Click here to learn why Linux will never be a viable option for the average home user.

I have been using Linux since around 1990. I spent four years as an HP-UX system administrator, so I have learned a great deal about Unix.

Linux is a great operating system, but it is very lacking in some areas. Here are the areas that need improvement before it could replace MS Windows on the desktop.

• Easy to use GUI environment. The Mac Plus was an incredible computer. Macintosh lost the operating systems race because it was not scalable. Steve Jobs was an greedy and only wanted to sell the whole computer package. By selling the whole package, he restricted his operating system sales to the sales of the hardware. If the market is demanding 1,000,000 copies of a new operating system, who can supply it faster? Somone who has to build a machine for each operating system they sell, or a company who has to make another copy of a CD? It took Microsoft until Windows 2000 to have a GUI based OS that was as good as the OS on the MacPlus back in 1986.
• Standardized dialog boxes - When you click File > Save, or a prompt pops up, it should always look the same. It is great that Linux offers the flexibility for each programmer to create their own File > Save window, but it is hell on the end user. The end users of an operating system want consistancy, not something different in each application.
• Installation and configuration of programs needs to be simplified. Double clicking a file to install is a lot easier than typing a bunch of commands to get a file installed. Clicking on menu options is much easier than using vi to edit a configuration file. Linux needs to have a total GUI environment. To install a program you have issue a dozen commands (as root or a regular user), then use vi to edit a configuration file. In Windows, you just double click an icon and answer questions in a wizard. Once EVERYTHING in Linux can be done via a GUI that has a standard interface for all programs, then Linux will be ready for the desktop. Until then, it will remain an operating system for programmers.

For what they are worth, here are my install documents for Redhat Linux. They are long, and only contain some of the information that I used to get my Linux machine configured. Maybe someone will find some use from them:

Redhat Guinness 7.0 install

Redhat Valhalla 7.3 install

Redhat 9.0 Shrike install

Redhat 9.0 Shrike DST 2007 update

Linux mirror RAID 1 setup with Redhat - My Redhat 7.3 raid setup. I tested it, and I can boot from either disk if the other dies. Very cool, very difficult to get working properly. One of the hard drives has been making knocking noises for several years, so I figure that it is on it's way out.

KnoppMyth Install