Lately, I’ve been noticing stories about how to use Linux you need to know half-a-hundred Linux shell commands and the like. Ah, what century are you from? Today, if you can see a window and handle a mouse you’re ready to use Linux.
And, no, I’m not talking about how we’re all already using Linux in devices like the TiVo or the Droid smartphone and through Linux-powered Web sites like Google. I’m talking about using Linux on the desktop.
There is nothing, I repeat nothing, that requires any special knowledge to use Linux on the desktop today. If you’ve already mastered Windows XP, you’ll have little more trouble moving to a Linux desktop like Red Hat’s Fedora 12; Novell’s openSUSE 11.2; or Canonical’s Ubuntu 9.10 than you would in switching over to Windows 7.
I’m not saying using Linux isn’t different from running Windows. It is. For example, you’ll need special software like Crossover Linux to run Windows-specific software.
The interfaces also aren’t the same, but then Windows 7 and Vista’s interfaces aren’t the same as XP’s and Mac OS X’s Aqua interface doesn’t look anything like the others. Besides can any other operating system besides Linux let you set up the interface so that it duplicates XP’s look and feel? I think not!
