There have been several reports recently in the blog community about long time Mac users switching to PCs running Ubuntu Linux Desktop. Most notably here and here. What does this say to the Mac community that’s usually so “ours is better than yours” that’s become so blatant that there are entire commercials based on it? While I do not foresee the Mac community as a whole embracing the Linux desktop in the near future, it does call into question, is Linux ready to take over Mac OSX as the “It just works” operating system?

Ubuntu Linux Desktop makes a solid effort in being an install then immediately use Linux desktop. It’s clean, simple, and easy to use interface based on the Gnome Desktop, a popular Linux based desktop environment, as well as its pre-installed applications like; Open Office, Mozilla Firefox, and Evolution, give users a application set that is easy to move to without giving up features they have come to know and love.

As you can see from the screenshots above, the applications are pretty similar to the Windows/Macitosh applications used in most people’s everyday life. Typing documents, surfing the internet, and sending/receiving email are just as simple on Linux as they are in OSX or even Windows XP. And while these are just some of the normal applications a normal person would use, there are several more available for other various tasks. For instance, if you listen to music and/or have an iPod, Banshee can be installed using Ubuntu’s package manager and it is a fully working iTunes-like music player/organizer/sync tool. If you take a lot of digital photos, then you might want to look at F-Spot, the C# (runs on Mono) photo sorting application.

I can personally attest to the great efforts are going into the Gnome Desktop project to ensure ease of use and an “it just works” system. Over the past 2 years gigantic leaps have been made in D-Bus, HAL hardware integration, and other aspects of hardware recognition in regards to consumer devices that most devices like iPods and digital cameras “just work” upon being plugged in. This is great for people like grandmothers who want to take pictures of their grandchild’s graduation, first steps, or wedding and be able to plug in their camera, download, and then view the pictures. Things sure have come a long way recently and the developers are working hard to “catch up” as it were to OSX and Windows XP.

But the question still remains, “is it ready?”. In my opinion not completely. While there are enough things that you could give the typical user a Linux computer and they would most likely be ready to handle their day to day computer work, I do not see hardcore graphic, video, and audio people dropping their Macs in favor of a Linux computer. While programs such as Adobe Photoshop run on Linux there are still several bugs to work out. Also there is not a nonlinear video editing program that rivals Adobe Premiere. A normal grandmother-type user, in other words a user that does simple day to day tasks on a computer, could switch to a PC running Ubuntu without a huge learning curve. However the people who aggressively use their Macs will stay with their Macs. At least until Linux can prove itself a viable option.

(All photos from Flickr were used without the author’s permission. If you see your photo on here and would like it removed please contact me using a comment or the email link under the Categories section on the right sidebar. I’m not here to make anyone angry, your photo will be removed upon request.)

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