Linux Tavern

Linux Journal has an excellent article on using linux on laptops and the desktop. The article covers the authors experiences as he tried to load Linux on an average laptop — in this case, an IBM Thinkpad T21 — and covers everything from the Linux Distribution he ended up using (Ubuntu) to the specific thinkpad drivers and configuration utilities he found and installed.

After reading this article, one question arose that is heard all the time: When will Linux be ready for the desktop? At this point I think it is ready — it’s only being held back by the lack of support from the major computer manufacturers. If companies such as Dell and HP redirected their efforts to installing and configuring Linux on their desktop computers instead of Windows, they would have a superior desktop operating system on their computers that they would not have to license from Microsoft. Most of the major Linux Distributions will install just as easily as Windows (if not easier) and most of the hardware specific control panels and configuration programs are available for Linux and installed just as easily as their Windows counterparts.

Of course, marketing Linux to consumers instead of Windows will be a challenge for any of these companies, but you would think that with all of the money they will save on Windows licensing fees they would be able to come up with a marketing campaign to convert consumers to Linux.

Technorati Tags: Linux, Windows, Microsoft, Dell, HP

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 26th, 2005 at 1:03 am and is filed under Linux News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.