Linuxville history and crossing the border

As your guide in Linuxville I feel you should know a little about me and my obsession with Linux. Not being totally taken in by the advertisements and the new car smells of ownership (actually a lease), I have been free to consider other options. The economics of life have played their part and also the opportunity to acquire a different solution while not having to change my habits. Of course I did a background check (history), a cost of ownership study, platform migration plan and an exit strategy. I have had a good Linux experience and after much consideration I will pursue permanent dual citizen status.

I confess, I am a Linux fanboy. I watched the movie "The Pirates of Silicon Valley" and if that was a accurate portrayal of Jobs and Gates, the kingdoms they've built and the product outcomes, then computing and users are doomed to a lifetime of abuse and servitude. If not, then excuse my misguided judgment. I also watched the movies, "The Code Linux", "Revolution OS" and "The Free Software Movement" and came away with a different impression. I have heard Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman talk on YouTube. I am totally amoured by Linux and open source software as a movement and as a product. So the "dynamic duo" has become "the three Musketeers" and according to personality, Mr. Torvalds is the stable one among them. He has produced an outcome not as glitzy as Jobs but more stable than Gates. The clincher was when another millionaire, Mark Shuttleworth, funds and develops Ubuntu Linux and gives it away.

I know how we value the apparent success and dependency upon the product outcomes of Mr. Jobs and Mr. Gates but it does not mean that there are not other solutions in the world. Linux grew up along side and with the internet, and while not a model of the American dream, it is still a successful outcome. The genius of Jobs and Gates has been trumped by the genius of Torvalds who just wanted a free operating system. It works on the server and to the dismay of many (including server admins and Linux power users) works on the desktop too. Linux is not really a new comer, its heritage is older than both Macs or MS, but you all know that. We have been under the marketing and use of Macs and MS for so long that we can't imagine another platform making inroads. We resist, compare and try to discount any idea that Linux is just as good and worst if some say it is better. That is all a human nature thing. Over time the smoke and mirrors marketing and the pony shows are over. The stuff going on in the background becomes reality because somebody just wanted a free operating system and set it in motion. Linux, so complex it takes years to know it all, yet so simple you could work it with six commands, point and click, drag and drop, cut and paste. Though having to learn myself and teach others about Linux, I am having fewer to no MS Windows problems or commitments in writing (end user agreements). Linux is green, portable if need be, low or high powered, it is adjustable, configurable, and flexible. Linux is free ( no coupons to clip, no money back guarantees) or if you must, pay for it. But in any respect the Linux genie is out of the bottle and its allure is being discovered, soon we will all have to check it out. Welcome to Linuxville.

confessions of a Linux fanboy

I have to admit 10 years ago curiosity got the best of me, I peered beyond the veil and was afflicted. I was enduring the blue screens of death in Win95 and waiting the dawning of Win98se. In a library there was a book (Power Linux) and in the back of it a CD. A free OS called LST Linux. Not having the skills, I can't recall ever installing it on my computer but I must have tried. Then I ran across Slackware which confused me at the time and then Red Hat which was probably my first real install. I've also tried Mandrake/Mandriva, PCLinuxOS, Puppy, DSL, Fedora, Mepis, Knoppix and a couple more. I now use Xubuntu 7.10 and Wolvix 1.1.0. What got me was that PC's could run on this other software and a free one at that. I didn't know about it's origin other than it wasn't Gates or Jobs. There are lots of details but I'm not writing my memoirs here. Now here we are today and what I see is a playful bickering between a mock Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. You know those commercials and ads where Gates and Jobs are representing the only two computer worlds competing for user bucks and loyalty. The inept business guy vs the hip and confident non-business guy. Of course they paint a particular picture in the minds of viewers but you must realize the scope here. They have played and are playing the same game they have played since the beginning of the "personal computer an American invention" story.
Mean while in another part of the world Linux was conceived by Linus Torvalds. Comparing notes, you realize that Torvalds was an outsider, never appearing in the same room as Jobs and Gates, even though computer technology had spread across the globe through university's. I am talking about the myth of the personal computer story that everybody assumes is true. It stars Jobs and Gates as American techno icons who started out in an actual garage and today manage huge American enterprises. As inspiring as their stories are, there remains to be told another story. Maybe, perhaps, and that is if Torvalds consents to being an icon, representing the world of Linux he started, we might know the truth not of a parallel universe, but of an inclusion in the context that goes beyond America. Sort of like the Edison/Tesla thing that our history never really explains clearly. Today Linux is a "global enterprise" but not the product of one company. And today, Linux can do on the personal computer what the other operating systems and applications can do. I know it is hard for some to embrace another point of view after being entrenched in what you know or think you know. Microsoft I know, Apple I understand, but what is Linux, where did it come from, what makes it so special, will it run my Microsoft or Apple stuff??????????
So, so many questions that frustrate a fanboy like me.

What is the Linux fanboy life like? Well, it's like telling a secret and no one around you cares or believes you. It's explaining normal stuff and being called fanatical for it. It's getting lame excuses for not looking at it and not using it. It is finding that denial and ignorance are bliss states cherished by other OS users. And if it ain't broke, don't fix it or replace it with something else. It's concluding that most Microsoft fanboys and Apple fanboys don't know they are fanboys until in the presents of Linux fanboys. Then everybody appreciates to the max the choices they made and defends them.
Yet, and there are a few, who like me are curious about stuff in a wider world. These realize that the choices on the shelf are a subset of a larger selection. Imagine, a CD in a library book changed the course of my computing history. Today, some books, magazines have live-CD versions of Linux and you can still download CD images of Linux. The live-CD versions run from the CD without installing on your computer but you have the option to install. You can copy the live-CD to a bootable jump drive and you can with some live-CD versions, create a new CD image, adding or removing the stuff you choose. These things are unheard of in the MS Windows or Apple world. I know that Linux will not satisfy everyone but if you never try it, you'll never know. To some it's hardware, to some it's applications, to some it's look and feel or it's too much like or unlike MS Windows. Some say that there is too much choice, that Linux can't settle on one desktop or version. Linux is about pools of parts that work together. In each pool of parts there are choices. These choices allow Linux to be fitted to a range of hardware and fitted to the range of users. There is no one size fits all that is easy to produce, market and sale. People have put together different groupings of Linux parts called distributions, that target users by language, or desktop preference or package management system or by other preferences. Finding a good fit is not always a speedy thing. Talking to people who have successfully used it helps. Looking for info on the web is the way to go except that some people who have issues with Linux are very vocal. In any case, user groups and user forums give the best info. I don't want to say try it you'll like it because you might not, but if you do you'll be a Linux fanboy before to long.