I am writing this article as someone who has slightly more computer knowledge than an average person. I can install Linux distributions onto computers, I can compile source codes into binary from the terminal, I can even fix boot loader problems. All these skills may be quite advanced for the ordinary person, but trivial for Linux users.
I am an avid reader of LinuxFormat, an amazing Linux magazine from the UK. I love the passion they have for Linux in general, and also the open source initiative. Their podcast is excellent as well. Their style of writing, the way they encourage open source and the efforts they placed to write amazing articles for readers are exceptional. One thing I have quite noticed is that they have been pushing for Linux adoption for PC. I have to say, Linux distributions in general are much better in many ways, but not every way. This was my experience with desktop Linux when I tried it as a 2012 New Year resolution.
I told myself this year, I shall completely migrate from Windows to Linux, and therefore I chose Ubuntu as my distribution of choice. It is very user-friendly, has a great supporting forum where users and post questions and the people there are (usually) very friendly.
Ubuntu’s app store is the biggest and also the most user friendly, and their out-of-box support for different computers is great. I went and bought one of the monthly issues of LinuxFormat, and quite coincidentally, had Ubuntu 11.10 on it. I took the magazine home and popped the DVD into my laptop, and installed Ubuntu onto it. It was completely problem-free.
It installed without a hitch, and was perfect. I got all the essential software onto it via the app store, through my favourite cafe’s WiFi, as I had no Internet access at home. I live in a rather remote part of the globe, and Internet access wasn’t as widespread at that time compared to other countries.
Ubuntu was fine, until one day I needed to get some software installed on my laptop. I realised that installing software without going online was rather difficult, as very few software were packaged, unlike Windows, where application installers are distributed mainly through EXEs and MSIs. Now, imagine you have four computers at home, and no internet access. Getting Ubuntu onto it is easy, but getting offline installers for it isn’t.
Linux has often been touted as the go-to OS for developing countries, but developing countries do not have constant internet access. With Windows, I could get the installers for the applications I needed and wanted onto an external hard drive, bring it around and give my friends and family the software they needed. Just, plug the external hard drive in, double click the installer, go through the steps, and you’re done. It’s simple, and it’s effective.
Although people might argue that this brings a lot of clutter and installers leave files all over the computers’ hard drives, the thing is, it doesn’t matter. Yes, the computer is going to slow down over time, and needs to be reformatted again every year or so, but it doesn’t matter. Without internet access, that is the only way to get software to work. For instance, maybe one guy in the whole neighbourhood is lucky enough to have internet access. He can therefore download the software and distribute it to his neighbours without them ever needing to access the internet.
Windows might be clunky, it might be slow, it might be un-innovative, and yes, it is highly vulnerable to malware, but in places like these, it doesn’t matter. Windows just works.
Of course, Microsoft makes deals with PC manufacturers, yes, they exercise monopoly over the PC market, and sometimes they abuse their position, but it doesn’t matter to the average user, because Windows just works for them.
At my school, where would I often go to the IT department and mess around and help out with the staff, I have repeatedly recommended them to use Ubuntu, but alas, this problem of the unavailability of offline installers proved to be the main reason why it isn’t being even considered.
“There was an opportunity for it to happen. Canonical had got its Ubuntu Operating System up to speed and Redmond was still shipping its piss poor Vista Operating System. Even Apple’s Leopard was nothing to write home about. But it didn’t happen and now it is unlikely to do so. While Linux will rule supreme on the server it will never make it to the desktop.”
I really love Linux, Ubuntu is great, but Windows, for me at least, just works. I now occasionally use Ubuntu through my VirtualBox installation, of which I could easily distribute to my friends thanks to the EXE file.
I am here calling for open source software developers, please, can you guys agree on a universal format to rival the Windows installers? I do not have much coding knowledge, and I don’t really understand how everything works, but I understand the huge amount of different components each and every distribution has. This may be just one of the small disadvantages for most, but it is the biggest disadvantage for me and people within my community. Hopefully, if they could fix this, maybe, just maybe, Linux can finally come out of the ‘obscure’ status that it holds within the average user.
(Note: I wrote this all the way back in 2013! I figured it’ll be nice to put it up as a reminder of how far Linux has come. Also, I was only a little teenage kiddo, so pardon the naivety)