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The Linux Desktop Marches On

From the Editor, By Mark Hinkle

There was a time when you couldn’t shut me up about the Linux desktop. I was a fanatic. In 2000, I made the switch to a full-time virus-free Linux desktop and weeks of crash-free computing. I was a zealot. However, I did suffer from a few of the alternative operating systems shortcomings. My preferred desktop vendor deemed my Linux laptop1 unsupported, so if I ever had a problem, I had to boot into Windows to receive assistance. When someone sent me a macro-laden spreadsheet, I was forced to run Excel within a virtualized Windows instance2 to read the document as intended. Finally, when it came to wireless, I suffered a multitude of connection problems. While I loved the speed, the stability, and the security, it lacked convenience.

In the fall of 2006, I sold out; I flipped to another operating system – Mac OS X. I still had a bash shell, UNIX stability, and many of the benefits of my Linux desktop, but I also got manufacturer support for peripherals (specifically my EVDO broadband card to which I have become addicted) and support for my operating system. I didn’t go cold turkey; in fact I continued to run a Windows and an Ubuntu Linux virtual machine on my desktop thanks to Parallels. I justified my move to OS X as an open source–inspired operating system3 owing its lineage to BSD. At the heart of my move was a combination of a need for applications and for support for a number of peripherals required for my day job. However, I think I might have acted to quickly....

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