Manila Bulletin: Friends often ask me why I am using an Apple powerbook whilst still advocating Linux. The truth is, I advocate both. However, there are some things that may require a little explanation as to why I chose one over the other.
The beauty of Open Source is that anybody can modify the source code and redistribute it. A side-effect of this, however, is the tendency of forking, i.e. having several versions rising from a single root. Although Linux does not suffer from this since only one kernel version is released at a time, the number of distributions, however, are quite astounding. Check out distrowatch.com or linuxiso.org and you will see dozens and dozens of distributions available for download. The problem will be in choosing the best one for your use but evaluating all distributions will eat up a quarter of your life! [OK, I exaggerate] You can, of course, create your own but then again, that is on a different level that is higher than the ordinary user.
Contrast this to the Mac OS – it is not free but it is only distributed by one entity and provides support for the product.
Read more at Manila Bulletin.
Manila Bulletin: Friends often ask me why I am using an Apple powerbook whilst still advocating Linux. The truth is, I advocate both. However, there are some things that may require a little explanation as to why I chose one over the other.
The beauty of Open Source is that anybody can modify the source code and redistribute it. A side-effect of this, however, is the tendency of forking, i.e. having several versions rising from a single root. Although Linux does not suffer from this since only one kernel version is released at a time, the number of distributions, however, are quite astounding. Check out distrowatch.com or linuxiso.org and you will see dozens and dozens of distributions available for download. The problem will be in choosing the best one for your use but evaluating all distributions will eat up a quarter of your life! [OK, I exaggerate] You can, of course, create your own but then again, that is on a different level that is higher than the ordinary user.
Contrast this to the Mac OS – it is not free but it is only distributed by one entity and provides support for the product.
Read more at Manila Bulletin.
