Linux
Linux: is an exciting and comparatively
new operating system now making waves in the computer industry.
Only very basic information is given here and we've tried
to offer constructive advice on it, but we would be especially
interested in hearing from any business companies who are
using Linux already. So if you do use Linux and you would
like to give us any feedback on your usage which you think
would be of interest to other organisations then do send us
an e-mail.
What is Linux?
Linux is an operating system for servers
and, to a lesser extent, workstations. It is becoming more
and more recognised as being a competitor for Windows (NT
or Win 2000 rather than desktop Windows right now) and it
is certainly gaining a lot of support and interest. It already
runs many web servers on the internet and many commerical
& public organisations are now using it on their own internal
servers. For the technically minded, Linux is a Unix 'clone'.
You can find out more detailed information
at Linux International's site
Why would businessbe interested
in Linux?
The main reasons Linux may be of interest
to businessis because it is free and it will run on old
and far lower specifications than a system like Windows. Even
old 486 PCs can run Linux (although a Pentium PC is still
recommended for any Linux GUI - Graphical Interface). It is
also extremely robust with many users reporting their severs
running non-stop for years without crashing.
Sounds Great! Why isn't everyone
using Linux already?!
Linux is still in an early stage of
commercial usage and it is not yet a truly, fully viable desktop
system. Although it is continually being simplified, it still
requires a higher level of technical competence than Windows,
both in terms of installation and every day use. But this
is changing and GUI interfaces (Graphical User Interfaces)
are now available for Linux, whereas before you had to use
'command prompts' (similar to DOS, but more complicated).
Perhaps more significant is the comparative
lack of applications compared to Windows, although this is
rapdily changing. More and more software vendors are introducing
Linux versions of their products (and in particular the major
database suppliers like Oracle and IBM) and some applications
(such as Sun's Star Office) can also read and write documents,
spreadsheets etc in Windows format as well, so exchanging
files between Windows and Linux systems is becoming easier
and more practical. Applications are mostly limited to X-Windows.
X-Windows is a free GUI which is supported on Linux, although
because it has been rooted in Unix and because of Windows
dominance on the desktop PC, X-Windows has little exposure
in "every day" usage. There are also more "Windows
like" GUI's appearing for Linux such as those produced
by Red Hat, Mandrake and others.
Acceptance and the 'conceptual jump'
to Open Source software is also limiting Linux's growth.
More applications can be seen in our
Linux Applications section.
So where is Linux being used?
At the moment, as mentioned above,
Linux is mostly used on Web Servers and by technical users
on their own office's internal servers. A few examples of
users are: Bob Geldof's Deckchair.com, the flight web site;
and Hill House Hammond, the insurance company.
How come Linux is free?
Linux is "open source".
The concept is that no-one owns the Linux code; anyone can
download a copy of the source code and make changes and bug
fixes which can then be integrated into later versions. There
are thus potentially huge numbers of people all round the
world developing, testing and de-bugging it.
In practise, you pay a small 'distribution'
charge to get a copy, especially if you buy it from a retail
shop. This is because the Distributors have packaged the bare
bones of Linux into a more user-friendly application with
their own GUI, applications, support, automatic access to
instant security patches and so on. But you are still talking
only £30-£50 or so, and if you buy one copy then
you can use it as many times as you like on as many computers
as you like! Examples of the larger distributors are listed
in the next paragraph below.
Where can I get a copy of Linux?
If you want to try Linux, you can
buy it in a number of retail software sellers or you can download
it from the following places. But remember, as described above,
you do need to be more technically competent to use it.
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