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by xstep

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The hinging question is, is Linux ready for the desktop? The simple answer is yes and has been for years. What do i mean by that? I guess it depends on who is asking and who is answering. More to the point, who cares to know and why? The first mistake is to compare a Linux desktop with a windows desktop. But so many do and I for one understand why.

I have used Operating systems for a long time and in 97/98 opted to use Linux as my full time desktop OS. For a short time I always felt like I needed windows on hand for something. Dual boot? lol.. Oh yes I did and how about more than two to boot from? DOS,OpenDOS,OS/2,Linux,Win,..etc. If one is used to using an OS and the apps ported it's hard to switch. Call me a geek! It is also what I do and I wanted to be able to work on any system. Linux users used to say "Linux is user friendly, it's just picky about it's users!" Today it's a matter of interoperability between operating systems and applications. Hardware is Cheap! and Linux is easy to use!

The Desktop:

KDE or Gnome? It's a matter of taste. You can install and try both and or other window managers. You can customize and detail your environment. Most everyone knows about Open office. Try KOffice and a few others too. Use Scribus for desktop publishing (PDF). There are nice messaging clients. Kontact and Evolution for collaboration. Opera or Fire fox and more for browsing. P2P Sharing, Mplayer and Xmms for Audio/video play. Adobe reader,Flash, and Java. K-wifi for wireless networks. Plug in your Camera and load up your pics. Burn with K3b. I could write 10 pages.

Linux is ready for the end user and corporate user desktop. I am not saying it's ready to replace Windows. I am saying Linux is more than ready for everyday desktop use.

6 replies

by eric.talbot

Ok , i am a Linux desktop guy and i have been using it as my desktop for 6 years now.

The only thing i can't say it is ready for usage yet is the lack of DVD burning, video editing and Quicktime support. Would be appreciated if someone could pin point some information on that.

by lsatenstein9

I am delighted with K3B, the DVD, CD, burner. I am surprised that you are unaware of it's abilities.

If you have Core4 or Core5 from Fedora, click on Sound/Video, and K3b should be there. If not, do check around the KDE applications and try it. You also require a DVD burner.

by jaqui

as was pointed out, k3b has dvd burning support.

exactly what do you mean by video editing?
I do know there are professional video editing packages available for linux, with the corespondingly high hardware requirements.
There are a few low end video tools, comparable to microsoft's video tool bundled with xp.

quicktime support?
libquicktime might be a good start.
there is only limited support for divx/xvid, and zero support for wmv formats, all others are supported.

by eric.talbot

I've looked at Libquicktime a few month ago, but it was simply not able to play all the video. Might be a file format too recent i don't know.

By video editing i simply means something as Nero Ultra provide where you can cut and merge mpg, and put a background sound track.

Thanks for the input.

by lsatenstein9

I would agree with the author that Desktop Linux is here and superbly ready.

A year ago I tried linux and for the past year I have been using one logon (regular user) as my principal logon with the Gnome desktop interface.

On my root/administrator logon, which I use occasionally for system updates, I use KDE. That allows me to savour both fantastic user desktop interfaces.

Unlike the author, because my spare time was limited, I chose the Fedora Core5 distribution, and I have stuck with it.

It is stable, complete for all my needs, and leads me to forget all about the other ubiquitous computer software systems.

To answer the questions about being safe or safer with Linux than with the other environment because of numbers, think of this "Fly paper attracts hundreds of flies, and they are trapped to die".

Just because one company is number one, and is slip-sliding away, take heed "There is no safety in numbers. Very large numbers of the same faulty software lead to targeted attacks and fantastic revenue for all the anti-virus companies, anti-spam companies, and sales of extra charge utilities.

The most wonderful benefit of the linux world thus far is the freedom from virus's, crash resistance, and freedom from all those useless utilities. My savings in software alone are in excess of $500.00 per desktop system.

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