Continued:

The second point of interest is the driver support that currently favors Linux. Although many companies are still resistant in investing resources to deliver the drivers, they are starting to change their views by the constant development and active involvement of the community. Take a look at ATI, for instance. The company is now rigorously working on Linux support in order to resolve the compatibility issues with its graphics adapters. Needless to say, ATI isn’t the only one. HP recently introduced a new notebook computer with a customized version of Ubuntu Linux to make sure everything works out of the box. This very involvement and gradual acceptance of Linux from power users to world’s largest OEMs is what secures Linux for the future, and formulates it as being a viable desktop solution.

The third point is derived more or less from the second argument. Linux is gradually moving up the ladder of desktop operating system. Is Linux in a state of replacing Windows? Possibly not, as there are still a few knots that need to be untied, but those determined enough to make the switch would be just fine after the initial learning curve. In fact, Linux may even be the perfect operating system for those that only use the computer for basic tasks. And for those of you that might argue the difficulty factor of Linux for novice users (which accounts for nearly 90 percent of the computing population), let’s not forget that such users might not even be comfortable in using advanced settings in Windows.

In addition to what’s discussed above, Apple’s transition won’t be complete until 2007. After that the possibility of dual-booting Windows and Mac OS X on the same system might take more time before the drivers are available and everything is sorted out, which further adds to the time period of potentially fine existence of both operating systems on the same setup. Moreover, the chances are very high that Apple may not put too much of a price dent to justify the cost of the x86 Macintosh. Add the system cost plus a standard Windows license, and the combination isn’t as feasible economically as one might expect. And of course, Linux development won’t be at a standstill until the end of 2007 (assuming people can run Windows on Apple hardware by the end of 2007, which is not likely to happen but for arguments sake, let’s accept this theory for a minute). If you have been following the development of Linux for the last few years, the industry acceptance as well as the development has been continuous, and each year brings something exciting for the end-user.

So, as far as Apple and Intel’s partnership is concerned, Linux has far from anything to worry about. With that said, it’s not a time for Linux developers to be taking easy. A persistent push is still needed to deliver the most refined alternative to Windows.