260 lines
6.8 KiB
HTML
260 lines
6.8 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
|
|
<HTML
|
|
><HEAD
|
|
><TITLE
|
|
>Does Linux have a future?</TITLE
|
|
><META
|
|
NAME="GENERATOR"
|
|
CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"><LINK
|
|
REL="HOME"
|
|
TITLE="Introduction to Linux"
|
|
HREF="index.html"><LINK
|
|
REL="UP"
|
|
TITLE="What is Linux?"
|
|
HREF="chap_01.html"><LINK
|
|
REL="PREVIOUS"
|
|
TITLE="The user interface"
|
|
HREF="sect_01_02.html"><LINK
|
|
REL="NEXT"
|
|
TITLE="Properties of Linux"
|
|
HREF="sect_01_04.html"></HEAD
|
|
><BODY
|
|
CLASS="sect1"
|
|
BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"
|
|
TEXT="#000000"
|
|
LINK="#0000FF"
|
|
VLINK="#840084"
|
|
ALINK="#0000FF"
|
|
><DIV
|
|
CLASS="NAVHEADER"
|
|
><TABLE
|
|
SUMMARY="Header navigation table"
|
|
WIDTH="100%"
|
|
BORDER="0"
|
|
CELLPADDING="0"
|
|
CELLSPACING="0"
|
|
><TR
|
|
><TH
|
|
COLSPAN="3"
|
|
ALIGN="center"
|
|
>Introduction to Linux: </TH
|
|
></TR
|
|
><TR
|
|
><TD
|
|
WIDTH="10%"
|
|
ALIGN="left"
|
|
VALIGN="bottom"
|
|
><A
|
|
HREF="sect_01_02.html"
|
|
ACCESSKEY="P"
|
|
>Prev</A
|
|
></TD
|
|
><TD
|
|
WIDTH="80%"
|
|
ALIGN="center"
|
|
VALIGN="bottom"
|
|
>Chapter 1. What is Linux?</TD
|
|
><TD
|
|
WIDTH="10%"
|
|
ALIGN="right"
|
|
VALIGN="bottom"
|
|
><A
|
|
HREF="sect_01_04.html"
|
|
ACCESSKEY="N"
|
|
>Next</A
|
|
></TD
|
|
></TR
|
|
></TABLE
|
|
><HR
|
|
ALIGN="LEFT"
|
|
WIDTH="100%"></DIV
|
|
><DIV
|
|
CLASS="sect1"
|
|
><H1
|
|
CLASS="sect1"
|
|
><A
|
|
NAME="sect_01_03"
|
|
></A
|
|
>1.3. Does Linux have a future?</H1
|
|
><DIV
|
|
CLASS="sect2"
|
|
><H2
|
|
CLASS="sect2"
|
|
><A
|
|
NAME="sect_01_03_01"
|
|
></A
|
|
>1.3.1. Open Source</H2
|
|
><P
|
|
>The idea behind Open Source software is rather simple: when programmers
|
|
can read, distribute and change code, the code will mature. People can adapt
|
|
it, fix it, debug it, and they can do it at a speed that dwarfs the performance
|
|
of software developers at conventional companies. This software will be more
|
|
flexible and of a better quality than software that has been developed using
|
|
the conventional channels, because more people have tested it in more different
|
|
conditions than the closed software developer ever can.
|
|
</P
|
|
><P
|
|
>The Open Source initiative started to make this clear to the commercial
|
|
world, and very slowly, commercial vendors are starting to see the point. While
|
|
lots of academics and technical people have already been convinced for 20 years
|
|
now that this is the way to go, commercial vendors needed applications like the
|
|
Internet to make them realize they can profit from Open Source. Now Linux has
|
|
grown past the stage where it was almost exclusively an academic system, useful
|
|
only to a handful of people with a technical background. Now Linux provides
|
|
more than the operating system: there is an entire infrastructure supporting the
|
|
chain of effort of creating an operating system, of making and testing programs
|
|
for it, of bringing everything to the users, of supplying maintenance, updates
|
|
and support and customizations, etcetera. Today, Linux is ready to accept the
|
|
challenge of a fast-changing world.
|
|
</P
|
|
></DIV
|
|
><DIV
|
|
CLASS="sect2"
|
|
><H2
|
|
CLASS="sect2"
|
|
><A
|
|
NAME="sect_01_03_02"
|
|
></A
|
|
>1.3.2. Ten years of experience at your service</H2
|
|
><P
|
|
>While Linux is probably the most well-known Open Source initiative, there
|
|
is another project that contributed enormously to the popularity of the Linux
|
|
operating system. This project is called SAMBA, and its achievement is the
|
|
reverse engineering of the Server Message Block (SMB)/Common Internet File
|
|
System (CIFS) protocol used for file- and print-serving on PC-related machines,
|
|
natively supported by MS Windows NT and OS/2, and Linux. Packages are now
|
|
available for almost every system and provide interconnection solutions in mixed
|
|
environments using MS Windows protocols: Windows-compatible (up to and includingWinXP) file- and print-servers.
|
|
</P
|
|
><P
|
|
>Maybe even more successful than the SAMBA project is the Apache HTTP
|
|
server project. The server runs on UNIX, Windows NT and many other operating
|
|
systems. Originally known as <SPAN
|
|
CLASS="QUOTE"
|
|
>"A PAtCHy server"</SPAN
|
|
>, based on existing
|
|
code and a series of <SPAN
|
|
CLASS="QUOTE"
|
|
>"patch files"</SPAN
|
|
>, the name for the matured code
|
|
deserves to be connoted with the native American tribe of the Apache, well-known
|
|
for their superior skills in warfare strategy and inexhaustible endurance.
|
|
Apache has been shown to be substantially faster, more stable and more
|
|
feature-full than many other web servers. Apache is run on sites that get
|
|
millions of visitors per day, and while no official support is provided by the
|
|
developers, the Apache user community provides answers to all your questions.
|
|
Commercial support is now being provided by a number of third parties.
|
|
</P
|
|
><P
|
|
>In the category of office applications, a choice of <SPAN
|
|
CLASS="application"
|
|
>MS Office</SPAN
|
|
> suite clones
|
|
is available, ranging from partial to full implementations of the applications
|
|
available on MS Windows workstations. These initiatives helped a great deal to
|
|
make Linux acceptable for the desktop market, because the users don't need extra
|
|
training to learn how to work with new systems. With the desktop comes the
|
|
praise of the common users, and not only their praise, but also their specific
|
|
requirements, which are growing more intricate and demanding by the day.
|
|
</P
|
|
><P
|
|
>The Open Source community, consisting largely of people who have been
|
|
contributing for over half a decade, assures Linux' position as an important
|
|
player on the desktop market as well as in general IT application. Paid
|
|
employees and volunteers alike are working diligently so that Linux can maintain
|
|
a position in the market. The more users, the more questions. The Open Source
|
|
community makes sure answers keep coming, and watches the quality of the answers
|
|
with a suspicious eye, resulting in ever more stability and accessibility.
|
|
</P
|
|
><P
|
|
>Listing all the available Linux software is beyond the scope of this
|
|
guide, as there are tens of thousands of packages. Throughout this course we
|
|
will present you with the most common packages, which are almost all freely
|
|
available. In order to take away some of the fear of the beginning user, here's
|
|
a screenshot of one of your most-wanted programs. You can see for yourself that
|
|
no effort has been spared to make users who are switching from Windows feel at
|
|
home:
|
|
</P
|
|
><DIV
|
|
CLASS="figure"
|
|
><A
|
|
NAME="AEN479"
|
|
></A
|
|
><P
|
|
><B
|
|
>Figure 1-1. OpenOffice MS-compatible Spreadsheet</B
|
|
></P
|
|
><DIV
|
|
CLASS="mediaobject"
|
|
><P
|
|
><IMG
|
|
SRC="images/openoffice.png"></P
|
|
></DIV
|
|
></DIV
|
|
></DIV
|
|
></DIV
|
|
><DIV
|
|
CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
|
|
><HR
|
|
ALIGN="LEFT"
|
|
WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
|
|
SUMMARY="Footer navigation table"
|
|
WIDTH="100%"
|
|
BORDER="0"
|
|
CELLPADDING="0"
|
|
CELLSPACING="0"
|
|
><TR
|
|
><TD
|
|
WIDTH="33%"
|
|
ALIGN="left"
|
|
VALIGN="top"
|
|
><A
|
|
HREF="sect_01_02.html"
|
|
ACCESSKEY="P"
|
|
>Prev</A
|
|
></TD
|
|
><TD
|
|
WIDTH="34%"
|
|
ALIGN="center"
|
|
VALIGN="top"
|
|
><A
|
|
HREF="index.html"
|
|
ACCESSKEY="H"
|
|
>Home</A
|
|
></TD
|
|
><TD
|
|
WIDTH="33%"
|
|
ALIGN="right"
|
|
VALIGN="top"
|
|
><A
|
|
HREF="sect_01_04.html"
|
|
ACCESSKEY="N"
|
|
>Next</A
|
|
></TD
|
|
></TR
|
|
><TR
|
|
><TD
|
|
WIDTH="33%"
|
|
ALIGN="left"
|
|
VALIGN="top"
|
|
>The user interface</TD
|
|
><TD
|
|
WIDTH="34%"
|
|
ALIGN="center"
|
|
VALIGN="top"
|
|
><A
|
|
HREF="chap_01.html"
|
|
ACCESSKEY="U"
|
|
>Up</A
|
|
></TD
|
|
><TD
|
|
WIDTH="33%"
|
|
ALIGN="right"
|
|
VALIGN="top"
|
|
>Properties of Linux</TD
|
|
></TR
|
|
></TABLE
|
|
></DIV
|
|
></BODY
|
|
></HTML
|
|
> |