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Linux Inside?

But is your computer ready for Linux? Until now, a notoriously frustrating installation process stopped most people from loading Linux on their desktops and notebooks. Corel, however, has remedied this problem by introducing a simple four-step setup procedure. Corel Linux also includes a copy of WordPerfect 8 for Linux that, like the Windows version, can read and save documents in Microsoft Word and other common formats.

Hardware compatibility, especially for printers, has posed another obstacle to using Linux on your PC. Hardware vendors have traditionally been slow to offer driver support for the OS, but in response to the massive growth of the Linux user base, peripheral makers have begun to come up with the necessary drivers. "Now that we have the public support of the major PC vendors, says Red Hat's Bob Young, "they are putting pressure on their suppliers to ensure that the components they use support Linux."

ATI, 3dfx, S3, and a number of other major video graphics card producers now accommodate Linux and cooperate with the open-source community to make drivers available. Among PC vendors, Dell offers a whole range of OptiPlex and Dimension desktops, as well as Latitude notebooks, with Red Hat Linux preinstalled and full support for Sound Blaster audio, CD-ROM drives, and 56-kbps V.90 modems. The upcoming Linux kernel release 2.4 will bring USB and IEEE 1394 (FireWire) support to Linux, and Corel has been spearheading an effort to standardize Linux's printer support.

The final roadblock facing Linux has been the lack of popular software that will run on it. The absence of Linux versions of big-time business and personal applications like Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, and Intuit Quicken still hampers the OS, but PC users no longer have to choose between running Linux and using their favorite apps. Third-party solutions--notably VMware and GraphOn's Bridges--let Linux PCs run Windows 9x and NT software, so native Linux versions aren't necessary.

Looking for the Killer App

Linux advocates expect the software situation to improve soon. Corel is investing not only in its own distribution of Linux, but in a Linux version of its massive Windows-based WordPerfect Office suite, which includes the Quattro Pro spreadsheet, the Paradox database, Corel Presentations, and Corel Central (a personal information manager). So far, WordPerfect Office is the only major business-oriented application suite to cross the Windows/Linux divide.

But will the advance stop at Corel? Analysts believe that further Linux versions of popular Windows apps are unlikely unless someone develops a killer app to get desktop adoption of Linux rolling on a Windows-imperiling scale. (A killer app is a program with such outstanding benefits that its underlying technology--say, Linux--is worth adopting.) Certainly a lot of techies and tech visionaries feel a strong affinity for Linux. That's why Tony Iams, a senior analyst with D. H. Brown Associates, says he wouldn't be shocked by the emergence of a Linux-based killer app. "In fact," he says, "[such development] could be happening in some garage right now."

The twin arrivals of Corel's $90 Linux OS Deluxe and its $109 WordPerfect Office Suite Standard Edition (which comes packaged with a copy of Corel Linux OS) establish Linux as an affordable, viable desktop alternative to Windows. Considering that a Windows 2000 Professional upgrade costs $219, and an Office 2000 Professional upgrade goes for $349 (that's $568 for the set), Linux wins on price as well as on stability. Linux enjoyed a banner year in 1999, and there's no reason to believe that the ride is over yet.

In light of Linux's impressive progress over the past six months, the choice between Windows and Linux has gotten a lot more difficult to make. To simplify the situation, we've formulated several questions you should ask yourself before deciding whether to make the jump or stand pat.