The year of the Linux

So, 2008 is the Year of the Rat, of course, those of you with Rats already knew that, wink wink nudge nudge..

However, in my humble opinion, it is also the year of the Linux. Why?, for a variety of reasons. Every year, Linux advocates say "this is our year", but it never comes to pass. Linux always seems to get stuck in the mud. Either a decent distro comes out, and gathers more "eyeballs" (Like my Internet-speak?), or a movement by a recognizable organization adds to the creditibilty of the platform. Then, for some reason, it dies off just that quick.

Well, thanks to Ubuntu, this seems to be a year for traction. Ubuntu, if you've been living on mars, is the distro for the masses. I personally don't like it, I like Mandriva, but that's me - you're mileage may vary. I also prefer KDE over Gnome, again, that's me.

There have been some vary significant developments lately though, concerning the police organizations no less. A year ago, the German Tax Authority switch 12,000 desktops over to Linux, and have been very satisfied. Now, the Berlin Police union want's a change too. The French "paramilitary" police confirmed they are replacing 13,000 to 15,000 desktops with Ubuntu over the next 3 to 5 years, as well as instituting every new box be Ubuntu.

Dell sells an Ubuntu box in both Desktop and Laptop forms. Acer is testing the Linux grounds with their own Ubuntu boxes. Wal-Mart introduced a line of PC's with Linux, and SOLD OUT in two weeks. They are "no longer available", not because they didn't sell, because they cannot keep up with demand!

There are several MAJOR companies in the US contemplating the very same thing. Considering the licensing dollars for the Windows world, it's a wonder it's taken this long. With Ubuntu being such a simple distribution to set up and use, the LAMP server being a no-brainer, the MASSIVE amount of 3rd party help available, and the number of drivers available to "make things go", it's becoming a simpler and simpler decision.

Organizations that are stuck are places that use proprietary applications (like us). If your bread and butter software isn't written for the Open Source platform, you're out of luck. Sure, we could replace all of the "other stuff", but the software that pays the bills is Windows Only. The developer is in no hurry to open source it either.

I really feel that there has been an incremental and exponential movement towards the Linux platform. Plain and simple; for 80% of the computing population today, the interface ISN'T windows any more. Windows is the thing that gets in your way as you go to the web. The "interface" is Explorer, or Firefox. You "use" internet applications, as well as the standard office stuff. People have realized the a window is a window, a click is a click, and that you don't need Microsoft any more, albeit sloooowly.

When you think about it, most people outside of work, jump right to their favorite set of websites. They do not pass go, they just wait (for minutes and minutes and minutes) for Windows to boot, and jump right to Explorer or, preferably Firefox. They don't "use" windows in a traditional sense. If this is the case, then why even "f" with a browser at all?

If you want to try something neat, check out Mozilla Labs test project "Prism". When I sit down to the computer, 90% of the time it's either here, Distrowatch, the Weather, eBay, Facebook and a couple other sites. I open Firefox and go to my Favorites, click, log in, blah blah blah...

What Prism does is encapsulates the website into a stand alone brower-app. In other words, I have shortcuts for the Weather, or Facebook, and with one click, I'm, on and logged in. I do what I want, then close the "app".

Look at your kids, or kids that you know - "they are the world"...

What do they do?, I know mine live in MySpace and Facebook 90% of the time - with iTunes running in the background. Who cares what platform they used to get there?, I KNOW they don't. To them, Windows, OS X, and Linux are all the same thing. I've asked them. My son - the one who wants to grow up to be a developer - Can't even get his arms around the concept of an "operating system".. Nor does he care to .. LOL

Mark my words; The impending Recession causing us to squeeeze our pocketbooks even more, the increasing transparency of the "OS", Big Box companies supporting Linux and America's largest retailer jumping on board, THIS train is gaining serious steam..... It WILL be the year of the linux!

NOTE TO WAL-MART:

Get your shit together, build some snazzy, inexpensive Linux boxes NOW, and get them on the shelves BEFORE the government rebate gets here!!!!!! You WON'T regret it! - Tell em' Tommy said so.

Next time ....

The SINGLE word standing in the way of Mass Linux adoption (and it has nothing to do with Microsoft). Stay tuned!

"Lie-nux, or Lyn-ux"?, the final word...

OK, I've had this discussion with a few people. Is it "lie-nux, or lyn-ux"??

/ˈlɪnʌks/ (‘linnuks’)

This is now Linus Torvalds’ preferred pronunciation, as he considers /ɪ/ closer to the original /ɪː/ than /aɪ/. It also follows the pronunciation of the English word ‘linen’.

There's your answer - now go away..

:)

Missed opportunities

Tony Robbins likes to say "Knowledge is not power, Knowledge combined with action, is power".

I have to agree with him. I seemed to have missed the boat on so many ideas and opportunities. I have been blessed with some great opportunities, don't get me wrong, but I'm tired of jumping on something and not taking it anywhere.

Case in point: Podcasting.

Now a several years ago I was surfing for some "Where are they now" information, and I came across something about Adam Curry. I found it interesting that a DJ had made a fortune on the Internet so I went to his page; The Daily Source Code.

Now, back then, it really was a source code page. He was writing stuff in AppleScript, and getting frustrated with all of the back and forth of sending files, and making sure everyone who was helping him write stuff was on the same page. All too often, a programmer would pick up the "code", modify or add to it, and then send it back only to find out, the code he got was downlevel already. This truly can be frustrating.

This is where Dave Winer came in. The question was; How do you "send" updates to people, rather than count on them to come and get them? Dave came up with "RSS". RSS is "Really Simple Syndication", which is a "PUSH" technology.

See, when you have to go to a website to get your stuff, that's PULL technology - the onus is on YOU to get it, and more importantly, remember to get it. PUSH technology will SEND you stuff as long as you're subscribed to it.

Now, Adam was able to take the "source code" and "package" it into a file that would get distributed automagically whenever he wanted to, and not worry about weather or not anyone was uplevel or downlevel.

Adam, being Adam, said "If I can package code, why can't I package audio?" So he made a test audio file and Dave downloaded it, it worked. So "who" invented Podcasting? Dave invented the package, and Adam took the concept one step further, niether of them can claim "inventing it". The argument can be made that packaging audio would have been the natural progression - but Adam did it first. In fact, neither of them came up with "Podcasting" either, it was a guy named "Ben Hammersly" who did it. I heard the audio.

People keep saying "All Podcasting is, is sending MP3's, no big deal", but it's not, it's the whole concept of packaging audio in a PUSH technology.

Anyways, I was there and I heard the first conversations between Dave and Adam, and I aggregated the "podcasts" as Adam recorded them in his car, from his home in Belgium, from his helicopter, and when he got his "fixed wing pilots license". He recorded them on his iRiver MP3 player.

I knew right away it was going to be big. I wish I could remember what year, but I do remember it was around October, that I bought the domain "www.ThePodCastGuide.net" aka, TV Guide. The only real "podcasts" were Adam, some tech net guys (that were technically sending out MP3's, and "The Dawn and Drew Show". They were great.

I figured that there should be a site that would list shows, times, frequencies, etc. (can you say Odeo?). I figured it should work like eBay, where you would post your RSS link, and people would download it, and vote on it. The good ones bubbled up to the top, the crappy ones fell off the map.

But there was one rub - I didn't (and still don't) know ANYTHING about website building.

I sent Adam an email offering to give him the Domain, in exchange for help setting it up, but he was too busy and not interested. Dang. Anyways, I let the domain expire and let a great idea fizzle out.

This brings me to today.

I LOVE riding my motorcycle. It's my full time summer activity. Seriously, I ride to work, I ride when I get home, I ride every weekend, I ride ride ride ride.....

Finding rides is the tricky part. Once you've exhausted all your routes, you want to go on rides with others. There are craploads of them; Bar rides, fund raisers, club rides HOG rides, etc. You can go on the web and find them all over the place.

I have a GREAT idea for a ride site, so much so that I bought "www.BikeRidez.com". Everyone I tell about it says Great F'ing Idea!, but, guess what? - - I STILL don't know anything about website building. And in this case, I need MySQL and the Google API.

I can see it in my head, and I don't want this idea to fizzle out, so if you know ANYONE who knows Website building, MySQL, the GoogleMap API and stuff, and WON'T charge me tons of $$$ to help me build it, let me know. Pleeaseeeeeeeeeeee

I don't want my Knowledge to die for lack of Action

By the way, if anyone is keeping score; this year or next IS going to be "The Year of Linux", mark my words. I'll explain why in a future blog. Stay tuned.