04.09.01
With the cost of some operating systems climbing faster than an F-15
doing a full after-burner vertical take-off, many Network
Administrators are looking to alternative operating systems. There
are many features of some of these OSs that are appealing.
Stability. Initial cost. Cost of software. In the last six months
Linux has advanced incredibly with the release of the 2.4.2.kernel
and new GNOME2 GUI. Linux is not the only free OS available. Be sure
to check out BeOS and FreeBSD also.
Even the NSA has decided the only way to know that an operating
system is not vulnerable because of imperfections in programming is
by utilizing an Open Source solution. Check out their work on Secure
Linux at: nsa.gov/selinux/index.html. Keep in mind that as
long as Microsoft does not release its source code, we, as end users,
will never know what types of backdoor accounts and information
gathering systems could be programmed into an Operating System that
we assume to be benign.
Open Source, however, is not for everyone. Initial savings can
quickly be surpassed by expensive employee training. On the lighter
side of things, you will never have to lease modules for
functionality of your operating system, as you will with Microsoft's
new .NET campaign. It is a tough decision; I hope that today's
article by Justin Weber helps you with this decision.
Read on and enjoy;
Jay Fougere
Editor, NetworkNewz
You want to know how to stop crashes in Windows 9x?
Its really simple, don't use it. There are plenty of other operating
systems out there, such as Linux, that don't know the meaning of the
word crash. Before you do a total switch from Windows 9x to Linux
think about a few things.
What do you use your computer for?
If you use your computer for doing presentations in Power Point or
something like that I wouldn't recommend switching to Linux but if
you are like me and basically use your computer to listen to mp3s,
talk on AIM with your friends, surf the web with Netscape, and the
occasional programming you may want to consider the switch to Linux.
Most people will say that there is not a lot of software out there
for Linux but this is simply not true. A great deal of software is
available for Linux that basically lets you do anything on your
computer that you would do with Windows 9x. [Also, keep in mind that
linux was developed as a multi-user platform, unlike Windows 9x. -Jay]
Do you like point and click?
If you do then Linux isn't really for you. Linux was designed as a
very powerful text based operating system. Companies such as Red Hat
are trying to make Linux more user friendly with projects such as the
GNOME project [and more recently, KDE -Jay] but as of yet Linux is
still far harder to use than Windows 9x. In Windows 9x you gain easy
of use and PnP but lose crash protection and speed (in Windows NT the
speed is more relevant because it is considerably slower than Windows
9x let alone Linux). You must always make a sacrifice, which one you
chose is up to you.
Do you play a great deal of games?
If so then forget Linux. Linux is for all intents and purposes a
programmer's operating system. While there are games available for
Linux, there are nowhere near as many games for Linux as there are
for Windows 9x. A good solution would be to setup a dual boot using
LILO (Linux Loader) with Windows 9x and simply reboot into Windows 9x
when you wish to play a game.
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Do you like to pay for software?
Who does? That is the great thing about Linux. 99% of the software
made for Linux is totally free and, unlike in Windows 9x where free
software is usually of lower quality than software that costs money,
the free software in Linux is very professional and very good. If you
don't like to pirate software and hate to pay huge bills for
software, Linux is the operating system for you.
What type of user are you?
If you're not an advanced user I would not ever recommend using
Linux. It's a very complicated operating system and an understanding
of Windows 9x and dos really helps when you migrate to Linux. If you
have the initiative to read a lot about how to use Linux then Linux
is the operating system for you. That is a very good thing about
Linux, there are tons of books about how to use it and most of them
are pretty good. [Not to mention all of the online resources
dedicated to Linux -Jay]
 Do you want a fast, powerful, reliable operating system?
No one has ever accused Windows 9x of being powerful or reliable (or
fast on sub-Pentium computers). Linux is an extremely powerful
operating system, most people say that it is more powerful than
Windows NT. It allows you to have much more control over your
computer than Windows 9x does. However, control is not always good,
in Linux it is pretty easy to mess up your computer if you don't know
what you are doing. Even I have messed up my Linux box a few times
and have had no idea how to fix it (usually by doing really stupid
things that I know I shouldn't be doing). Windows 9x crashes a lot
for most people. People just accept this realizing that there is
nothing better. Well those people are wrong. Linux machines do not go
down often because of Linux's protected preemptive multitasking.
Microsoft did this in Windows NT and Windows NT is far more stable
than Windows 9x but some people say that Windows NT still doesn't
touch Linux in reliability.
Universal 128-bit Secure Server IDs are ideal for:
* Sensitive online transactions
* Employee intranets
* Extranet for suppliers and partners
* Confidential customer information
www.verisign.com |
Am I anti-Microsoft?
No not at all. I don't use Linux regularly because frankly I don't
need it. I used Linux as my primary operating system for a few weeks
and loved it but I just decided that Windows 98 is better for what I
do. Even though I use Windows 98, I still acknowledge that Linux is a
modern operating system designed correctly from the beginning and
Windows 98 is not. Windows NT tries to be but it is too slow for my
tastes. I like my computer to be quick and reliable and I haven't had
as many problems with Windows 98 as some of the people at the forums
have had so I use Windows 98. But I guarantee if I start getting
problems with Windows 98, I'll switch to Linux without a second
thought, not Windows NT because it is too slow.
Well that's my opinion on Linux, you may not agree with it but I
found it to be pretty accurate.
Justin Weber
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