Lining Up For Linux This Free Alternative To Microsoft’S Windows Is Catching On With Computer Users Worldwide

FOR THE RECORD: February 23, 1999: Name misspelled: The name of Ron Bartron of Millenium Products was misspelled in a caption for a photo accompanying a story about computer operating systems in Monday’s Business section.

Computer programmers who have embraced the Linux operating system often talk like strategists preparing for a gritty, high-tech revolution.

Tired of being confined to a software world driven by Microsoft and its capitalistic spirit, Linux is becoming a tool of choice for technical iconoclasts.

Similar to Windows NT and Windows 95/98 in function, Linux is an operating system that acts as a computer’s “central-nervous system,” running other programs on the computer.

But that’s where the similarity between Microsoft products and Linux ends.

Developed by a Finnish student named Linus Torvalds at the University of Helsinki in 1991, Linux - basically an offshoot of UNIX, the main operating system used by big computers called servers - is open-source software: It’s free for all to download and use.

Those who use Linux also can make changes to the program’s source code and post the improved version back on the Internet. In contrast, Microsoft, whose Windows operating system is the main system software for about 90 percent of desktop computers, closely guards its source code.

In the last year or so, Linux and its champions have been moving from obscurity to the mainstream. However, since Linux is free, it’s hard to tell exactly how many computer users are running the program.

Red Hat Software, a Durham, N.C., company that sells commercial versions of Linux for $50 to those without the time or talent to download it, estimated last March that Linux had about 7.5 million users. Projections indicate that number has now grown to 12 million or more.

Circulation of the Linux Journal, a Seattle-based publication, has jumped from 58,000 to 70,000 in the past year.

Several Spokane companies use Linux for business, including Sterling Savings.

And, as the Microsoft antitrust trial in Washington drags on, more companies, such as Hewlett-Packard, Oracle Corp. and IBM Corp., are announcing they will release products that support Linux.

Brian Coburn, a manager for Argia North America, a Paris-based consulting company that does business in Spokane, said 17 of his 30 area clients use Linux.

None, however, has completely abandoned Microsoft programs, he added.

As well as being free, Linux has features that are much better than Microsoft’s, Coburn says.

Linux is Y2K compliant, rarely crashes and “it has the ability to give old equipment a second life,” said Coburn, who also runs a loosely organized Spokane Linux Users Group.

So far, Linux has made its computing inroads at the server level - on systems used by Internet service providers, for example, which need to continue running.

Landing Linux on mainstream desktops will be a bigger challenge, said Coburn, since it is more difficult to use.

Ron Bartron, co-founder of Millennium Products, a small Spokane company involved in a variety of computer interests, uses the Linux operating system on the PCs his company builds.

Bartron thinks Linux has no drawbacks and feels the system could eclipse the products of Microsoft and others.

“It’s an incredible Play Doh character that is fleshing out to be a sculpture,” he said.

Computers made by Bartron and his small group of young programmers are not sold retail. They include both server and desktop versions that are now being tested.

Since the Linux source code is so widely available, the operating system has value in classrooms.

Dr. Richard Sevenich, a computer science instructor at Eastern Washington University, said his department began using Linux in 1993.

“It’s a natural selection since we can get at the source code,” he said.

Although interested in the growth of Linux, Sevenich says we still live in a Microsoft world.

“You can do just about anything on Linux,” said Sevenich. “But not quite.”

Sevenich said the Linux system does not come easy to computer neophytes. And installation of the operating system - unlike Windows - can be a trying experience.

At the university, Sevenich said, Linux is treated as an “add on” because he first wants students to know their way around more common programs like Windows NT.

Argia’s Coburn thinks Linux will continue to grow, adding: “We’re biased in favor of Linux because it doesn’t let you down,” he said. “It’s cheaper, it works and it’s stable.”

Artville illustration

TECHNOLOGY WHAT IS LINUX? Linux is a computer operating system distributed free on the Internet. Programers who use Linux praise it for being stable, versatile and an alternative to Microsoft’s Windows operating systems, which run about 90 percent of desktop computers. For more information visit www.linux.org