I have been a huge fan of This Week in Google and through this webcast I have begun reflecting on what are the values and norms implicit in various platforms. For anyone who pays attention to tech discussions, a clear starting point is Openness vs. Proprietary. Steve Jobs, in fact, had a recent rant on this issue. One complaint about the Android OS is that it is open in the sense that anyone can download the code, compile it, and put it on any device they want. Obviously, the run of the mill end-user will not have the knowledge and skills required to do this, but still, if you want to mess with the Android OS, it is there for you. Obviously this is not the case with Windows, OS X, iOS, WebOS, etc. But there is another OS that has been around for a long time that operates on just this notion of openness. I am referring, of course to Linux. One of the consequences of an open platform is that developers can improve it either by contributing to the source code or by writing programs and applications. Another consequence is that, in theory, a user can have as complete control over their platform as is possible. But that obviously takes time and one has to learn a great deal of programming in order to seize that control.
I have been a proponent of open platforms. I have an android phone, I use OpenOffice and now LibreOffice. I have recently decided, however, to put my position (religion!) on the line and I have switched to Linux. I am using the recent Ubuntu 10.10 release and I have switched all three of my computers (i.e., my Asus netbook, my Dell desktop, and my Dell desktop in the office) and have been running Ubuntu for about a week. As this test goes on, I will share more of my experiences. Let me just give a few initial impressions:
- The installation was extremely easy, intuitive, and quick. I did a complete install on my netbook, while my other computers are dual-boot. I was up an running in no time, including access to my home wifi network. All of this went without a hitch.
- I was sad to find out that there is no current version of Microsoft's Silverlight software for Linux. The main effect is that I cannot watch Netflix on demand. If we did not also have a Mac at home, this would be a deal breaker for me. This is not necessarily a problem with Linux, but a problem with Netflix. Perhaps HTML5 will solve this problem, as Microsoft has indicated that it is moving away from Silverlight toward HTML5.
- Twice, I had to go online and get help for problems. The first had to do with installing Tweetdeck, which runs on Adobe Air, which does not have a 64-bit Linux version. The upside is that the Linux and Ubuntu communities are extremely helpful. The downside is that I ended up typing commands in the terminal that I did not understand in the least! It worked, but I have no clue at the moment what those commands did or what they meant.
- The Ubuntu UI is sleek, fast, intuitive and I am really digging it. I installed the "Unity" desktop on my netbook, and Ubuntu is now committed to this desktop interface going forward. I am still getting used to it, but it does manage the small real estate of the netbook screen quite well.
I have been learning more and more about Linux commands and code and this has helped me make my system my own. It is a time commitment, but so far I would argue that Ubuntu 10.10 works easily "right out of the box." And now I have taken the plunge completely into the Open Source Community!