Utility of a Web only OS

Google announced ChromeOS and did that in style. It was a hot topic of discussion in my friend circle. Some were highly excited about it and some considered it a gimmick by Google, akin Google Docs. There is no doubt that Google is directing current internet inventions, it has class leading products in almost every sphere it ventured, however, it has no experience in making an integrated thing like an OS. Google took a better approach, they decided to make Linux as the base of their ChromeOS. Now Linux is time proven for its stability and security features and now has excellent driver support too. ChromeOS will have most common application like Google Docs/ upcoming Online MS Office, will have great boot time, web-email, Facebook, online games etc, however, there is just one thing that bothers us all – Online. 

Is our use of a computer just restricted to online tasks ? Do we so rarely use desktop applications that we will be happy to transition to a Web-only OS ? With these question in mind we decided to do a survey of our usage of Home computer and below are our findings. Please NOTE that the survey is conducted on software engineers and their wives, who are a little more comfortable with their computers than a normal users. Based on the results we have allocated points in favour/ against  possible acceptance to ChromeOS.

1. The most common task we all do on the computer is checking Email. Gmail is the most common amongst us. However, some people still stick to Hotmail or Yahoo. With Gmail coming out of Beta, people are more at ease using it, but frequent disconnects is still an issue. Most people have multiple email addresses, hence use outlook or Windows Live mail to consolidate all mails. However, they were OK to visit each in browser as long as they do not have to retype their password every time ( Techys are Lazy people). In the most common task the transition to ChromeOS will be very easy.  ChrmoeOS: +1
2. Second most common task is Facebook. Wow ! we guys are socially active too. Some people use the desktop client for Facebook and many use the mobile clients but almost all find the web interface most convenient to use.    ChromeOS : +1
3. Games come as a definite number 3 on our list. Most guys are addicted to online multiplayer games. Some find Warcraft amazing so some swear by CounterStrike. Though many of us have XBOX/PS3 but computer gaming experience is just out of this world and the most satisfying. We have even formed teams for the yet to be released Diablo-III. PC Games are very important and serve a good purpose of bonding us even if we are physically miles apart. Oh did anyone mention Web games ??? I think we bought our $3000 gaming PC for nothing ! Big NO NO for ChromeOS as far as games are concerned. ChromeOS –1.
4. Twitter. Amazingly this small web app is a favourite amongst housewives as well. All love it. This looks like a positive thing for ChromeOS, but all of us use TwitterDeck or some other mobile application. The web interface is too bland to use at the same time TwitterDeck provides some good features like notifications which make life easier. Shifting to web only interface would not be preferred by most. ChrmoeOS: –1
5. Skype. The cheapest ( read free) means of talking to our friends and family. The sound and video quality is exceptional. No other service like MSN, yahoo or G-talk can come anywhere near. Good thing about Skype is Linux client. But that is desktop client. ChromeOS: -1
6. Watching Movies. Just download it off iTunes/Amazon and watch it on computer. Will ChromeOS have this capability ? Does not look like in their initial announcement. ChrmoeOS: –1
7. Coming to iTunes. Switching to ChromeOS means ditching my iPhone/iPod Touch ? No way! ChromeOS: –1
8. Office.  Now we guys are past the stage where we used to make ppts, or write docs for submitting assignment. We rarely use office applications unless for very specific tasks like preparing a doc for house renovation. Most will be very happy to use online version MS Office/ Google Docs. ChromeOS : +1
9. Pictures. Techys are gadget freak too. Most of us have DSLR and love going together for photo shooting trips. Though most of the pictures we take are just to be shared on Flickr, but we do a lot of post processing before uploading our prized photos. Most take photos in “RAW” mode and then use the respective software from Canon/Nikon/Sony to process them. Processing a good photo sometimes takes hours. This is serious work we do. It is not like “Auto-Correct” or red-eye reduction found on Live Photo Album/ Picassa. Some of us have bought Adobe Photoshop and do some amazing work. Personally I use GIMP on Arch Linux, but most other friends cannot work without Photoshop/ Canon utilities. Photos processing is something we just cannot do online. Big NO NO for Google. ChromeOS : –1
10. Internet News.  Name says it all. ChromeOS : +1

ChromeOS is a googd initiative of looking at tasks people do in a different perspective. But by no means is Chrome a replacement of everyday OS. From the above 10 points we see that Chrome does not satisfy many of our everyday needs. For switching to ChromeOS we will have to let go of Games, Skype, Movies, iPhone and our passion for shooting. Too much to pay for falling into the web of an internet giant.

If we go for a vacation, we might not have access to internet thus our laptop will become useless.This is not the case today. By switching to ChromeOS we miss too much. But what do we gain ? What are the benefits of ChromeOS ? What can Chrome do that my Arch Linux cannot  ? Its just a matter of brand recognition. Hey wait !Ubuntu is much more recognized than Chrome. Also Ubuntu/Arch provides me with a plethora of desktop applications.

Our Survey concludes that if we have to shift from the existing Windows desktop it will be Linux – A full blown Linux Desktop which has a browser to perform all the functions of a ChromeOS.

 

P.S:  The survey is only for home desktop. For Office Laptop we cannot think about anything except Windows. We make extensive use of Microsoft Office, all the web applications are written keeping IE 6 ( yes IE6, not IE7 or IE8) in mind, and we have huge number of desktop apps written for Windows XP. Many of us use Visual Studio for programming. Hence Office laptop has to be Windows only.

Personally I use Arch Linux at home and have no Love for either MS, Canonical or  Google.

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Microsoft should launch Windows with Opera

Not sure why MS decided not remove IE from European version of Windows 7, they had a much better alternative – Give users an option to try Opera instead. This would have made the EU regulators happy at the same time done the trick for MS.

If MS does not want to support Opera ( which they should never do), they can give this option on an "AS-IS" basis. Make user click "Accept" to the fact that Opera is a non-MS software and MS will not provide support for it. They can always include a Desktop icon to download IE8 from Internet and install it.

As per latest data it is FireFox which is causing most harm to IE market share. With version 3.5 coming out the scale will shift more towards FF. I on the other hand love Chrome, there is no parallel to it. In no time Chrome is slated to take over browser just as gmail did to web email.

Opera will inadvertently safeguard MS from ever increasing influence of FireFox and Chrome.

Here are my reasons for it

1. Opera is EU company and is the one which launched the complaint. If MS includes Opera than all EU would be happy.
2. Firefox is the biggest market competitor currently. If MS bundles Opera, then MS haters would (possibly) choose Opera instead of Firefox and thus decrease the market share FF has. This again would make MS as the only dominant player with other having less than 10% share each.
3. As the only dominant player MS will again get a chance to dictate web standards.
4. Opera would also possibly weed out Chrome – arguably the best browser currently.
5. Apple safari is already almost non-existent. Opera might help put a death nail.
6. The last reason is the most compelling one --- Opera SUCKS. Yes Opera is no where close to even IE8 in terms of ease of use, let alone Chrome. Some reasons
1. Around 5% sites refuse to open in Opera.
2. Another 5% look real funny in Opera. ( Ok the fact is that all sites are designed to run in IE so not all browsers display them correctly, but look at FF and Chrome – they do a very decent job).
3. Opera hangs whenever it wants.
4. I tried changing the default search engine to “bing”, but Opera will simply not accept it.
5. Too much space is allocated to different (tool)bars reducing the available space for web page. They could have taken a lesson or two from Chrome.
6. On fresh install, it does not import settings from IE – FF and Chrome does it perfectly.
7. It lacks the suggestive URL that Chrome has.
8. It lacks the cool web accelerators that IE8 has. I specially like the Blog, Email and translate accelerators.
9. It lacks the Private browsing mode.

In effect Opera lacks the best features of all current browsers and does not have any feature that it can boast of. People running Opera might conclude that IE8 is a much better option and might come back to IE8. If they switch to Chrome, there is not chance of returning back.

Hence Opera is a blessing in disguise for IE8. I hope MS guys read this article and try out this fuzzy idea.

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Why People resort to Arch Linux

Arch Linux is a Linux enthusiasts dream. It has a rare reputation of being very basic at the same time very user friendly.  It is a minimalistic distribution which allows for great customizations, it very updated ( much better than OpenSUSE or Ubuntu) and has a very good package manager. 

That said, the first thing that will deter people from trying Arch is non-availability of Live CD/DVD installer. Also the default install takes you to a command line type, non-GUI shell. There on you are supposed to read the guide and install everything from XOrg , XFCE/KDE to FireFox extensions. Then, how come such a beginner deterring distribution gaining so much in popularity ? 

Here are some reasons I can think of ::: 

1. Most updated distro ( at least in top 20 on Distrowatch )
2. Every thing is simple/minimalistic and well laid out.  Like making some changes is mostly done by editing rc files with "vi". Good thing is that its all well documented. No chance of any GUI app screwing things up.
3. Very fast and ultra efficient package management System. Pacman is gaining popularity everyday. 
4. Huge number of packages optimized for i686 and x86-64( most modern computers). 
5. As the default install is very minimalistic, so you add only the packages you actually need. Like there is no need for CUPS if you do not have printer attached. 
6. Arch is faster than most other distros. Applications like Open Office and FireFox open much faster in Arch. It is also lighter on resources, uses much less RAM than most other with similar packages installed. 
7. Rolling releases. This means that Arch is always updated, very unlike 6-month update for Ubuntu. You will never have to re-install Arch. The latest release of Arch are just a snapshot of your already updated system. 
8. Here is something where Arch is very user  friendly - If you want to install binary packages, most are there in official repositories, however, in rare circumstances you can either download from AUR or better still compile very easily on your own. ArchBuildSystem is one of the easiest compile from source I have seen. 
9. Very friendly community. Arch Forums are equally good for new users as well as for seasoned ones. But even the Linux Gurus here are very polite and answer the silliest question ( most of mine fall in this category ) with poise or guide me to other forum threads where the question is answered.   

The Last benefit is a little appealing only to Techy at heart. Chauvinistic you might say. 

10. PCLinusOS, OpenSUSE, Mandriva, Ubuntu are all great distros. However, they do all the work for me and I want to DO-IT-MYSELF. I want to dirty my hands. I want to have a feeling that I am not spoon fed. And I want to show-off my latest packages before any other distribution has it in their database. The latest Firefox, KDE, GIMP - you name it and mostly Arch is one of the first to have it in its repos. 

Give Arch a patient try (keyword is patient), read guides, goto Forums and you will also fall in love with it. 

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Oh Its Beautiful

These were the exact words from my wife's mouth when she saw my Mandriva 2009 install. I choose the KDE 4 desktop which is eye-candy in itself, but Mandriva devs have put in a lot of effort and made KDE look much more adoring. Every look is pleasing and speaks of the attention to details paid by devs.

Beginning with the splash screen ( common to both GNOME and KDE ), KDE wallpapers, KDE theme, modified KMenu and all the way to screensavers every thing is a pure visual delight. Mandriva has made sure that all applications are well blended in the theme and look similar.

Mandriva is like Miss World -- Beauty with Brains. Mandriva 2009 takes off from one of their best releases MAndriva 2008.1 and adds to it. I immediately recognized all my hardware and installed the correct drivers for it, Well !! except for the driver for Vaio Motion Eye Webcam. Mandriva One also comes with "out-of-box" support for most media formats, so all my mp3 and you-tube videos play without any intervention from my side. As with any new KDE Linux distribution, Mandriva comes with Office, Firefox and other applications of everyday use and there is no need to explicitly add new applications.

Ok coming back to the beauty again - KDE 4 has inbuilt beautiful Desktop effects provided by KWin, however, KWin is still not as matured as Compiz-Fusion is. Hence, Mandriva 2K9 provides the option to enable compiz-Fusion and get all the amazing effects like Desktop Cube and Fire. I think my wife played with the Fire extension for a long time.

Lastly !  did I mention that default Fonts look amazing in Mandriva ? Oh they are almost like the Fonts we see on Vista.

After having spent 2 hours with Mandriva I asked my wife, is she willing to jump to Mandriva ? Her answer was NOT until she can video chat with her friends using Skype and Sync her Samsung Omnia with Outlook like software in Mandriva. Despite all her beauty, Mandriva still has a long way to go before My wife starts using it as her primary OS.

 

PS: I know that Skype with Video is available for Linux, but I have a Vaio and new Linux Kernel does not have driver for Motion Eye Webcam.

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Thank God Ubuntu comes as Live CD

I have Mandriva 2009 installed on my Vaio Laptop and it works great out of Box.
Till now only two things are not working

1. Motion Eye webcam, and
   
2. Fn buttons

Searching on Google, I found that Ubuntu has packages for these ( where as I'll have to compile them on Mandriva). My next step was to download and burn Ubuntu 8.10 and check it out. I thank God that most modern distributions can be tested as Live CD else Life would have been hell for me.

On booting Ubuntu, it loads to a almost familiar brown themed Gnome desktop. Now this is typical Ubuntu and we do not expect Ubuntu to be WOW looking out of box. However, as people claim it to be the most user friendly desktop - I expect all the hardware to work out of box. At max its ok that restricted driver module detects a non-OSS driver for a hardware; connects to internet and installs the correct driver.
For that connection to Internet is essential, but in my case that basic step was proving to be a trouble. My wireless card which works perfectly in Mandriva, since 2008.1 was not working with Latest Ubuntu.
For some time I could not believe it, but when even after 3 reboots the card did not work. I realized that it is not my mistake. The card in question is detected by Mandriva as

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)
Then I connected the wire from modem and eth0 came up beautifully.
I thought now hardware will be detected and the correct driver will be fetched. Nope, Ubuntu again proved me wrong. Fiddling with the Admin software, I came across Hardware Drivers application, on firing it immediately detected the card and showed it as Enabled and configured properly. My joy was short lived, still the wireless card did not show up in Network adapters.
Googling for AR42X on Ubuntu Forums, I came across many such complaints. Amazingly there is no easy solution to this problem, no one has made a package for ubuntu to just work.
The workaround involves cumbersome command line procedure.
Disabling this ..
Enabling that ..
Compiling...
modprobe....

All this just to get wireless working ??
Strange!!.
I am sure that Ubuntu came after Mandriva 2009, why should it lack simple wireless drivers ?
If I have to compile, I am better off compiling driver for motion eye webcam. At least for that I do not have to keep my laptop next to my router.

A little search showed that AR42x is supported out of box by the following major distributions

• Mepis 8
• Mandriva 2009
• PCLinuxOS 2009
• Opensuse 11.1
• Mint 6
  
• Fedora 10

EDIT: as posted by darkchild

AR42x also works out of the box with Fedora 10.

OK some are still in Beta, but the support is good.

I again thank my stars that I did not install Ubuntu, otherwise either I would have to treat my Laptop as desktop till the driver compile not work ( and who knows that self compiled drivers will work properly ) or had to install Mandriva 2009 back.

Thanks again Canonical for providing the option to use a LiveCD.

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Uptime of Linux Desktop System

 

I have religiously avoided the temptation of checking new distributions like the Mandriva 2009 and Ubuntu 8.10. The reason is that I did not want to shut down my OpenSUSE 11 installation. I always just close the lid of my Laptop and resume the session on return. Many a times I have seen my KDE 4.X crash and I had to restart my XServer, but OpenSUSE never asked me to reboot. OpenSUSE testing repos have KDE 4.2 ( testing) and I keep myself updated. As I use a non-stable version of KDE so I have seen many crashes. Good thing is that even after three months of usage, the memory footprint was always very low.

Do let me know if anyone else has allowed there desktop Linux to run for three months or more. Please let me know the distribution you are using and the XServer crash/freeze seen ( if any).

Lets share in a format like

1) Distribution

2) uptime. For more information on uptime use " man uptime" on terminal.

Please Note that I am talking about home desktop machines and not Linux servers. I think in my office the Linux servers are running on RHEL 3 since more than 3 years.

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Prominent public figures in Open Source world

Open source has taken the world by storm. Numerous open source applications are being used by satisfied users. The most prominent and widely used open source products are Firefox, Linux Distributions,Sugar CRM, GIMP, Wordpress, emacs etc. The latest to join this ever increasing bandwagon is Google Chrome. Many people don't know what Open Source (OS) means but are still happily using these OS products.

The wikipedia defines OS as Open source is a development methodology,[1] which offers practical accessibility to a product's source (goods and knowledge). Some consider open source as one of various possible design approaches, while others consider it a critical strategic element of their operations. Before open source became widely adopted, developers and producers used a variety of phrases to describe the concept; the term open source gained popularity with the rise of the Internet, which provided access to diverse production models, communication paths, and interactive communities.

As OS software is influencing the lives of so many people, lets take a look at the commonly known people of OS ::

1. First and foremost the grand daddy of open source movement, Richard Matthew Stallman. He was a Harvard student, who abandoned his studies for his love of programming at MIT Artificial Intelligence lab. He is the developer of emacs, a tool which is a long time favourite of unix and linux programmers. However, his rise to fame started when he started the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation. The prominent software out of GNU include GCC ( collection of compilers) , GNOME and GNASH. Out of these GCC is of utmost importance as it forms the basic of almost every free software including Linux operating system. He also wrote the GPL which is fast becoming the most popular free software license.  
2. Eric Steven Raymond is a prominent unix programmer and had championed the Free Software Initiative.
3. Andrew Stuart "Andy" Tanenbaum is a professor of computer science at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Hes is a distinguished author of many computer programming books like Computer Networks and Operating System design and implementation. As part of his book Operating Systems he wrote a small Operating system called Minix. The design principles Tanenbaum applied to MINIX famously influenced the design decisions Linus Torvalds applied in the creation of the Linux kernel.  Sir I was a student of Computer Science and totally realize the importance of your teachings. I am sure that all Computer Engineering students hold you in high esteem.
4. Ok here comes the GOD of Linux- Linus Benedict Torvalds. He is the most prominent name in Open Source world. He is the man who has the guts to take on the Redmond Giant head on in their bead and butter product - Operating System. Apart from Linux kernel, Linus also developed the distributed revision control system GIT. He is an open supporter of KDE over GNOME.
5.   Coming to KDE, although KDE was founded by Matthias Ettrich, today the most common face of KDE is Aaron Seigo.  He is the man behind KDE e.V - the non-profit organization behind KDE.
6. He is undoubtedly the most recognized man in open source world - Mark Richard Shuttleworth. He is the man behind mighty Ubuntu. For most people Ubuntu IS Linux. Dell is shipping Desktops and Laptops with Ubuntu pre-installed. Dell computers running Ubuntu 8.04 include extra support for ATI Video Graphics, Dell Wireless, Fingerprint Readers, HDMI, Bluetooth and MP3/WMA/WMV. Ubuntu provides all the software required for normal working and is touted to become a viable alternative to Windows.

This effectively concludes my list of prominent public figures. However, a few more prominent ones includes Gael Duval of Mandirva fame, Danniel Robbins  of Gentoo Fame and the Legendary Texstar (Bill Reynolds) of PCLinuxOS fame. Texstar specially deserves praise for single handedly creating an distribution and an ecosystem which could take on mighty Ubuntu and be the favourite distribution for a large groups of users.

Please feel free to add any names I might have missed.

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