Consider the Penguin

OS Platform Statistics Current trend is that Windows XP is growing fast The Windows family counts for more than 90% of the market *

XP Home Edition $ XP Professional $ Windows XP together with Office XP $560 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition Client Access License Quantity: 5 $999 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition Client Access License Quantity: 25 $3,999 Current Windows List Prices

Windows … A Security Nightmare? Windows is a favorite target of worm and virus writers Worms and viruses are stunningly effective on Windows because Windows provides atrocious functionality which makes it easy for worms to strike. Windows Registry Windows Update * TechUser.Net How often do you see this?

Typical Windows Lifecycle Clean Windows Installation Quality Deteriorates User Forced to do Clean Reinstall Programs Installed Windows Registry Accumulates more and more residue System loses all the previously applied security updates, and becomes a sitting duck for worms and other malware.

Even With a Clean Installation … The Internet Storm Center ’ s values for amount of time it takes to be hit by a virus probe have been cut in half since one year ago – from 40 minutes to 20 minutes! *

Even With a Clean Installation … The upper limit download of a Windows XP SP2 upgrade is KB. On a 1.5 megabit (T-1) connection, this takes approx. 24 minutes. A probe will hit your computer every 20 minutes Don ’ t forget install time! There ’ s another 20 minutes alone!

If You Choose Windows … Plan for downtime “ The average rate of failures requiring a system reboot has been measured at around 8% per session. ” Expect Insecurity “ We're fundamentally changing the way things operate, to help to make software more resistant to attacks. We're two and a half years down a much longer road; it's more of a 10-year timeline. ” Stephen Toulouse, Microsoft Security Program Manager, Inform Customers of Potential Instability “ State driver's licenses and identification cards won't be available for the remainder of the week because of a virus that has crippled the computer system since Friday. ” Wednesday, September 22 news

Linux Linux is a free Unix-type operating system originally created by Linus Torvalds with the assistance of developers around the world. Developed under the GNU General Public License, the source code for Linux is freely available to everyone. Recently Celebrated 13 th Birthday *

Open Source Computer programs or operating systems for which the source code is publicly available are referred to as open-source software Inherent in the open source philosophy is the freedom of a distributed community of programmers to modify and improve the code Linux is the best-known example Others include the Apache Software Foundation ( ), who produce the dominant software (64% of web servers in 2003) for servers that dish out corporate web pages.

Pros of Linux Inexpensive Most Linux copies are free. This is the beauty of open source! Secure Even with source code freely available, Linux is one of the most secure operating systems available Reliable It ’ s not uncommon to have a machine up for more than a year without a reboot Multi-User Centric Unix was built intended for many users. Linux adopted this; many systems have hundreds of users

Pros of Linux Internet Community. Always willing to help with problems, and anybody can write a patch to modify source code. A worldwide team of developers is at your fingertips. Example: The Gainesville Linux User Group runs a mailing list with many Linux experts, including UF faculty that run systems you use everyday. Holds monthly meetings. Expect help within minutes! Low system requirements. Linux doesn ’ t require a top of the line computer.

Cons of Linux Program x doesn ’ t run on Linux. Many program vendors don ’ t support Linux SOLUTION  Linux provides lots of alternatives to common programs – and likely at a much lesser cost  Try With over 80,000 free project downloads, it ’ s worth a visithttp://  Or, try Wine: “ Wine is an Open Source implementation of the Windows API on top of X and Unix. ” WindowsXhttp://winehq.com/

Cons of Linux Hardware y doesn ’ t run on Linux. Many hardware providers don ’ t write drivers for Linux SOLUTION  Most older hardware is supported by Linux, even if the manufacturer themselves did not provide the solution  Save money and purchase older hardware. Linux doesn ’ t require a high-end PC, and your hardware will work as expected  Also, the Driver on Demand ( ) project aims to have your system automatically download and install drivers from the Internethttp://driverondemand.sourceforge.net/

Cons of Linux I have to download multiple CDs worth of setup disks. A typical Linux install is 3 CDs of contents and 2 additional CDs contain the source code  This is necessary to provide a vast array of software SOLUTION  Check the home page of the distribution that you ’ re downloading. Chances are that they offer to send you CDs at a small cost. Also, network installs are possible; you can use an FTP mirror of the distribution you ’ re installing and not concern yourself with CDs.  Remember how much money you ’ re saving by getting Linux !

Cons of Linux Programs are hard to install When reading program documentation, they often cite how to compile the program on your own. This can result in program dependency issues and take a lot of time. SOLUTION  Compiling your own programs is a key feature of Linux. You can edit the source code and build with command-line options to customize the software.  However, if you ’ re not up to this task yet, there are many package managers available. They download and install programs for you.  Try RPM (RPM Package Manager) APT (Advanced Package Tool) Yum Emerge

More than ‘ 32 Flavors' Linux is packaged in ‘ distributions ’ (commonly referred to as ‘ distros ’ ) or ‘ flavors ’. Select the flavor that works best for you. RedHat/Fedora/WhiteBox – most common, heavily supported Gentoo – known for performance Debian – known for compatibility SuSe – known for ease of use Mandrake – primarily intended as a desktop The list goes on ! Each flavor has its own strengths and weaknesses; however, each is supported by the same robust Linux kernel. If you ’ re unable to decide by Internet research, use a trial and error approach. Most are, after all, free!

Window Managers Once you ’ ve decided on a Linux distribution, choose a Window Manager The two most popular are ‘ Gnome ’ and ‘ KDE ’ Look similar? They are! Try them both and see which fits your needs. You ’ re in luck, Linux can have multiple window managers installed, and lets you choose which to boot into Switching is seamless!  All window managers respect the underlying directory structure of user home directories and programs KDE GNOME

Install Programs Of course, you ’ ll need software to replace all of your Windows programs. Here are some common replacements. Evolution supports calendars, address books, rich content , indexed searches, IMAP/POP/SMTP support, Palm device support, and much more.

Install Programs Web Browsers are perhaps the easiest Linux transition Many popular web browsers are cross compatible Some window managers, such as KDE, are packaged with a browser such as Konqueror

Install Programs Already Comfortable with Office? Not a problem!  OpenOffice emulates and improves on many Microsoft Office technologies

Install Programs Winamp XMMS You ’ ll find a small learning curve on many programs, as they ’ re modeled after the Windows equivalent. AIMGAIM

Install Programs As a rule of thumb, any software that you used on Windows has a Linux equivalent, and most any software you can imagine having utility has probably been written in one form or another.

Get Educated The University of Florida has a Linux page One of the best ways to get informed about current Linux related issues is to join a mailing list The University also has a Linux mailing list

Get Educated Check out the Linux Documentation Project The LDP is “ a loosely knit team of volunteers who provide documentation for many aspects of Linux ” There are several forms of documentation  Guides  HOWTOs  Man (manual) Pages  FAQs

Get Educated Google!!! A simple Google search produces hundreds of pages dedicated to providing Linux information     … just to name a few!

Takeaway Windows has issues that should be considered Expensive (?) Security Flaws Windows is not the Only Operating System Out There! Linux is a Open Source (free) alternative to Windows

Takeaway There are many alternatives to Windows based software that are often cross-platform compatible that run on Linux There is plenty of information readily available on the Internet if you want to know more about Linux

Questions ?