Is Linux ready for me?

2007-03-30 | Filed Under Software, Linux |

Is Linux ready for me?

In parallel to my efforts to completely switch to Vista in my office, I decided to
check out on the progress of Linux. I was curious can I do all my daily job under Linix, so I installed the latest Ubuntu alpha in parallel to my Vista. I planned to spend roughly half my working day in Vista and the other half in Ubuntu. For the purpose I used my company Fujitsu-Siemens T4210 tablet PC, Vista business edition and Ubuntu 7.04.

Installation

Ubuntu installation was a breeze, but I had to put in additional 2 hours of
effort (reading forums mainly) to get the tablet and tablet buttons working. The Ubuntu forums are really helpful, and it is quick and easy to find exact steps to get your hardware working. I never managed to get the built-in microphone working, though.

Wireless networking is greatly improved in the latest Ubuntu. Much more stuff works out-of-the-box. Overall no problems here.

Doing work stuff

I started doing what I do normally, and overall I was able to to most of my work
under Linux. This included:

E-mail: no problem connecting to the company exchange server, delivering additional
POP3 boxes to the exchange store. No problems here at all.
Source control: we are very lucky to be using Subversion, so everything was pretty
smooth here
Bug database: Our bug-base as any modern one has cool web interface, so this was no
different than Vista
Merging: Meld is a pretty good open-source 3-way merge tool. While not as good as
the Windows-one, it was sufficient
Document processing: OpenOffice was perfect for my humble Word/Excel/Powerpoing needs, the compatibility with MS is not great, but bearable. We keep documentation in a wiki anyway, so there are not a lot of documents around
Instant messaging: Skype, ICQ run with no problems.
Running Virtual Machines: Here Linux really shines. I don’t install any development tools/sdks on my machine, but rather setup a virtual
development machines for different products/setups. VMWare for Linux is great, install is very straightforward and simple. But why it is times better than Windows you ask? Because Ubuntu eats up much less memory than the Vista monstrosity, and VM run times faster.

But I also found out I had to re-boot to Vista for some tasks. What I did not manage to do under my Linux:

Doing Skype conferences - that was because I could not get the built-in microphone to run. Other then that the Linux Skype version is simply great.
Project planning - Microsoft Project has no equivalent under Linux that comes even close. I gave at least 6 open-source alternatives a try and none of them had more then 20% of the MS Project features
UI Prototyping - Visio and Photoshops’s closes alternatives - Dia and Gimp were
far away from the functionality and ease-of-use to the Windows versions
WebEx conferences - No WebEx for Linux…

Doing fun stuff

Music and sound - Due to its lack of a singe, standard sound HAL, anything sound-related is a pain in the ass. Yes, I can listen to my mp3 and hear the sound of flash applets, but not together, unless I spend hours of configuring. No thanks, was about to do fun stuff, and configuring 100 sound-using applications to work together is no fun in my book.
Ur-Quan Masters - I love this open-source game, and being under Linux I decided
it will run better than the Windows build. I was very wrong. Due to the lack of
a single, standard graphics HAL - it wouldn’t run under my Ubuntu. It behaved like
an old DOS game that was run on EGA using CGA settings. Pathetic. The Windows version runs perfect on any XP/Vista I ever tried.

The conclusion

Linux has improved greatly for the last year. If I was writing this article for Ubuntu 5.x, it would have been much, much worse. It is now almost suited for work stuff. If I had found a reasonable Project, Visio and Photoshop alternatives - I would have switched, since overall I started to like Ubuntu very much.

For the fun part - its greatest strength (the huge freedom and choice) is its biggest
curse. Until there are world-wide Linux standard HALs for hardware accelerated video
and modern 3d sound, Linux is totally not ready for the fun part. And it is my favorite
part….

If you liked this article please share it