With the near simultaneous release of Snow Leopard, Windows 7 and Karmic Koala (yes, Ubuntu is pretty much the default desktop Linux distro these days), it looks like Q4 '09 is shaping up to be a battles of the OSes. In all fairness to Ubuntu, their next LTS (long-term support) release isn't until next April (2010), so pitting Karmic against Snow Leopard and Windows 7 is jumping the gun a bit.

Yet, I'd argue that it isn't at all about the OS. After all, gone are the days when Linux noobs had to struggle getting their printer to connect, their wireless or wired connections to work, or their display to, well, display. Okay, maybe this last statement is jumping the gun a bit, too. But the bad old days are numbered and for most people, wouldn't exist during a new install. Anyone who complains about Linux drivers obviously hasn't tested a Linux distro for a long while.

Let's face it, Linux really is a lot better than anything offered by the proprietary platform vendors. It's a lot more secure - and the arguments against this are lies, lies and more lies. It's cooler, yes, even cooler than Snow Leopard. Put a Linux desktop to the max and it's a lot, lot cooler than anything you can find on Snow Leopard or Windows 7. And it's not just cooler now: Desktop Linux even three years ago - when cranked to the max - was better than anything offered by Snow Leopard or Windows 7. And if you don't believe me, see this video for proof.

Did we talk about speed? Try a lightweight Linux distro and it will easily beat Snow Leopard or Windows 7. And how about the beauty of clicking one button to update ALL your software, not just the OS or proprietary packages sold by Microsoft or Apple. (You can't beat this feature, especially when it comes to protection against malware, after all, more and more malware is targeting apps, not the OS. Not that malware has much of an impact on desktop Linux.)

I could go on and on about why Karmic (and Linux in general) is better than Snow Leopard or Windows 7, but this misses my point. Even though Karmic (and Linux in general) are better than Snow Leopard or Windows 7, it isn't about the OS: It's all about apps.

Everyone knows that you can put the equivalent of thousands of dollars of software on a Linux box (although a lot of this FOSS - free and open source software - is also available under Windows and often for the Mac OS, too). IMO, the problem with Linux is with the apps that run under Linux. Let me explain.

Although some software that runs under Linux has pretty good documentation - and some packages even have books on how to use them (GIMP, OpenOffice, Blender, OpenProj, as four examples) - a lot of packages need a lot more documentation. The "Bible" on Ubuntu has almost nothing on apps (don't get me wrong, it's a great book, but it has almost nothing on apps), my favorite noob book has just a few pages on each of a handful of apps, and the best book covering apps still has no more than several pages on each key app.

So here's what is needed: A 1,000 page book covering the top 50 Linux apps. Figure about 20 pages per app. Some will need less, like F-Spot, others will need more, like Blender. But using the Pareto principle, I believe that it's quite doable to cover 80% of the most widely used features in 50 different apps in a 1,000 page book. This is the kind of documentation that is sorely needed. And let's not stop here. Let's create a book covering the top 50 apps for heavy multimedia home users, another with the top 50 apps for office users. Or, maybe a 500 page book covering the top 20 apps for office users. Anyway, you get my point.

It's time to move beyond OS silliness. Linux is ready for prime time, even on the consumer desktop. Now it's time to focus on apps, providing the best documentation that can be squeezed into 1,000 pages. Ubuntu keeps tabs on those who choose to opt-in on which packages are the most popular, but it's not just a popularity contest. Some of the best packages are often overlooked. Take the most popular, take some of the better but relatively unknown packages, create a 20 or so page mini-guide on how to use at least 80% of the best features from each. And after this is done (and there's no way something like this could get into print until after the Lucky release of Ubuntu in April 2010), watch desktop Linux take off like a rocket.

Some Favorite Apps
I run several distros and a few desktop environments. I'm looking at my Kubuntu desktop at this moment, so some of my choices might be KDE-biased. (In fact, only one is.) I'll stick with "neutral" desktop environment choices as best as I can. Here's my "Top 50" list. (The categories are based upon how they're automatically categorized on this Kubuntu desktop.) Most can be added using "Add/Remove Applications". In the Linux world, "Add/Remove" in fact does ADD programs, too. And remember: You don't need to defrag or clean your registry keys in the Linux world, so don't expect to see any "sanitizing" apps on my list .

Office Productivity:
OpenOffice (similar to Microsoft Office) or IBM Lotus Symphony (similar to Microsoft Office; a superset, but simplified version of OpenOffice)
OpenProj (similar to Microsoft Project)
Labyrinth Mind-mapping
GnuCash (similar to Quicken, Microsoft Money)
Evolution (similar to Microsoft Outlook, but with added features; Microsoft Outlook on steroids)
GnoTime Tracking Tool
Adobe Reader

Internet:
Firefox (of course)
Opera
Flock
Thunderbird (similar to Outlook Express, but with added features; Outlook Express on steroids)
Skype
Empathy (IM client)
Pidgin (IM client)
Ekiga (H.323 and SIP compatible videoconferencing and VoIP/IP-Telephony)
Transmission BitTorrent Client
Firestarter (firewall)

Graphics:
Camorama Web Cam Viewer (or Cheese)
KSnapshot (screen capture)
Dia Diagram Editor (similar to Visio)
PDF Editor
Scribus (desktop publishing)
GIMP (similar to Adobe Photoshop)
Inkscape (similar to Adobe Illustrator)
Wink (tutorials creator)
F-Spot (photo management)
XSane (image scanning)
QCaD (similar to Autocad)
Blender (similar to 3D Studio Max/Autocad 3ds Max)

Multimedia:
Songbird
Elisa
Rhythmbox
Real Player 11
VLC
AcidRip (DVP ripper)
K3b (CD writing)
Audacity (record and edit audio files)
SMILE (slideshow maker)

Settings:
APTonCD (applications back-up)
Partition Editor (similar to EASEUS)

System:
VMware Player (virtual machine player)
Remastersys Backup (like it sounds + a way to distribute a clone of your system)
Start-Up Manager (change your boot options)

Utilities:
Tomboy Notes
Gjots2 (for creating outlines)
avast! Antivirus (help protect your friends using Windows or a Mac)
VirtualBox (virtual machine creator and player)
GNOME Do (launcher … and so much more)
Beagle (desktop search; name listed as "Search" rather than "Beagle" in "Add/Remove")

Miscellaneous:
Wine (for running Windows apps; not perfect, but often works)

Experiment a bit. Open "Add/Remove Applications", under "Show" in the pulldown menu click on "Canonical-maintained applications". (I'm assuming that you're using Ubuntu or Kubuntu.) Then search around and see which other applications you'd like to try. Go ahead and add as many as your heart desires by checking the box for each app that you'd like to add. Then click on "Apply Changes". And if you ever want to remove an app, go back and simply uncheck the box (and click on "Apply Changes"). This couldn't be easier. For reference, I have nearly 200 apps listed under "Add/Remove Applications" … and this doesn't include apps that I installed by other means. That's a lot of apps under the hood. This "other means" thing: Will be resolved by Canonical (the leads behind Ubuntu and Kubuntu and some related distros) with the Karmic release. The solution will be something like an iPhone app store, but for Linux applications.

Addendum
If you're new to desktop Linux and have a machine that's no more than 3 years old, give Ubuntu a try. It's the easiest to start with. (With Mac4Lin, Gnome Do, AWN, Daisy you can even make the desktop environment look exactly like Snow Leopard, although I'm not sure why you'd want to do this except as a proof of concept. And let's not forget Compiz - better than Snow Leopard - or even KWin.) If you have an older machine, try Puppy Linux. Actually, there are plenty of lightweight distros. After you've played with Ubuntu, try Linux Mint. These are all different Linux distributions. In general, I'd stick with the Debian-based (more to the point, distros ).

If you really like a Windows look and feel, give KDE a try, i.e., use it as your desktop environment. And if you like a Mac look and feel, give Gnome a try. (Gnome is the default for Ubuntu, but you can add the Kubuntu - KDE-based - desktop environment to Ubuntu and simply switch at will. Yes, this is like switching at will between a Windows 7 desktop and a Snow Leopard desktop. Pretty cool, eh? BTW, "KDE" means "K Desktop Environment", not "Kubuntu Desktop Environment".) There is a lot of documentation on Ubuntu (even a slick, free pocket guide and reference), much less so on Kubuntu. Use this for Kubuntu; this source pretty much applies to any Debian- or Ubuntu-based distro running KDE.

There are many ways to try Linux: Portable Ubuntu, Wubi, dual-boot, as a virtual machine running under VMware (Player) or VirtualBox, or running from a LiveCD/LiveDVD/LiveUSB. You can even create a persistent USB that will allow a user to save changes and store files. And it gets even better: How about using QEMU to create a USB that can be loaded under an active Windows session? You read this correctly; it will load in an active Windows session, i.e., you don't need to reboot. In a follow-up post I'll describe these various options, but let me recommend a LiveUSB or LiveCD/LiveDVD for a start.

Simply go to your distro of choice (e.g., Ubuntu) and download the ISO. Then download and install UNetbootin. Open UNetbootin, point it to your ISO file, insert a USB stick, and let it rip. And if you're really lazy, just have UNetbootin download the ISO directly and configure your USB drive. There is one downside to this option: You need to change your boot order. So, if you don't know how to do this, the best bet is to download the ISO and burn the ISO to a CD or DVD. InfraRecorder will do just fine for our purposes. Since most machines default to booting from a CD/DVD player, this is realistically the best choice for the largest number of Linux noobs. Once you're done "burning" the ISO to either a CD, DVD or USB drive, give Linux a try. No need to install it, although your changes will not be saved using a "Live" ISO. If something doesn't work, you'll know it within 10 minutes max … and if something doesn't work, just give another distro a try. Sometimes one distro may work perfectly while another has problems. The problems are usually quite easy to solve, but if you don't want to solve them, just try another distro. It's really this simple.

I want to teach two basic terminal commands. They're very useful when something seems to go wrong during an update. In the terminal, type:

sudo aptitude update [hit the "Enter"/"Return" key; enter your password when asked]

sudo aptitude full-upgrade [hit the "Enter"/"Return" key]

Now you're a Linux genius. Have fun!! And welcome to the 21st century ...


David Scott "Lightman" Lewis is Group Senior Vice President, Zytech Group (global, including Zytech Solar, Zytech Aerodyne [wind] and Zytel [electric vehicles]), President, Zytech Solar, Inc. (California advanced solar technologies R&D) and General Manager, Zytech America, Inc. (Texas manufacturing plant for solar, wind and electric vehicles).