TheWorldJournal.com - Technology

Say "Hi" to Linux
By Philippe Vysotski , TheWorldJournal.com

It seems as if Microsoft has found a new challenger to face their operating system. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to Linux.

Linux is a Unix based operating system which was released in 1991 by Linus Torvalds and fellow developers. Torvalds attended the University of Helsinki in Finland at the time. How is Linux different than Unix? Well, most Unix operating systems was customized by different companies and some of them were not so user-friendly. Torvalds enhanced Unix by making it more user friendly and easier to use. Many programs that work in Windows and Mac OS have been ported to work in Linux. For example, if you use Microsoft Word, you can use Corel Wordperfect for Linux. But it gets better. You can run a program called vmware (virtual machine) and run windows and Linux at the same time! Incredible? Indeed!

Another big advantage Linux has over windows is the multi-tasking. Meaning, you can run many programs at once, without your system crashing. In a recent benchmark test, a Pentium 200 running Windows 95 had Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, Netscape Navigator running and AOL. The resources dropped from 87% to about 48%, where as Linux running Netscape, Wordperfect, The Gimp (photo editor), Quake 2, GAIM (Gnome's AOL Instant Messenger), a webserver and an ftp server only dropped a mere bit. Why is this? The way these programs are created.. the way the kernel (main part of the operating system) handles these tasks.

And probably the most important and best thing about Linux over windows is the price - it's free! Most distributions give out their Linux distribution for free. If you do buy, you will get some documentations and "extra goodies" on the CDs. You can go to CheapBytes for the CDs. Has a new revolution of operating systems begun?

Related Sites:
CheapBytes http://www.cheapbytes.com

© August 14, 2000

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