Life Without Microsoft: An Exercise in Futility?
It sounded like a good idea--at the time. Some of my friends said it would be “cool.” But I should have listened to the ones who just laughed at my experiment of surviving two weeks without Microsoft in my life.
The exercise had its attractions. Frustration with Microsoft’s products isn’t hard to find. Go to any gathering of techies, and you can hear the screams about the high cost and bugginess of Microsoft’s products.
I’ve heard it all, and experienced most of it. I figured it wouldn’t be that tough to give Microsoft a temporary heave-ho and make do without Explorer (the dominant Web browser), Office (the dominant applications suite) and even Windows (the dominant operating system).
My path to liberation lay with the Linux operating system--one of the few alternatives on a PC to Microsoft’s ubiquitous Windows. Although I could switch to a Macintosh, my goal was to see what was possible with a PC.
Linux is used mainly on corporate computers that run large networks and Web sites, although its popularity among regular computer users has been growing.
You can find word processors, spreadsheets and other applications for Linux--and lots of them. There’s no shortage of books on the subject: Amazon.com lists at least 471 Linux titles.
As I walked around the floor of the LinuxWorld trade show in August, the air was almost intoxicating. Here was Penguin Computers offering desktop and server systems. There was Adaptec offering plug-in cards to connect peripheral devices. All the Linux software vendors were there as well, including some offering games such as “Myst” and “Descent.”
I left San Jose believing it was possible: You could handle the basics of business--and then some--without paying homage to the empire in Redmond, Wash.
Arrangements were made with VALinux Systems for a loaner PC with Linux loaded. Software was obtained, and I was soon ready to pull the plug on Mr. Gates.
Day Zero
It’s 11 p.m. With my loaner Linux PC plugged in and ready to go, I dove in. The system immediately froze as the CD-ROM drive tried to read a disc with MP3 files I had created on my Windows-based computer.
I didn’t know whether I could get the machine to work properly, or how long it would take. Thirty minutes later, I decided to go to bed. Not a good start.
Day One
This wasn’t going smoothly. I had deadlines to meet and an interview to conduct.
At 11 a.m., Rick, the tech support person from VALinux, called and walked me through the process of making the Linux PC revert to its original state.
The CD-ROM drive worked again. Rick helped me configure the computer to work with my cable modem and everything seemed to work fine--at least for a while.
Linux starts up quickly and is relatively stable. Not once did I have one of those days on which I had to reboot the machine 12 times, as has happened with some Windows computers I’ve used.
One of the benefits of Linux is that users can choose from several graphical interfaces. The K Desktop Environment, also called GNOME, looks very much like Microsoft Windows. Another interface, X Window, is similar to the Unix interface of the same name.
Though the interfaces all look different, they still function in ways that would be familiar to Microsoft Windows users.
Getting used to Linux wasn’t all that difficult. It is, after all, a graphical interface, and with more than 14 years of experience working with various versions of Windows and the Macintosh OS, I had a pretty good sense of how things worked, basically. Satisfied with my little successes, I called it a night.
Day Two
The Linux applications I had borrowed were balking this morning.
I had installed Applixware Office 5.0 for Linux, which included a word processor, spreadsheet, database and graphics program. The suite of programs cost $89, about a third the price of Microsoft’s Office 2000 suite.
The word processor fired up OK, but it was missing something near and dear to the heart of every freelance writer: a word-counting feature. If an editor wants a 700-word column, you don’t want to send in 500 words--or 5,000.
I was in a hurry--another deadline loomed--so I switched to the free Linux version of Corel’s WordPerfect that had a word counter.
My fussing with Linux was enough to set me back on my day’s to-do list. Hassles with networking, applications and interfaces were eating into my productivity.
And then my eyes began to yell at me. Loudly.
As any fan of the stock pages will tell you, small print can hurt the eyes. On a computer screen, tiny type is lethal.
Now, in many applications, you can increase the font size or the magnification of the page to make small type readable. Most Web browsers, including Netscape, have this feature too. But not in Netscape 4.75 for Linux. Michael LaGuardia, a product manager at Netscape, said the “preview release” of Netscape 6 for Linux (a final version was released after my experiment) lets you pick different-size fonts. True, but some other key features didn’t work, including the security settings that would have allowed me to reach my bank account.
So I could either read a Web page or get my account balance. But not both. Not yet.
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Mark A. Kellner is editor at large for Government Computer News.
