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Re: The Think Linux HOWTO
more alignment to standard English
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<h1>Thinking Linux</h1>
<p>There are many ways to consider Linux. You could look at its API, at its
basic utilities and consider it is as just an Unix clone. Or you could
look at the fact that Linux is free and runs on inexpensive hardware and
then you will see an operating system which has the potential to become a
system for personal computers and for desk top computers provided it is
adapted to a different environment and to different users.
<H2>Linux for personal computers</h2>
<p>
Perhaps is not obvious to everyone that the user of a personal computer is
not always at work doing tasks mandated by his boss. His motivations are
towards having fun, managing his household, and enjoying his hobbies.
When thinking in such terms a user considers games, software for image and
sound creation, household automation, and personal finances. Everything
which can be fun or useful for real life. Web servers and C compilers are
unimportant here, at least for "normal" users.
</p>
<p>
Users of a personal computer don't have the luxury of an experienced system
administrator caring for them until they become grown up users. The simplest
of tasks can be difficult for them, RTFM is not an answer for their
problems: there is a critical phase when the user will be unable to find the
doc, has not acquired the preparation for understanding it and will perhaps
be unable to understand the docs. Here we need a robust system which
forgives user's mistakes. We need to learn to put essential info under the
user's nose (something Unix programmers regularly forget) provide sensible
defaults and tools for simplifying system administration even if those tools
don't scale well to large sites.
</p>
<p>
Many users of personal computers will never see Unix other than Linux during
their entire life span. They have no special reason to use such and such
program just because this is the "traditional Unix tool" so forget about
traditions and about your personal tastes and provide what is best for the
user.
</p>
<p>
The strong "hackeristic" background of Linux should not make us forget about
people who have real work to do and whose goal in life is NOT learning
computer science. Linux has office suites as good as the ones available for
other systems so people will say write a thesis which could do it on Linux
but if we don't learn to provide distributions which are as ready to use as
possible then they will use Macs and Windows for this kind of work. It is
specially important to get rid of the "kernel recompiling myth". Since
kernel 2.0 it is possible to provide canned kernels supporting all but the
most exotic Linux features while the performance difference between a canned
kernel and one compiled by the user is negligible. So there is no excuse
when a distribution provides a kernel which, due to lack of features or poor
performance, will force the user to recompile it. It is this kind of thing
which makes people choose other systems for real work.
</p>
<P>Private users connect to the net through dial-up links. It is vital to
allow PPP configuration as soon as possible. We also have to provide for
mail and news configuration and ensure that traffic is routed when the link
is brought up. <em>For most home users the PPP link is the only way to ask
for help </em>. You also have to think that in many countries dial up phone
time is expensive so that proxies should be used to make connections as
short as possible.
</p>
<H2>Linux in small organizations</H2>
<p>Small organizations deploy a small number of computers and while in big
organizations training costs could be recouped by license savings on a large
number of boxes that will not occur within small organizations. So we have
to ask ourselves if some traditional servers like send mail or INN are not
overkills in such organizations. And provide a range of "typical" p rebuilt
con figs for Samba or netatalk.
</p>
<H2>Linux on the desk top</H2>
<p>At times it looks as if Linux designers were unconsciously persuaded that
no sane person would use Linux on the desk top. Unix lost the desk top war
not because it was user hostile (it lost the battle in DOS times and DOS was
as user-hostile as Unix) but because it was expensive. This prevented any
sane businessman to use Unix for tasks, like WYSYWYG word processing, which
could done on PCs. And so those companies who tried to port file managers or
word processors to Unix found that sales were disappointing.
</p>
<p>
But Linux is cheaper than Windows or NT, it is more stable and in addition
in our times of inter netted computers the lack of security in Microsoft
software is becoming a serious problem. There is no reason it could not
invade the desk top if we learn to think in terms of productivity software,
in office suites and get rid of some Unix features like manual mountings
which were designed for servers not for work stations.
</p>
<H2> Conclusion</H2>
<p>
The present Unix-like Linux is perfect for a fraction of the Linux users,
but we should not allow ourselves to be coerced into keeping Linux within
the narrow Unix boundaries. There are other users -less influential and less
vocal but potentially bigger in number- whose needs are different. Linux
growth requires that we adapt to those users and we can do it while
providing traditional Unix-like interface to traditional users. We will have
to learn to think in terms of <em>all</em>Linux users. We will have to learn
to <em>Think Linux</em> and keep our minds <em>independent</em> of
traditions
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