I came across this feature article in the technology suppliment in the Malta Sunday Times. I have posted the test as I could not find a link to it on the online version
The Sunday Times TECHNOLOGY SUNDAY 11 February 28, 2010 Feature A smooth operator Owen Cutajar charts the rise of Ubuntu and calculates the true cost of a free OS. om I mounted my installation source code that makes up a media on my new Sunbox particular Linux distribution a.c image and waited for my and change it freely. Compare brand new operating this to the cost of mainstream system to install. Within operating systems. In the US, minutes, the installation for instance, both Windows 7 process was complete and I Ultimate and Mac OS X will set alt could explore what this new you back around $300. You can virtual machine could do. get cheaper versions of course, It’s not what you might expect and you get a much cheaper m though. This new OS wasn’t price when you buy a new PC. Windows 7, nor was it Snow But it’s still a lot of money when Leopard, the new Mac OS. compared to free. of Instead I was giving the new Performance is another great version of Ubuntu a spin. feature of Linux. Ubuntu’s Ubuntu is a popular version of minimum requirements are es Linux based on Debian. Aimed 256Mb of RAM and will run on specifically at average users, it any Pentium machine. If you is designed to get you up and have an old PC lying in a corner, tim running with minimal you can install Ubuntu on it and headaches. In fact, I went from get a perfectly usable machine a blank disk to using a word out of it. As more applications processor in under five move to the internet, these minutes, thanks to the fact that machines become a perfect m Ubuntu ships with Open Office portal to access your online as part of the installation. services. Ubuntu was conceived in So, if it’s really cheaper and fro 2004 and is currently managed, performs better than Windows, supported and funded by why don’t more people use Canonical Ltd., an Isle of Man Linux? company with headquarters in There are two answers to this London. Canonical contributes question, depending on se extensively to the Open Source whether you’re looking at the community and raises revenue home or business marketplace. by providing a support model With home computers, most en for its products, an aspect people will use whatever OS which is important for comes with their computer. For companies running their most people, a computer is an lic business on Ubuntu. The man appliance – you purchase it, behind Canonical is South plug it in and use it. Most African entrepreneur Mark people don’t care what OS is Shuttleworth, famous for being being used in much the same the second ever self-funded way that they don’t care what er space tourist. brand of carburettor their car Ubuntu’s popularity owes a uses. d lot to its usability. Installation is I’m sure you can get a extremely straightforward and conversion kit for your car, but un comes complete with a set of most people aren’t even aware applications including Open the technology exists, let alone Office, a free office application bother with it. Microsoft knows suite, Firefox for web browsing, this, which is why it has special GIMP for image editing, an e- Original Equipment C mail client, instant messenger, Manufacturer (OEM) deals with media player and a selection of hardware suppliers, providing BP games. them with copies of Windows It also includes an aptly for next to nothing. named Software Centre that lets What about the more tech- you browse and install savvy and price-conscious thousands of free packages. The business market? Using an by default desktop is a software Open Source OS has a number application called GNOME, of associated costs. There is the which provides a graphic user cost of training to make sure interface that looks familiar to staff becomes proficient with ed anyone who has used Windows the system. or an Apple computer. Not all applications are When it comes to Linux, I available for Linux, limiting can’t say I’ve ever really used it ut your choice of options. Finding in anger. However, I have drivers for your hardware can noticed it creeping into my life also be tricky. Sure, it’s an Open rib recently. My phone runs on system and you write your own Android (Linux kernel) and my drivers, yet how many have the satellite decoder is a Dreambox, required level of expertise? And also powered by Linux. you still need an IT supplier to st However, I’m very much a help you build and manage your consumer of the technology infrastructure. rather than a builder or So, while Windows dominates Di implementer. And Ubuntu is the home market, the business aimed very squarely at the market will follow and pay the consumer market, particularly corresponding costs. But in the at owners of netbooks and meantime, if you want to have a people with obsolete laptops, look at Ubuntu, you can visit which may struggle to run a www.ubuntu.com, modern OS. And here’s where www.virtualbox.org, and the killer features of Linux make www.linux.com to get you themselves felt – price and started. performance. The cost of Linux: zilch. It’s Mr Cutajar is a UK-based IT free to download, install and and services consultant and run. You can even download the runs www.mba-geek.com.
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