Ten reasons Linux desktops lead the way

• Tags:
• Usability,
• Desktop,
• Open Source,
• Linux

Jack Wallen

Published: 19 Jun 2009 11:55 BST

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Even if you have always worked with a Windows or Mac desktop, Linux offers numerous advantages that are worth trying, says Jack Wallen.

Many may harbour doubts about the Linux desktop. But after more than 10 years of using it, I can put those concerns to rest. Not only is the Linux desktop user-friendly, powerful and flexible, it is also an improvement on the more familiar operating systems.

Here are 10 reasons why the Linux desktop has an edge and why your interest should be sufficiently piqued to at least want to try it.

1. More efficiency

If you work in either the Windows or Mac desktop, you'll know that efficiency was not a key factor in either design. Simplicity, yes. Efficiency, no.

When you are working with many windows open in Windows, what do you do? You minimise them until your taskbar is filled with minimised windows, or you tile your windows until you need a bloodhound to locate the window you want to work with.

In the Linux desktop, there are many ways to help you work more efficiently. You can take advantage of the Pager and place windows that belong to various tasks on their own desktop. You can also use a feature like Fluxbox window grouping. If you like your windows all on the same desktop, but do not like to minimise them all the time, you can shade the windows so that only the title bar shows.

2. No more 'lock down'

With Windows or OS X, you get what you get and no more. Of course, you can install third-party applications in Windows, but you'll never have the flexibility you would find with a Linux desktop. And if you don't like the desktop you are using in Linux, you can choose a different one.

Because Linux distributions are not locked down to any one window manager or desktop, you should be able to find exactly what you want. Whether you want a complex desktop, just the bare minimum or something in between, Linux can make your desktop be and do anything you want.

Equally, you need not fear too much configuration or too many options. You can start with the basic desktop and live with that all your computing life, if you so choose. Eventually, however, you are likely to discover how far you can bend the desktop with Linux. Bend away — it will not break.

3. Easier use of removable media

For a long time, removable media was the Achilles' heel of Linux. How do I use my CD drive? Where is my iPod? No new user wants to have to mount a removable drive to use these. But now, thanks to HAL and D-Bus, this is no longer an issue.

Insert a CD and it is there to use. Plug in your iPod and you should find it in /media — ready and waiting. How does this improve the experience? When you insert a CD or DVD into a Windows machine, unless there is an autorun feature on the disc, you have to go to My Computer and find the disk drive to access the contents of the disc.

With Linux, when you insert a disc, an icon pops up on your desktop with the disc's label. To get to its contents, simply click or double-click on the icon to open up a file browser to the contents.

In most cases, the desktop will automatically open the contents of the disc in the appropriate application. That behaviour is the default for most modern desktops shipped with modern distributions.

4. Eye candy

Have you ever played with Compiz, KDE 4 or Elive Compiz? That is what desktop eye candy is all about. Microsoft tried to offer eye candy with Vista, but it failed. It will try again with Windows 7, but I predict it will fail again. OS X offers more eye candy than Windows, but it is still limited.

Now you are probably thinking, "What does this have to do with anyone in the IT industry?" Not much, to be honest. But most users are not IT pros. They are less tech-savvy users who do much less work on a PC, but would love to have a desktop that they could play with. People, average people, like a wow factor.

The average user wants to be impressed with how things look. Otherwise, there would be no market for Apple computers. People like shiny, pretty things and the Linux desktop offers these in abundance.

5. No more random, over-crowded menus

Occasionally, I have to write about Vista. Typically, I am installing an application to write about, and Vista just tacks it onto the Start Menu. Before long, that menu becomes too large to be useful.

With Linux, this unwieldiness does not occur. In modern KDE or Gnome, when you install an application, the installation process inserts the menu entry in the correct place. If it is a word processor, it will go on the Office menu. If it is a network tool, it will go on the Internet menu.

This categorisation of menu entries makes accessing applications far easier than under Windows or OS X. Of course, you can create a desktop shortcut...

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