Ubuntu – Linux as you’ve never knew it
Last week was the first gathering for the Open Source community in Kuwait. I was kind of hesitating to go, as usual, but being an open source believer I gave it a shot. Two things really caught my eyes. The guy from KuwaitNet talked about the company experience, and how they completely have taken Windows out of the picture. Even the secretaries use Linux, I’d love to see that. Firefox and Thunderbird for browsing and email client. OpenOffice for office applications, though I wasn’t very impressed with it when I tried it. By doing this however, the guy demonstrated how the managed to cut down costs by thousands of dollars. Something really worth looking into isn’t it?
But isn’t Linux that old scary black screen with small text, and can only understand command lines from users. You need to do mounting for everything you attach, and complex procedure just to plug a USB device? Well this was the second BIG surprise. Ubuntu is the release of Linux that will change your whole idea about it. It has features that I don’t even recall from Mac nor Vista. Maybe they exist, I am not sure. But to see it in Linux is a big jump. I found this video link while browsing some blogs today. Watch it on YouTube and tell me what you think. Now ofcourse this is not everything. One has to consider stability and availability of softwares on it. I should give it a shot and see. Maybe it can run my PC better than Windows, who knows.
UPDATE: Just as I posted this article, I came across this site. The site is an Open Source contest, hosted by Sheikh Ali Jaber Al-Sabah. The content is about creating the best project using OpenOffice, and Open Source tools. It’s a nice step to encourage and educate the public about the open options they have. Registration is open for all, no location or nationality restriction. Registration is open until 15th May this year.
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Ooops! Sorry for the double post! I was using Windows XP from work with IE. It didn’t show my first comment until I added my second one! Sorry again man!
Hey no problem. Thanks for the tip. As a matter of fact, the guys at the Open Source community distributed this LiveCD version, I just didnt have time to play with it yet.
If you have experience with Mac as well, which one would you suggest for a developer? I need robust and fast response time, not to mention a convenient way for on going back up.
Bashar,
I am a network engineer and don’t know much about developer’s needs. Also, my knowledge with Mac is very limited, but my understanding is that Macs are primerly applications machines especially in graphics. They are also very user-friendly that they are used in educational institutions. As far as Ubuntu is concerned, I use it as desktop replacement of Windows (not a big fan of Bill Gates!). Ubuntu has some powerful add-on network monitoring tools that I utilize. As for backup, I use an external USB drive to backup my own Ubuntu laptop, but one of my friends, who is a system admin in Dubai, told me that his firm implemented an Ubuntu MySQL server last year, and his very happy with its performance including the automated daily backup. Hope that helps.
Thanks a lot for sharing the information. Mac is famous for Graphics, though many developers seem to have it as a must, so I’m sure it is capable. I was just looking for another opinion on on Linux.
Thanks though :)
Bashar,
I am glad you stumbled upon Ubuntu. I’ve been using it for more than 2 years on one of my laptops, and never had a problem with it. I recently upgraded to the latest Ubuntu (vr 6.10) with the Gnome desktop environment, and I like it very much. If you go to their website (http://www.ubuntu.com), you can download the ISO image, burn it to a CD, and use it as a LiveCD without installing it on your machine. This will give a chance to try it before installing it. They also have a light version for not-so-powerful computers called Xubuntu. If you need assistance, you can find it on the Ubuntu community forums, but here is a good start: http://www.ubuntuguide.org. This is the unofficial Ubuntu guide (very helpful manual). Have fun!