The year of the Linux desktop has finally arrived

While Windows advocates may smirk and say here we go again, as 2007 draws to a close I get the strong feeling that we may look back upon this year and recognize it with hindsight as the year that the Linux desktop finally arrived.

There are a number of events that point to 2007 as being the turning point for Linux and it all started in January with the release of Windows Vista.

Those of us who attended the Vista media launches were all given boxed copies of the top of the range Vista and Office 2007 Ultimate software suites. At the launch, I felt from the outset that Vista was nothing more than a bloated and less stable version of XP that required new hardware, while Office 2007 provided nothing new that I needed and took away the familiarity of the classic menu system.

Yet if I were to pay for the boxed Ultimate versions of Vista and Office 2007, it would have cost me more than $1900.
As the reports started filtering in from system builders and users of the disappointment that Vista was, other reports started making their way into the tech press of the new distro of choice for many desktop users, Ubuntu.

There was a feeling among many users that Ubuntu provided the best opportunity to break the vice-like grip of Windows on the desktop market.

Even though Ubuntu release 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) wasn't quite there yet, PC maker Dell picked up on user sentiment through its new IdeaStorm blog and announced that it would make a range of pre-installed Ubuntu desktops and notebooks.

To date, however, Dell's efforts have appeared disappointingly half-hearted and carefully designed not to cannibalize its Windows PC business. It has taken a much lesser known PC manufacturer than Dell from Fremont, California, named Everex to show the way to make Linux desktops for mainstream users.

What Everex has done is two equally important things to bring Linux into the mainstream.

First, Everex has packaged up the latest version of Ubuntu, release 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon), into a neatly pre-installed plug and play desktop system, called gOS, that any novice user vaguely familiar with a mouse-driven graphical computer interface could use straight off.

Looking at screenshots of the gOS interface, with the horizontal row of application icons across the bottom, is reminiscent of the Mac OS X interface. The icons include links to popular web applications and destinations, as well as a range of open source or free proprietary applications, such as OpenOffice and Skype. Take a look at gOS here.

Second, Everex has pre-installed gOS on a sensationally priced desktop box it calls the Green gPC -- green not because the interface has a green background but because it is energy efficient.At $US199 without monitor, the gPC is not the most highly configured PC on the planet, but it has everything in the way of connectivity and features that most average desktop users would need. That includes six USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet port, 1.5GHz, VIA C7-D Processor, 512MB SDRAM, 80GB Hard Disk Drive, DVD-ROM/D-RW Optical Drive, serial and parallel ports and everything else you would expect to find with a standard desktop. The specs are here.

The latest news is that Everex plans to bring out a gOS notebook early next year for less than $300.

It would be tempting to say that the gPC is a game changer, a disruptive force in the PC space. However, it's not the gPC or even gOS that is the game changer. The game changer is what Everex has done with Ubuntu and more generally Linux.

What this relatively minor player in the PC space has done could be emulated without too much trouble by other PC makers and the result to the end user would be the lowering of the cost of computing -- hardware and software -- by an order of magnitude. Instead of paying $500 or $600 for an average desktop Windows PC plus the same again for proprietary software they think they need, users could be paying less than $200 for the lot if they take the route Everex has mapped out.

In case anyone thinks I'm beating the Ubuntu drum a little too loudly, if anyone manages to package any of the other Linux distros in the way that Everex has packaged Ubuntu, well fine, as long as it works for the end user.

There are of course skeptics who believe that the Everex gPC will flop in the same way as previous attempts to bring Linux PCs to market. Looking at the gOS interface, with the row of familiar icons across the bottom of the screen, it's hard to see this being the case. Computing is one area where familiarity does not necessarily breed contempt and, at $199, it's difficult to be contemptuous of the Everex gPC.

The era of the Linux desktop is upon us and bring it on I say.

www.itwire.com.au