd of both hobbyists and businesses. Last years event saw approximately 500 attendees, business such as O'Reilly books, and Bytemark Hosting, and speakers included Chris DiBona of Google, Gervase Markham of Mozilla, Nat Friedman of Novell, and other leading lights of the Linux and Open Source communities.
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