2001.02_Future Proof.pdf

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Editorial column from Faris Raouf

similar fate for Linux for similar reasons but they are

undoubtedly wrong. I know this because Linux has

stood the test of time and has remained on my

system ever since I first installed it.

Using my criteria above, it’s clear that Linux has

a great future ahead of it – you only have to look at

the amount of news generated and the number of

big name manufacturers getting involved with the

operating system in one way or another. More and

more manufacturers are voluntarily producing

Linux drivers for their hardware too, which means

better compatibility than ever before (as you’ll find

if you look at our notebook supertest on page 34).

Not only that but comprehensive and stable

USB support is now almost with us, as you’ll see in

the USB storage feature in this issue. And with

each new distribution released, hardware

recognition gets even better and system

configuration gets easier. I installed Linux Madrake

a few days ago and could count on one hand the

amount of clicks and key strokes I undertook!

And this being Linux, if you are willing to

experiment you can download patches and test

versions of drivers and Kernels almost as soon as

the last line of code has been written.

The unstoppable momentum behind Linux is

bringing it head to head with Windows sooner

rather than later. Of course it will still be a very long

time before a little Penguin appears on almost

everyone’s screens instead of a Microsoft logo

during boot up. You never know, though –

Microsoft might decide to start speaking Penguin

at some point. It could happen, you know. Only

time will tell.

Judging the worth of an operating system is easy

to me. It’s measured simply by how long it stays on

my main PC before I get annoyed with it and revert

to my trusty Linux kernel. One operating system

that didn’t last very long at all was IBM’s OS/2.

As an operating system, OS/2 actually has an

awful lot to recommend it. It doesn’t gobble

system recourses like there was no tomorrow. It is

also very stable and was generally easy to use and

administer.

In its ”Warp” desktop variant, which IBM

launched at great expense, it can even run

Windows desktop applications through a sort of

emulator, using code licensed from Microsoft. As

you’d expect, running Windows applications is not

an ideal thing to do and is much more trouble than

it’s worth. Still, back in the OS/2 heyday it was the

only way for many OS/2 users to get access to the

kind of applications they need because few OS/2-

specific products of any note ever hit the streets.

Those that did were custom written, such as those

used in the banking sector.

From my point of view, however, the real

trouble with OS/2 was its lack of drivers and

relatively poor hardware recognition during

installation. The recognition problem could be

solved with a bit of effort but drivers were a real

problem – few hardware manufacturers couldn’t

be bothered to write any.

The end result of all this (plus a few other

factors, of course, including Microsoft’s marketing

machine) is that OS/2 is far from popular. I hear

that it is nowadays an order of magnitude better at

everything than when I tried it out. But how many

people do you know who run it? Some predict a

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Faris Raouf

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4 LINUX MAGAZINE 5 · 2001

Faris Raouf discusses the fate of Linux in the coming years

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