Looking beyond Windows
For many years, Microsoft Windows has had the desktop OS market pretty much sewn up. But alternatives to Windows are getting better - and growing their market share. Do these represent a real, every day alternative to Windows?
14 November 2007
Certainly, users of other operating systems – such as Linux and Mac OS X – are highly enthusiastic in their support of their chosen OS. Perhaps too enthusiastic sometimes; forums around the Internet are often on fire with ‘my OS is better than your OS’ arguments, which generally don’t help to keep the debate logical.
It does seem that now, more than at any other time, there are some genuine alternatives to Windows. True, some operating systems which had great potential have fallen by the wayside – such as Be OS, Nextstep and OS/2. Primarily the first two of these operating systems floundered because lack of application support meant that it wasn’t possible to adopt them full time – you always needed to switch back to Windows. OS/2 was certainly more advanced than Windows at the time, being well ahead in terms of (for example) having a flat memory model and being able to address more memory than Windows. However, IBM was simply out-marketed by Microsoft and although OS/2 was excellent once running, it did have an awkward installation procedure.
Once Windows began to gain ground, it quickly became the desktop standard for both home and business, with each version becoming easier to install, manage and use.
Today’s most viable alternatives come mainly from two camps: Linux and Mac OS X. Linux is especially interesting as it is a many-headed beast: there are lots of different Linux distributions, and, while they all pretty much share the same underlying kernel, they can be as different as chalk and cheese.
Linux in general has some real strengths. It’s very reliable and robust, seldom needing reboots and requiring significantly less horsepower than Windows to achieve many of the same tasks. It’s low cost: free in some cases. With each new version (and many Linux distributions have a significant version upgrade several times a year) it gets easier to use and install: at one time you needed to be a serious Unix geek to get the most from Linux, but now there are several distributions which your mother could install and use.
Some Linux distributions are pulling ahead of the market. Red Hat has made the enterprise its focus, touting its server versions of Linux and the manageability of its enterprise desktop as its core strengths. And it is a key player in that market, very successfully making those large corporations, who are seeking an alternative to Windows, its core business. Recently, it’s launched a massive virtualised applications initiative with partner Amazon, making applications available anytime, anywhere – by the hour. This real shift from the boxed applications model could be highly successful – only time will tell.
Novell, once the standard for networking, has now completed the transition to being an open source software provider, with solutions based around its own Linux distribution: SUSE Linux Enterprise. Like Red Hat, Novell does provide a strong contender to Microsoft – because not only does it have a solid Linux product for both server and desktop, it has oodles of management tools and applications to provide a complete ecosystem for the enterprise.
So if Red Hat and Novell’s offerings are so great, why aren’t they overtaking Windows? Well, both are definitely gaining ground, but once an organisation is committed to a platform such as Windows, it takes a long time – and costs a lot of money – to change it to something else. Also, while Linux is fine for many everyday tasks, there’s still a lack of applications. Many applications that exist on both the PC and Mac (Office, Photoshop and so on) simply don’t exist on Linux. Yes, there are alternatives, but that’s not ‘the real thing’.
While Red Hat and Novell focus on the enterprise, there are also Linux distributions for the home user too. Ubuntu Linux has made great inroads into the home market, by being easy to use and maintain. It’s even being made available on some Dell PCs, which is a real sign of mainstream acceptance. If a person needs to use just e-mail, word processing, spreadsheets and so on, it’s a solid choice – Ubuntu performs well and is easy to adapt to.
Again, lack of applications can be an issue – although there are lots of Linux applications, many of the mainstream programmes simply aren’t available.
Another growing alternative is the Mac. Once the preserve of the design community, the Mac is gaining mainstream acceptance in business and – especially – in the home. While it used to be expensive, the Mac is now no more expensive than comparable PCs – and now that it can also run Windows, it can provide a more useful Windows machine than most ‘normal’ PCs. Application compatibility is typically much better than Linux – with most mainstream applications having a Mac version available. Where the Mac falls down is in its use across the enterprise – although there is a server version, and remote management tools, these just don’t come anywhere near the manageability of Windows.
And that’s the crunch point. For home users, it’s not terribly hard to switch to Linux or to the Mac, but for business users – especially large organisations – the Microsoft offering is now so complete that it really does provide the most comprehensive solution. This is especially true with the next generation of Windows Server products, which provide a level of manageability that simply leads the market. While Windows Vista has had a disappointing uptake, businesses will benefit more – and be more inclined to move to it – with the next versions of Windows Server products, which unlock some of Vista’s best features.
Just as the alternatives to Windows have never been better, so Windows itself has never been on a more solid footing.
