2007: has been a good year for Linux

Life without Windows or OS X

Windows or OS X, the 2 big dogs on the planet. While Windows is the dominant desktop computing platform, it isn't the only game in town. Millions of people live every day without Windows XP or Vista all the time. Linux can be acquired and installed for as little as zero dollars, potentially very attractive to a small business with more than one or two machines. Now I will say that adoption of Linux as a desktop operating system has been an uphill battle, however fortunes may be changing for desktop Linux thanks to several shifts in the balance world of operating systems.

In particular, desktop GNU/Linux have matured, more PCs came with Linux pre-installed in 2007. Wal-Mart introduced Everex's Ubuntu Linux-powered TC2502 gPC for a list price of $198. Two weeks later, they're sold out. Everex has confirmed plans to ship a laptop, UMPC (ultra-mobile PC) with a 7-inch screen in 2008. Not to be out done the Asus EeePC Xandros sub-notebook, which made its Australian debut in the Myer department store chain in December, was sold out completely across the stores in days. Also Lenovo, maker of the business-favorite ThinkPad notebooks announed that T-series models would be available with SLED 10 pre-installed in late 2007. But the biggest pre-installed announcement of the 2007 was Dell's decision to offer two PC models with Ubuntu pre-loaded rather than Windows. The $499 Desktop 530N and $749 Notebook 1420N both include Ubuntu 7.04.

This mouth Linspire new open-source CNR client went to beta. So for now only Linspire/Freespire, Ubuntu, and Linux Mint users can be able to safely and legally add support to their Linux desktop for things such as mp3, Windows Media, Quick Time, Java, Flash, ATI drivers, nVidia drivers, and so on, from CNR.com. It even includes dozens of commercial Linux software titles for sale, such as Sun Microsystems' StarOffice, Parallels Workstation, Virtual Bridges' Win4Lin, CodeWeavers' CrossOver Office and TransGaming Technologies' Cedega. Both Debian and RPM distributions will be supported. During 2008, CNR.com will be rolling out support for future versions of the following distributions: Debian, Fedora Core, and OpenSUSE.

So has this been a good year for Gnu/Linux, in a world yes, but nothing earth-shaking market impact-wise to the masses. For those who care its been a monster year.