The Open Source Alternative

It's been a while since we last posted and, to continue but develop the current theme, we thought we'd move away from Linux a little and address the fundamental ethos behind this alternative operating system.

Open source software is exactly what it implies; the source code that makes it work is freely available to download, review, tweak or adapt, and pass on, subject to the terms of the licence agreement. Most such software is written and distributed under the GNU Public Licence (GPL) which is a universally accepted licence agreement for the development, amendment and distribution of open source software.

Linux is open source but not all open source is Linux, or even even Linux-compatible. It need not even be an operating system. The chances are that you're already aware of, and perhaps even using, open source software already - there are open source equivalents of Microsoft's favourites which are designed to run on Windows and address some of the perceived failings of Redmond's software development.

Arguably the most widely known suite of open source software, although many people don't perhaps actually know that it is open source, is the Mozilla internet suite; commonly referred to as Firefox (web browser) and Thunderbird (email client). Following wide-spread condemnation of the inherent security flaws in Internet Explorer and Outlook Express, or more importantly, the lack of speed exercised by Redmond in addressing substantiated vulnerabilities, Firefox and it's sister product Thunderbird quickly seized a sizeable chunk of the market share, outstripping longer established alternatives.

Firefox and Thunderbird are no less prone to bugs and/or vulnerabilities but, and herein lies perhaps the most convincing argument for using open source software, they are fixed rapidly by the developers, often before the bug/vulnerability is even widely publicised - they don't wait until the monthly patch download. It's that, and the dynamic development of extensions, themes and plug-ins by third party developers that appears to have made Mozilla so popular.

Another very convincing argument for open source software is its very nature; the code is freely available and therefore it's very difficult to hide malicious code snippets in it. Something that appears to be far more prevalent in the open source than in the proprietary world is the validation of downloads using an MD5Sum. This is a simple validity check, but not infallible. If a download fails the MD5Sum check, it's usually either corrupt or tampered with and shouldn't be loaded either way.

A lesser known but equally useful open source software suite is Open Office, the free version of Sun's Star Office, cited as the main rival to Microsoft Office. Being perfectly honest, and a Power User of Microsoft's offering, it has to be said that Open Office is not ready to take on it's rival in a toe-to-toe battle royal; it lacks quite a lot of the more advanced functionality and polish.

That said, Open Office wins over its Microsoft rival on three fronts, at least for the average user:

1. It's free; free to download, free to install on as many machines as you want, free to use
2. It will open the files of it's rival. even though they are proprietary and closed source. It will even produce files of the same format, readable by it's rival
3. It will also produce web pages and PDF (Portable Document Format) files natively, that is without having to buy additional software to do so or clear out pages of redundant code

So, you may not be ready for a whole new operating system but you like the ideas, morals and ethos behind the open source movement. You can download, install and use two suites of programs which cover off the bulk of the average users' needs, without spending an additional penny.

This post has been sparked by a couple of interesting articles posted on the BBC Technology News site, so it would be churlish not to link back to them in order that you can read an alternate viewpoint.

• BBC News Programs Click Getting the most from open source
• BBC News Technology Questions for Microsoft on open formats

More on other open source alternatives next time.

The Linux vs Windows Argument

We said we wouldn't evangelise about Linux and that's still true. However, people ask why they should move from Windows to Linux and it's actually very easy to evangelise when answering the question. The truth is that people are comfortable using what they know and understand, a perfectly understandable and justifiable position.

We have found two excellent essays which answer the question without, in our opinion, coming even close to evangelising. They're simply factual and knowledgeable without being excessive. They even point out positives of using Microsoft products. So, rather than risk being branded born-again Linux users, we'll let you read these two independant articles instead:

1. Why Linux Is Better
2. Linux is NOT Windows

Enjoy, become informed, and make up your own mind.

Trialling Linux as an alternative

For a few months now, we've been testing Ubuntu Linux as an alternative to Windows, and the initial results are very encouraging. Sure, it's not been without challenge or glitch, but what venture with a steep learning curve isn't.

To set the stage, Ubuntu is a distribution of the GNU Linux operating system. Strictly speaking, Linux is only a kernal, a core operating system, and what makes it one distribution or another is what additional software the backers of that distribution have included.

Ubuntu Linux was chosen after briefing trialling a number of other distributions because:

1. It has commerical backing, vendor (although it's actually free) support and an incredibly vibrant and supportive community forum
2. It is arguably the fastest growing and best known distribution currently, despite only having been around for since 2004
3. It has a regular upgrade and release cycle, which includes a Long Term Support version for those that don't want to be on the bleeding edge but stick with the tried and tested
4. It is possible to run Ubuntu from the CD/DVD, to try it out on your hardware and to see if you like it, before replacing Windows

This blog will never be a tutorial on installing or running Linux of any kind; there are plenty of other sites out there that do this far better. In the case of Ubuntu, there is the forum as well as the Psychocat Ubuntu pages, by one of the forum moderators, both of which has been used by us extensively in exploring Ubuntu and getting it set up the way we want it to be.

The reasons for trialling Linux have been covered in earlier posts and future developments will be the subject of subsequent posts. There will also be a few spin-off subjects, not least of which will be the whole tin of worms that is open source equivalents.

At this stage, suffice to say that DreamGenius regards Ubuntu Linux as a successful trial to date, to the point that it is installed on the main internet access machine. Why? Simply because Linux is less vulnerable to the internet nasties which are prevalent these days, for three simple reasons:

1. Linux is open source, which means that you can open and read the code that is running on your machine. It's therefore difficult to hide nasties in the code
2. There are fewer nasties out there which target Linux or any of the programs that run on it, possibly because of 1 above and also because there is no corporate entity to target
   
3. You don't automatically have full administration rights to your machine in user mode, so malicious code can't run easily or do very much damage if it does

As previously stated, it isn't Windows, so don't go citing this recommendation, installing Ubuntu and then expecting it to do everything that your Windows machine does, because it won't. It will however be an educational experience, and that's always a good thing.

DreamGenius is not a Linux or Ubuntu evangelist by any stretch, nor are we turning our back on Windows. We set out to trial Ubuntu Linux as an alternative home user operating system and first impressions show this to be a resounding success. More news as it breaks.