100% Linux - Is it possible?

[Temlakos]

Pete Choppin wrote:
> I was just looking for a consensus on this...
>  
> I have been working with Fedora Core 3 for the past month.  My new years 
> resolution was to learn Linux.  So far, so good.
>  
> I created a dual-boot Fedora / Windows XP.  I am now seriously 
> considering going completely 100% Linux and dumping my Windows partition 
> entirely.
>  
> The question is - can you live completely without Windows, or do you 
> sooner or later have to resort to Windows again?
>  
> --
> Pete

100% Linux is theoretically possible now. What you want to know is 
whether it is /practical/.

Any time you have a complete, working operating system, and applications 
for Web browsing, Internet mail, Internet news, word processing, 
spreadsheet, database, and presentation design--plus the wherewithal to 
design and build your own applications--it is /possible/ to use that OS 
exclusively. Linux has reached that point.

Practicality, however, depends on various institutional constraints. If 
you want to run America Online--well, you can get away with pointing 
your browser to an AOL screen, but AOL will not write a client for 
Linux, and the old PengAOL/Penggy project died for lack of sweat equity. 
And if you're working with an institution whose members write software 
that they expect you to use, which software runs only on Windows 
(including Hypertext Applications that run only on MSIE), you're 
stuck--unless you can somehow get that software working under WINE or 
some similar product.

On the other hand, if you /are/ the president/owner/managing partner or 
similar chief executive of your own institution, then you have it within 
your power to promulgate a Linux standard. Straight-out-of-the-box 
solutions are available today--and where they don't, you can hire or 
contract with developers and hand them a complete set of open-source tools.

And Microsoft isn't helping itself by trying to use baling wire and 
chewing gum to plug security holes, all the while continuing to follow a 
business model that seems to consist chiefly of arrogant monopoly 
posturing. Friends, I never will forget the spectacle of Bill Gates 
unveiling Windows 98 only to have his demonstrator machine crash on him 
in public. If he keeps that up, he'll keep right on losing market 
share--and sooner or later, the market will hit a critical point, after 
which all bets will be off.

Bottom line: Sure, 100% Linux is possible. The bad news is that certain 
gaps remain in "the complete Windows replacement solution" (multimedia, 
for one). The good news is that the Linux community is robust enough to 
start filling those gaps, and needs no bureaucratic paper pushing to get 
that job done.

Temlakos