Properties of Linux
Linux Pros
A lot of the
advantages of Linux are a consequence of Linux’ origins, deeply rooted
in UNIX, except for the first advantage, of course:
-
Linux is free:
As
in free beer, they say. If you want to spend absolutely nothing, you
don’t even have to pay the price of a CD. Linux can be downloaded in
its entirety from the Internet completely for free. No registration
fees, no costs per user, free updates, and freely available source code
in case you want to change the behavior of your system.Most of all, Linux is free as in free speech:
The
license commonly used is the GNU Public License (GPL). The license says
that anybody who may want to do so, has the right to change Linux and
eventually to redistribute a changed version, on the one condition that
the code is still available after redistribution. In practice, you are
free to grab a kernel image, for instance to add support for
teletransportation machines or time travel and sell your new code, as
long as your customers can still have a copy of that code. -
Linux is portable to any hardware platform:
A
vendor who wants to sell a new type of computer and who doesn’t know
what kind of OS his new machine will run (say the CPU in your car or
washing machine), can take a Linux kernel and make it work on his
hardware, because documentation related to this activity is freely
available. -
Linux was made to keep on running:
As
with UNIX, a Linux system expects to run without rebooting all the
time. That is why a lot of tasks are being executed at night or
scheduled automatically for other calm moments, resulting in higher
availability during busier periods and a more balanced use of the
hardware. This property allows for Linux to be applicable also in
environments where people don’t have the time or the possibility to
control their systems night and day. -
Linux is secure and versatile:
The
security model used in Linux is based on the UNIX idea of security,
which is known to be robust and of proven quality. But Linux is not
only fit for use as a fort against enemy attacks from the Internet: it
will adapt equally to other situations, utilizing the same high
standards for security. Your development machine or control station
will be as secure as your firewall. -
Linux is scalable:
From
a Palmtop with 2 MB of memory to a petabyte storage cluster with
hundreds of nodes: add or remove the appropriate packages and Linux
fits all. You don’t need a supercomputer anymore, because you can use
Linux to do big things using the building blocks provided with the
system. If you want to do little things, such as making an operating
system for an embedded processor or just recycling your old 486, Linux
will do that as well. -
The Linux OS and Linux applications have very short debug-times:
Because
Linux has been developed and tested by thousands of people, both errors
and people to fix them are found very quickly. It often happens that
there are only a couple of hours between discovery and fixing of a bug.
Linux Cons
-
There are far too many different distributions:
"Quot
capites, tot rationes", as the Romans already said: the more people,
the more opinions. At first glance, the amount of Linux distributions
can be frightening, or ridiculous, depending on your point of view. But
it also means that everyone will find what he or she needs. You don’t
need to be an expert to find a suitable release.When asked,
generally every Linux user will say that the best distribution is the
specific version he is using. So which one should you choose? Don’t
worry too much about that: all releases contain more or less the same
set of basic packages. On top of the basics, special third party
software is added making, for example, TurboLinux more suitable for the
small and medium enterprise, RedHat for servers and SuSE for
workstations. However, the differences are likely to be very
superficial. The best strategy is to test a couple of distributions;
unfortunately not everybody has the time for this. Luckily, there is
plenty of advice on the subject of choosing your Linux. One place is LinuxJournal, which discusses hardware and support, among many other subjects. The Installation HOWTO also discusses choosing your distribution. -
Linux is not very user friendly and confusing for beginners:
In light of its popularity, considerable effort has been made to make
Linux even easier to use, especially for new users. More information is
being released daily, such as this guide, to help fill the gap for
documentation available to users at all levels. -
Is an Open Source product trustworthy?
How
can something that is free also be reliable? Linux users have the
choice whether to use Linux or not, which gives them an enormous
advantage compared to users of proprietary software, who don’t have
that kind of freedom. After long periods of testing, most Linux users
come to the conclusion that Linux is not only as good, but in many
cases better and faster that the traditional solutions. If Linux were
not trustworthy, it would have been long gone, never knowing the
popularity it has now, with millions of users. Now users can influence
their systems and share their remarks with the community, so the system
gets better and better every day. It is a project that is never
finished, that is true, but in an ever changing environment, Linux is
also a project that continues to strive for perfection.
