I was just looking for a consensus on this...
I have been working with Fedora Core 3 for the past month. My new years resolution was to learn Linux. So far, so good.
I created a dual-boot Fedora / Windows XP. I am now seriously considering going completely 100% Linux and dumping my Windows partition entirely.
The question is - can you live completely without Windows, or do you sooner or later have to resort to Windows again?
--
Pete
100% Linux is theoretically possible now. What you want to know is whether it is /practical/.
Any time you have a complete, working operating system, and applications for Web browsing, Internet mail, Internet news, word processing, spreadsheet, database, and presentation design--plus the wherewithal to design and build your own applications--it is /possible/ to use that OS exclusively. Linux has reached that point.
Practicality, however, depends on various institutional constraints. If you want to run America Online--well, you can get away with pointing your browser to an AOL screen, but AOL will not write a client for Linux, and the old PengAOL/Penggy project died for lack of sweat equity. And if you're working with an institution whose members write software that they expect you to use, which software runs only on Windows (including Hypertext Applications that run only on MSIE), you're stuck--unless you can somehow get that software working under WINE or some similar product.
On the other hand, if you /are/ the president/owner/managing partner or similar chief executive of your own institution, then you have it within your power to promulgate a Linux standard. Straight-out-of-the-box solutions are available today--and where they don't, you can hire or contract with developers and hand them a complete set of open-source tools.
And Microsoft isn't helping itself by trying to use baling wire and chewing gum to plug security holes, all the while continuing to follow a business model that seems to consist chiefly of arrogant monopoly posturing. Friends, I never will forget the spectacle of Bill Gates unveiling Windows 98 only to have his demonstrator machine crash on him in public. If he keeps that up, he'll keep right on losing market share--and sooner or later, the market will hit a critical point, after which all bets will be off.
Bottom line: Sure, 100% Linux is possible. The bad news is that certain gaps remain in "the complete Windows replacement solution" (multimedia, for one). The good news is that the Linux community is robust enough to start filling those gaps, and needs no bureaucratic paper pushing to get that job done.
Temlakos
