I wrote this as a comment on a pcweenies comic about linux, and decided to share my view here as well.
Linux has been a viable desktop for typical users for a long time. If all you want is a word processor and internet browsing, then linux has been a functional solution since abiword and Netscape navigator, and a mainstream-able solution since openoffice and firefox + flash.
The problem has always been installation. When you really think about, vanilla windows isn't even there. MacOS is because they have the hardware platform locked down. People can reinstall windows because they have custom discs from the OEM that are either drive images or the OEMs drives rolled into the windows installer.
Many people talk about the mom test, and I have a typical mom. She uses Gentoo Linux. She cant maintain it,or install it, but she couldn't do that for windows either.
Really what we are talking about is the tipping scale of barrier to entry and Microsoft dissatisfaction. Mac has a higher barrier to entry because its a learning curve plus an expensive cost. As Linux installers get more slick and easier to use, like Ubuntu, more people will give it a try.
Showing posts with label linux. Show all posts
Showing posts with label linux. Show all posts
Friday, January 2, 2009
Saturday, April 28, 2007
The death of Microsoft or Why do you want a computer?
Ok, quick and to the point:
Google will kill Microsoft with Linux, and you dont want a "Personal Computer (PC)".
Heres how it works:
First consider: Why do you want a computer?
I don't have real numbers, but I'm sure between middle schoolers and business executives 90% of the people out there answer: browse the web (IE, Firefox), send and receive email (outlook, thunderbird), type stuff up (word, openoffice.org), play music and movies (iTunes), run your business (quick books, excel)
Now consider why you don't want a computer:
It can break, get infected, and loose all your data. Its stuck in one place, and expensive to keep replacing and upgrading. Isn't that enough?
Ok so whats that got to do with Google and Microsoft?
Lets connect the dots.
Google can offer most of these applications online, in a web page, where you can get to them anywhere, and it doesn't take a "computer", as you know it, to do it. Let me introduce you to the thin client.
It has a low power processor, a little solid state flash memory, and some ram. Its not a power house, and it doesn't need to run windows. 256Meg of storage, 128Meg of RAM, and a 800Mhz processor built into the back of a flat panel screen running Linux and Mozilla's Firefox will run any web page you need. It has no moving parts, and can be configured in a manner that if you do get a virus, or a program crashes, you turn it off, back on and your good to go (I know some of you say thats what I already do, but it doesn't always come back up).
A lot of what you need is being reborn in the old school model of centralized computing on the web. Google is at the forefront, the benevolent dictator with the "don't be evil" mantra. But they are just the beginning, where you start, complete with a search button. Their gmail is just the first step, and they already have a spreadsheet. Others see this, and are ready for tomorrow. QuckBooks, the preeminent (god knows why.. such a clumsy piece of software, i guess it makes sense to CPAs) accounting software, and turbotax, already have 100% online versions. iTunes, with the might of apple could be 100% web based tomorrow. Google has programmers working with OpenOffice.org, one of the few functional competitors for Microsoft's Office, and theres already speculation about a Google sponsored online version. These developments aren't lost on Microsoft either, they see the writing on the wall, and have their own online version of Microsoft Office already
So if you buy into all this, and so does everyone else, suddenly your workstation is small, cheap, and less likely to not work. Plus, it doesn't have anything sensitive or personal, so if someone steals it, all they have is a terminal. So now when you go... anywhere all you documents, email, balance sheet, is just a login away!
Of course there are those saying what about the gamers! Those games wont run on wimpy thin clients! Your right, but your question holds the seed of a better solution! So the above premise is that web pages will replace programs and all you need is a web browser. Games are neat on a computer, and I play plenty of them, but they wont stay here. The current game generation, all of them, the Wii, playstation3, and X-Box 360 come with web browsers. Theres your thin client already, sign up and throw your computer away.
So, with all of this, why do you want a computer?
Google will kill Microsoft with Linux, and you dont want a "Personal Computer (PC)".
Heres how it works:
First consider: Why do you want a computer?
I don't have real numbers, but I'm sure between middle schoolers and business executives 90% of the people out there answer: browse the web (IE, Firefox), send and receive email (outlook, thunderbird), type stuff up (word, openoffice.org), play music and movies (iTunes), run your business (quick books, excel)
Now consider why you don't want a computer:
It can break, get infected, and loose all your data. Its stuck in one place, and expensive to keep replacing and upgrading. Isn't that enough?
Ok so whats that got to do with Google and Microsoft?
Lets connect the dots.
Google can offer most of these applications online, in a web page, where you can get to them anywhere, and it doesn't take a "computer", as you know it, to do it. Let me introduce you to the thin client.
It has a low power processor, a little solid state flash memory, and some ram. Its not a power house, and it doesn't need to run windows. 256Meg of storage, 128Meg of RAM, and a 800Mhz processor built into the back of a flat panel screen running Linux and Mozilla's Firefox will run any web page you need. It has no moving parts, and can be configured in a manner that if you do get a virus, or a program crashes, you turn it off, back on and your good to go (I know some of you say thats what I already do, but it doesn't always come back up).
A lot of what you need is being reborn in the old school model of centralized computing on the web. Google is at the forefront, the benevolent dictator with the "don't be evil" mantra. But they are just the beginning, where you start, complete with a search button. Their gmail is just the first step, and they already have a spreadsheet. Others see this, and are ready for tomorrow. QuckBooks, the preeminent (god knows why.. such a clumsy piece of software, i guess it makes sense to CPAs) accounting software, and turbotax, already have 100% online versions. iTunes, with the might of apple could be 100% web based tomorrow. Google has programmers working with OpenOffice.org, one of the few functional competitors for Microsoft's Office, and theres already speculation about a Google sponsored online version. These developments aren't lost on Microsoft either, they see the writing on the wall, and have their own online version of Microsoft Office already
So if you buy into all this, and so does everyone else, suddenly your workstation is small, cheap, and less likely to not work. Plus, it doesn't have anything sensitive or personal, so if someone steals it, all they have is a terminal. So now when you go... anywhere all you documents, email, balance sheet, is just a login away!
Of course there are those saying what about the gamers! Those games wont run on wimpy thin clients! Your right, but your question holds the seed of a better solution! So the above premise is that web pages will replace programs and all you need is a web browser. Games are neat on a computer, and I play plenty of them, but they wont stay here. The current game generation, all of them, the Wii, playstation3, and X-Box 360 come with web browsers. Theres your thin client already, sign up and throw your computer away.
So, with all of this, why do you want a computer?
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