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发信人: seis (矛), 信区: Linux
标  题: Maybe Linux should be your next desktop OS
发信站: BBS 水木清华站 (Sun Feb  7 00:11:14 1999)

                    Maybe Linux should be your next desktop OS

                    A ping to Wintel's pong: Speedy, reasonably priced Linux
                    workstations.

                    February 4, 1999
                    Web posted at: 6:00 p.m. EST (2300 GMT)

                    by Paul Heltzel

(IDG) -- Waiting for Windows 2000? While you're on hold, Larry Augustin,
president of VA Research, would like to bend your ear about why Linux
should be your next OS.

VA, which sells Linux-based servers and workstations, hopes to upgrade its
profile as the buzz around Linux grows. The free operating system
continues to gain prominence as bigger computing players start to support
it. In the last few months, Dell, Compaq, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard have
all announced servers or workstations with Linux preloaded. Corel is
developing a Linux version of WordPerfect for release later this year (a free
downloadable version is already available).

Augustin founded VA in 1993 while he was a Stanford University student,
and he has always sold custom-built PCs running Linux. You can even buy
a VA workstation (direct from the Web) that dual-boots Windows 98. And
while Linux aims squarely at the enterprise market, which requires its
stability, security, and remote management capabilities, Augustin insists
Linux will end up on consumer desktops.

It's so easy

"Linux guys give their parents Linux
machines," Augustin says, likening them to
WebTV set-top boxes. "They can configure
them so their parents can't delete
applications. They just log in and get their
e-mail."

Linux isn't perfect, he adds. "It's got a long
way to go. But it's intuitive. People can see
the desktop and get to work immediately."

Does Augustin's mother use Linux? "Not
yet," he says. Still, he's optimistic: "Intuit's
looking to port (Intuit) Quicken," he says.
That will be a boost for the traditionally
rogue operating system. "I think you'll see
productivity apps ported over the next two
years."

But even now, most parents could probably
afford a VA workstation. Augustin's
entry-level model, based on a 300-MHZ
Intel Celeron processor, 128MB of RAM,
and a 10GB disk, costs about $1300.

Software blues

Lack of productivity applications is the primary problem with Linux, at
least on the desktop, agrees Bill Peterson, research manager at
International Data Corporation. When companies like Oracle and Informix
start porting their software to Linux, that's a boost for business. But those
high-end applications don't really entice the average business user.

And while several Windows-like user interfaces are available for Linux, it's
still got a ways to go in terms of user friendliness. Still, several years from
now, as we become more reliant on the Internet and less on what kind of
desktop we use, who knows? Maybe Linux will be your operating system of
choice.

"At this point, the interface isn't one that the home user would be
comfortable with," Peterson says, "but more and more apps have a browser
front end. When we get to the point where you just turn on your computer
and the system is remotely managed, you don't need to know what's
underlying. Whether it's Windows or Linux doesn't really matter."

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