Ready to dump Windows? Rival operating system Linux is showing up in easier-to-use packages. Imagine dining at a restaurant where there are just two dishes on the menu --and because one is being eaten by 90% of your fellow diners, the waiter advises you to order that. That was the choice facing computer consumers throughout the 1990s. You could select from a few relatively pricey Apple computers that ran Mac OS on the one hand, and a horde of cookie-cutter Windows-based PCs on the other. A third operating system, Linux, has been available for free since Linus Torvalds created it in 1991, but for years it was too complex to make it into the mainstream. For most users, Linux was like having to go back into the kitchen and cook a gourmet meal from scratch.
Finally, that is starting to change.
|