MLUG

A lot of people have heard the word “Linux,” but not a lot of people know exactly what it means. When you add the words “server,” and “operating system,” to the mix it becomes even more confusing. Maybe you are like one of these people trying to figure out just how to make sense of the function of Linux. Chances are you use the Linux system much more when you are actually in the market for a kids backpack than when you are playing solitaire on your computer.

The Linux system is used in online servers. Online servers are there to host the millions of different websites you frequent every single day. While there is more than one server for you to use, there is certainly the Linux system which is pretty popular amongst servers.

Linux is popular online because it is open source. If you aren’t familiar with this, imagine there is a person who has made a special automobile and keeps all the parts sealed and never lets you know how he made it and why it works as well as it does. And if there is a problem with it then you simply have to lug the car into the automobile maker’s shop and have it fixed and if any improvements are going to be made then you have to simply wait for the makers to just figure it out themselves. This is how Windows and Mac OS work. They don’t share their secrets.

Linux is open source so in the same car analogy, it would be a car maker opening up the hood of the car and letting the rest of the world know how they made it and letting people do whatever they wanted to make it a better piece of technology. That’s the Linux way.

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Once, the mysteries of running any type of IT application lay in the hands of a mere few. The corporations that grew up capitalized on the relatively high levels of ignorance among the general population. The key to the success of the monolithic Microsoft lies in being able to predict the users’ wishes and shortcomings. Ensuring that manageability is not a deal-breaker means that clients stay on board for the long haul. Any new Operating System was bound to have a tough ride breaking into a market full of already-satisfied customers.
Linux tried to do just that. Collaboration is the distinguishing feature where the Linux phenomenon is concerned. The growth of Linux has been both exponential and salutary, if slower than was at first predicted. Salutary, because it shows that an alternative approach can work and may one day become the norm. Rather than a corporation, Linux is a community. It is the freedom that people have to make use of, to adapt, modify, and then pass on to others any or all of the source code which sets the Linux philosophy apart. IT initiates and enthusiasts have slowly but surely been adding Linux to their personal stable of utilities. Few nowadays simply run a single PC. Most of us have hardware dedicated to specific purposes. Those in the know are in a position to take the best bits from everything that is available.
Innovation is one thing. The other side of the coin is practicality. Just how easy is Linux for people to get their heads around? Linux doesn’t suit everyone. Ordinary users, posting their testimonies on techie forums, hold a range of views. One contingent is in favor of Linux as an OS, appreciating its low consumption of resources. This benefit is felt a lot less keenly these days, however, with RAM being far less expensive than previously, and capacity therefore less of an issue. Some state frankly that it is not user-friendly enough for the average user, citing installation as one of the obstacle courses to be endured, along with attempts to upgrade or add new software.

Since 1991 the Linux Operating System has been an ever increasing force in the Operating System landscape. Linux is one of the most important and popular operating available, falling just behind Windows and Apple OS. Where Linux differs from these corporations is in its corporate ownership. Linux isn’t owned by a single corporate entity or brand like Microsoft and Apple. Instead it is built on a collaborative platform that is shared between a variety of companies and individuals — making Linux the best selling shareware in the world.

Linux spreads its operations between 1,000 developers contributing from at least 100 different companies. Linux operating systems can be found in a variety of products, making it the most versatile operating system on the market. Linux operating systems can be found in laptops, GPS systems, televisions, SONY readers, and TiVo Digital Video Recorders. Many cell phone manufacturers, such as Motorola and Google Android, run on Linux operating systems. Many phone companies are expanding their cell phone plans to include more Linux run Smartphones. Many popular web devices such as Twitter, Facebook, Google, Linked In and others rely on Linux to run their sites.  In fact, even the New York Stock Exchange is run by a Linux operating system.

Linux is rolling out several exciting new features that will contribute to the further development of the PC and Mobile Internet Devices (MID) found in Smartphones. The BIOS for laptops and computers is being installed with a Linux operating system that allows the user to turn on the computer in a matter of seconds without the long lag time between turning on the computer and using it — something that has long plagued PCs.

Linux, with its unique business model and extremely easy and reliable operating system, is a sure bet when it comes to choosing an operating system.

The uses to which the Linux operating system is put are as multifarious as goats in Greece or commuters in Connecticut. They just aren’t too obvious! For a start, when browsing the web, many of the websites you turn up are being run with Apache. Providing its open source in most cases is (yes, you’ve guessed) Linux.
Linux technology is the choice of many companies for running networks and is also a popular choice of storage solution for databases. As the operating system of choice for the PCs of a minority of private individuals, Linux continues to maintain, if not strengthen, its grip on this slice of the market.
There are shed loads of scientific purposes to which Linux is put too, including the rendering of computer graphics, metrological forecasts and statistical analysis.
Indeed, enterprising teams who are masters of IT wizardry have been developing Linux spin-offs ever since Linux’s inception. Ubuntu is an example: begun in 2004, it is now one of the most widely used desktops and comes pre-installed on a number of major manufacturer- machines.
While its share of the desktop market is small – in 2010 standing at less than 5% – the influence that Linux has is quite extensive. One example in the US is the supercomputer housed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory which has as its operating system the Cray Linux Environment. The popular web browser Mozilla Firefox is powered by Linux, too. Linux crops up as the third operating system in almost all software descriptions found when one is considering and comparing software to install, amounting to accidental publicity. Its very nature ” differing from the market leaders in being Open Source ” is essentially the key to its ubiquity. Linux is everywhere! People in their thousands have done ” and continue doing ” the very thing for which Linux was intended: accessing its source codes, then making the modifications and alterations they want in order to get creative with their own versions of software, and going on to share, whether commercially or not, the fruits of their Linux-charged labors.

The extraordinary menu of computer applications out there amounts to a software bonanza. People who love taking advantage of open source opportunities have a plethora of programs at their fingertips. These range from the genuinely useful and life-enhancing to the positively time-frittering. You could while your life away making 3-D animations, transforming your video files into DVDs then adding soundtracks, compressing audio files and managing the music you play on your iPod. You could be composing music, writing books and film scripts and managing your financial affairs. The question is: have you got the time that it takes to give each of many software applications a tryout?
Photo-editing, 3-D modeling and video-playing can yield hours of fruitful pleasure. Software has still other uses; for every radically multi-featured new creative application or latest version that’s released, there are employment opportunities for freelance developers, consultants and trainers. Software that is created using Open Source facilities, such as the Linux operating system, is mostly available free of charge or as shareware (demo ware).
They have wonderful names like Mumble, Songbird, Python, White Dune and Fruityloops, Trillion and Xerlin. Behind them lie zillions of person-hours, spent by skilled techies pretty much determined not to be outdone and hence driven by a desire to produce something slicker and better than the options that already exist. Patience and a feel for the end-user’s requirements are two of the essential components. But personal recognition needs to be a low priority. The software game is not a celebrity-maker. It is perhaps in keeping that techies tend to be shy, retiring types.
So whether you are attempting an e-learning startup, or breaking into game development or are merely a humble screensaver creator, or any of the above but in amateur form, the only limitations are time and your powers of imagination.

A great deal of polemic rages across cyber space regarding the relative merits of Linux over Windows and Mac systems. For instance, judgments are regularly made – and broadcast both by the analog media and on the internet – about the relative vulnerability of the operating system Windows and its smaller stable-companion Linux. Which is more secure? Windows with its broader share of the market tends to be breached by viruses far more often than Linux; Microsoft Windows certainly has its share of disaffected opponents who invade the software with ill intent. This does not prove either way whether it, of the two, is it the more capable of being prone to attack, however.
One method used to measure how secure a system is is to tabulate the amount of uninterrupted uptime that occurs. The absence of a worm or virus allows continuous running, i.e. no re-boots. Unfortunately, no foolproof calculating formula has yet been devised. This leads commentators to consider not the number of attacks, but their severity instead. A main conclusion that tends to be drawn is that both Linux and UNIX, being modular in design, suffer far less serious consequences when a virus attacks. A handful of commands deals with the clean-up operation. Hence, overall, security is a far less serious headache.
Also cited by its defenders is the fact that a Linux server can operator with no monitor and from a remote location. This means that the server does not suffer if and when the desktop of the remote operator is infected or is hit by a security breach.
As for other features of Linux, such as its design, there is some disenchantment with the relatively few graphics tools possessed by Linux.
On a more trivial note, it can’t help being an advantage that L precedes M (for Mac) and W (for Windows) in the alphabet. When new software downloads appear on one’s desktop, the choices of operating system are listed alphabetically. I guess the Apple team didn’t foresee that first appellation (pardon the pun) being dropped.

Why choose Linux, you might ask? People happy with its performance are tireless in posting their endorsements on the web. Firstly, cost is a priority for many, especially if they have more than one system in operation. Linux can be obtained free or for a minimal charge. On a network? Ideal for those using the Internet from a network, Linux allows a single connection to be shared by several computers. This means that even with multiple stations all on the internet at once, efficiency remains high.
Advocates of Linux report that it is next to rock-solid. It shouldn’t leave you dangling with unexpected crashes; equally speed is a definite strength with this operating system. The downside (which can in reality be an upside) is that the Linux user, as a by-product, has to learn stuff. Okay, not everyone wants to get up that close and personal with IT. Some proficiency with system administrations can pay dividends, all the same – if not a welcome high salary – and once you are Linux-aware your career options can expand nicely. Admittedly, it has tended to be the preserve of the techies. A compromise for ordinary users who admit to being scared of Linux is to go dual. With your subsidiary system on Linux while you carry on with Windows on the main system, you can enjoy the best of both worlds. Slicker still is converting the Windows system you have so that the option exists of booting up with either one of the operating systems.
Of course, what most of us want is for the hard work to be taken out of the equation. That is how we end up buying the default operating system ready installed in the PC or laptop we select. And when asked, the priorities that drive clients during the computer selection process tend to be cost, quality of customer care, especially servicing help, the brand name’s reputation and looks. Fans of Linux would say that it is time shoppers put ‘Operating System’ up there on the list.

In best-selling Swedish author Stieg Larsson’s novel ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’, a big-time fraudster and misogynist is exposed through one person’s abilities as a hacker. Salander ” the character of the book’s title ” accesses the crook’s computer remotely, garners the detail of each of his bank accounts, reads his emails in real time as they are typed, proving “in sum” to the reader that no-one’s IT life is secure.
There of course exists software dedicated to making your interactions with the virtual world as risk-free as possible. Their targets, however, are viruses and malware in all its forms. Any clued-up computer user invests in some type of security firewall. Much of the success of the virus protection any PC or laptop owner installs lies in the ability of the operating system to resist invasion.
Among the precautions the user can take are the following:
First and most obvious is to protect your computer from physical access by another person. Unless you live alone and are never visited, password-protection to your account is fundamental, and logging off every time you finish work should become routine. Also as an absolute minimum, be sure to maintain any ready-installed firewall that your computer may have; otherwise, purchase a reliable program and obey commands to renew when the time comes; ensure that your settings will alert you to software updates automatically. (Running old versions of software programs opens the door to possible viruses.) Within the corporate domain ” whether the company is large or small ”  it is well worth considering carrying out event logging. With an accurate log, the administrator can trace errors within the organization. This way, when an intentional attack occurs, an outsider having cracked a user’s log-in information, there exists a basis for establishing at what time and how the hostile event took place.
Irrespective of what operating system is used, no protection against the actions of determined, skilled hackers as yet exists. Whether or not, like Larsson’s fictional character Wennerström one has something to hide, erring on the side of caution is advisable.

An end to the battle that has long raged between open source enthusiasts and those who lend their support to the proprietary “branded” applications may be in sight. Cloud computing, far from clouding the issue, has helped to clear the mist, much of it red, given the fiery views often expressed by opponents of one system or the other. The idea that proprietary desktops and associated software can live harmoniously alongside their open source cousins is something that one-time opponents of the corporations behind mainstream computing have begun to realize. New on the scene since 2008 has been the Operating System called Jolicloud. It doesn”t distinguish between software that is open source and that which is proprietary and is, above all, easy to install. Fans report finding Jolicloud a much faster OS than Windows 7. It’s a client OS that caters especially to web services and categorizes applications according to how they are used, whether they are open source or proprietary. The prospect of this type of happy alliance has been around for some time. Forging the link since 1993 has been Wine, its very raison being the running of Windows applications on Linux. It has imperfections and won’t run everything, but Wine has turned out to be a popular solution. Like Jolicloud, an important part of the concept is the fact that it is free. Likewise Software, also free of charge, performs a similar role for Mac users.
Also recommended for the IT-uninitiated is Samba – ideal if all you need is to share files and printers. The main point here is that where the server that one is using is Linux or Unix, with Samba software a PC with a Windows desktop can still carry out printing and file sharing.
Also on the plus side, security is aided by a switch over to teaming Linux and Windows together on one’s computer, since Linux is known to offer far better security. You also, of course, have more applications at your fingertips.
In today’ user-driven world, this type of integration is inevitable and, of course, ultimately beneficial.