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Why Vista might be great news for Linux

Once again, New Zealand is set to become the first place on the world to experience Microsoft's latest incarnation of Windows for home PC users.

However, unlike all those years ago when crowds queued for hours to get their hands on a copy of the latest and greatest OS, large numbers of geeks are not forecast outside any of the country's computer or home-appliance stores tonight.

Why not?

Well, why would anyone bother?

What's the killer benefit that Vista will offer the average PC user?

Automatic degradation of high-quality video and audio in compliance with the demands of copyright owners perhaps?

No, that's hardly a selling feature us it?

What about the alleged stronger security and resistance to hackers?

Nope -- it doesn't matter how much testing Microsoft has done, the odds are very much loaded against any new product (from any vendor) in this area.

Remember Microsoft's claims that Windows XP would herald a new era in secure computing and safety on the Net?

Remember Code Red?

Remember Blaster?

I think you get the picture.

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If your current PC (running Windows XP) has half a gig of RAM then you're going to need to double that to get comparable performance out of Vista.

And even then, some things will be so encumbered by all the extra security and DRM layers that they still won't run nearly as fast as XP.

As anyone in the software game knows -- the amount of resource required by an evolving piece of software will always grow to match or exceed the amount actually available.

If you want an incredible demonstration of this -- find an old copy of Windows 3.1, or even Win 95/98 and load it up on one of today's mega-fast PCs with lots of GHz and GB.

You will be amazed at just how fast these old versions of Windows run!

Sure, they're clunky, unreliable, prone to crashing and I certainly would not recommend their actual use any longer -- but it does show the effect of code-bloat, rampant featuritis and perhaps a shift towards less efficient programming.

And while we're marvelling at just how much CPU and memory resource seems to have been hijacked by Microsoft to sure-up Vista, take a look at Linux again.

While some implementations are getting a little bloated, they still seem to provide enviable levels of security and robustness without forcing you to constantly trade-up to the cutting edge of hardware technology -- just to make up for code-bloat.

If Vista is as slow to take-off as the experts are predicting, maybe this is yet another opportunity for Linux to dig its toes just a little deeper into the market.

Another reason I'm picking a resurgence in Linux is the way the average home PC's uses have changed.

Go back 10 or even five years and you'll see that most people were running shrink-wrapped applications on their PCs. If you wanted a new bit of software, you trotted down to your local computer shop and bought it in a box. What's more, most of these programmes were mainly off-line applications, designed to run stand-alone on your PC.

This is why Windows was king. There simply weren't many shrink-wrapped Linux titles and even the few that did exist had lousy physical distribution channels. You simply didn't see them alongside copies of MS Word or Excel on the dealer's shelves.

But now, most people are using their PCs to surf the web -- and a huge percentage of the software being run is now purchased online and downloaded through the Net.

The main use for PCs and the distribution model for software has changed a lot.

Two of the key hurdles that ankle-tapped Linux have been significantly reduced.

If you gave the average home user a PC loaded with a good GUI-based Linux distro, including a copy of Firefox -- they would probably be happy. Even happier after the next worm or virus that exploits Windows or IE hit the net.

So will some well-funded startup finally crack the Linux code by doing the job right and squeezing into the market as a Vista replacement for home-PC use?

Or will Linux forever be a "geek OS", too complex, unpolished and hard to use?

Although you can download plenty of Linux software, is the difficulty associated with its installation and configuration going to scuttle this plan?

Have your say on this...

Oh, and don't forget today's sci/tech news headlines

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