The Linux operating system is being used more and more by home users as a viable, secure alternative to Windows

Most of you have a computer in your home. That is why you’re reading this magazine, isn’t it? Each computer costs money for the hardware, and most computers come with Windows based software, which also costs money, even if it was “rolled-up” into the purchase price. Many times, you must purchase office productivity software separately, plus add on a bunch of security tools which require paid subscriptions. When a new version of Windows comes out, there’s a significant sum to upgrade. This new version then requires more memory and runs slower, unless you also upgrade your hardware. And so goes the upgrade treadmill! Let’s take a look and see if Linux can help reduce the effect, and make your computing experience more secure.

- What is Linux? -

Computer Link has had many articles outlining the benefits of Open Source Software (OSS). Openoffice.org is a free office suite that has seen lots of attention, along with Mozilla’s Firefox web browser and Thunderbird email program (www.mozilla.com), of which I’m sure many of you have found to be useful on your Windows or Mac computers. These titles have come from the open source world, where the software licenses dictate that all source code must be readily available for anyone who wants it, and that anyone may do anything they want with it inside the organization. If they choose to distribute the program, they must use the same license, and make all of their changes available to the public.

Linux is free of charge and free to look “under the hood”. It’s like someone giving you a fine-tuned automobile with an easily accessible hood. You can open it, see how it works, make changes, and tell people how you did it to help them too.

Why should you care? Even if you are not a developer, this idea makes it possible for others to review and offer suggestions for programs which may not otherwise be offered and has been the catalyst for many innovations of open source projects. This same concept is used to build the Linux kernel and the many distributions of Linux, and has resulted in a very stable and efficient Operating System that can completely replace Windows.

An OS is the main software of the computer – the first bit of code that runs when you turn your computer on, and the environment in which all other software programs must run. Linux handles this task very well.

- Why Linux? -

When I look at a magazine rack in a grocery store, I notice that most of the magazines have security-related catch phrases all over the covers. “Fight Spyware”, “Secure Internet Browsing”, “Stop Mail Worms” are all typical titles you’ll see. Windows users are susceptible to these threats and must install lots of “anti” software, like anti-virus, anti-spyware, a “personal firewall”, and so on. These extra software packages slow the computer down, because everything that other software packages do is under scrutiny by the “anti” team.

Windows was originally built on top of DOS, which is a single user system, and has no concept of security. Because of the history, developers of Windows software have become accustomed to being able to access anything they wanted from within their software. Now, with Windows XP introducing security into the home desktop space, many of these software packages are breaking, and force the home user to run their accounts in “Administrator” mode. In fact, Microsoft defaults all new accounts in XP Home to “Administrator” mode, and has completely disabled the ability to use “Power User” within XP Home.

The result is the home user has a choice between an account with full administrative privileges, and a crippled “User” account. All of the patched together security that exists is completely circumvented by using an “Administrator” account, and if this user receives a malicious email, the malicious program has complete access to the entire system and can do absolutely anything to the system that it’s programmed to do, including format the hard drive and erasing all data for all users of the system. For the more advanced email worms, the user doesn’t even need to open the email!

Conversely, Linux was created from the ground up as a multi-user system, with the concept that every user, even the owner of the system should not be using an administrative account for day-to-day work, and should only run programs as an administrator when absolutely necessary to perform a task. When such a task is necessary, the user does not have to log out, and log back in as an administrator, but can choose to run a single trusted program with administrative access, while keeping the others restricted.

If such a user were to receive a malicious email while using Linux, they would likely have no worries. The email would open, look like junk mail (or be a scrambled mess of code), and they’d delete it. However, even if there was a flaw in the email client that allowed the malicious program to run, the program would be limited by the restrictions of the users account, and would not be allowed to harm the system. The absolute worst it would be allowed to do is trash the users’ account and delete their files – the core of the system would still be intact. As long as the user had been backing up their documents, they could retrieve them in a couple minutes and continue using their files as if nothing happened. With a Windows security compromise, your only recourse is usually to format and reinstall everything.

Linux also doesn’t require you to run any anti-virus or anti-spyware utilities. The already efficient Linux operating system will work rather well on very modest hardware that Windows XP won’t even install on. Taking into account the lack of need for “anti” software, you can have a very usable system for years to come without worrying about upgrading the hardware every time an OS update comes out.

- How to get Linux -

When you get Linux, you are getting a Linux “distribution,” which is one of many available. For a comprehensive list of the various Linux from developers, visit www.linux.org/dist/list.html. There are actually approximately 200 different distributions of Linux available, with each having its own special niche. Once you decide on a particular Linux distribution, you’ll need a fast internet connection and a CD burner. You download the appropriate .ISO image of the distribution and burn it to a CD. The developer’s website will walk you through doing this and offer FAQ’s and links to support forums in case you run into any issues. Once you have your bootable CD in hand, you can boot your PC with the installation disc in, and it will guide you through the setup process.

The alternative is to order a CD pre-loaded with the distribution. Most developers’ sites will allow you to do this, some at no cost to you (such as Ubuntu). This will free you of having to download the files, and burn the image to a CD properly. To some, this can be a confusing process.

- Linux in practice -

I recently bought a new laptop, which came with Windows pre-installed. However, I really liked the hardware specs and it was a good deal. I grabbed it, took it home, placed an Ubuntu Linux CD into the CD-ROM drive, and installed Linux over the pre-installed Windows. No, I didn’t bother to enable dual booting, as Linux is all I need. In about 1 hour, I had a freshly installed, highly secure OS that recognized almost everything out of the box. It auto-detected the correct screen resolution, installed my network, installed a high quality email client, web browser, office suite, desktop publishing program, and so on. Cost to me? Only one hour of time. I already had an installation CD, which was shipped to me for free by filling out an online form at the Ubuntu website (www.ubuntu.com).

I’m now using this laptop to perform client work, for my day-to-day geeky work, and for > Linux cont’d writing this article. Of course, it’s being written with OpenOffice.org 2.0, which has loads of new features that challenge Microsoft’s Office.

If I decided to keep the pre-loaded Windows XP on my laptop, I would’ve had XP Home and a bunch of trial software that typically comes with a brand name laptop or desktop PC. There would be 60-day evaluation copies of a CD/DVD burner, DVD player, virus protection, etc. There would be no office productivity suite, and no anti-spyware tools. I would have to obtain a subscription for anti-virus updates, install anti-spyware tools, purchase a CD/DVD burner, a DVD decoder, and so on. If I wanted an office suite, I could purchase MS Office for about $300, or install OpenOffice.org, which is free. Mind you, all of the above is either unnecessary in Linux, or already comes with most distributions for free.

- Who doesn’t need Linux? -

Although Linux is a great OS, and is more than sufficient for my needs, it is not the case for everyone. There are some business applications that only release their software to work on Windows-based computers. These applications are slowly being “ported” to run on Linux as well, as each software manufacturer starts to recognize the need. Of course, they all do this on their own schedule.

I rarely see any games released for Linux, so if you are a serious gamer, then the only PC choice is Windows. If you are a serious graphics editor then the best choice is probably a Mac (although our CLM publisher swears by the PC for graphic design). Other than that, Linux is a wonderful choice.

If you are ready for a breath of fresh air, and are easily self-taught on a new word processor, or another program of similar caliber, then you will likely have little trouble learning the differences from Windows or Mac to Linux.

Increasingly, high school and college graduates are coming out with a strong aptitude for technology. The old joke used to be, “If you can’t figure out how to program your VCR, ask your child.” This is reoccurring with many technologies, and I suspect that as a general rule, the younger crowd will more openly accept Linux than the older crowd.

So, if this interests you, go check out Linux. If you’re curious enough to try it out but don’t want to (or have the know-how) install it on one of your PCs yet, there are versions of Linux you can run right off your CD-ROM drive, without doing anything to your existing system. These distributions are called Live CDs, and manufacturers such as Ubuntu, Knoppix (www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html), and Morphix (http://morphix.sourceforge.net) offer this alternative. You can download the Live CD image file or request a CD be shipped to you.

If you need someone to guide you during the beginning, then LUGOR (Linux User Group of Rochester - www.lugor.org) is a great local resource. They meet monthly, and you can check out their site for information on their meetings, or see when they’re meeting in CLM’s Tech Event Calendar on page 6. Linux is poised to give you all that you need, and then some – without having to worry about performing any “security tango.”

Steve is president of Switzer Business Solutions and a technical consultant for a few local companies and home users. SBS provides support for both Windows and Linux networks, terminal server installations, Asterisk PBX systems, and retails a limited number of computer hardware products. Contact information is available at www.switzersolutions.com/contact