Microsoft was right to be afraid of Linux, as Google just announced that a Google Chrome Operating System is on its way for sometime later this year and runs on top of… LInux. The new OS is being designed specifically for netbooks and Google claims will be able to power them up and get you on the web in a few seconds, but Google says it could easily power a full up computer as well. Like all Linux distributions, the OS will be open source allowing anyone in the world to review and modify the code that powers it. Many programmers think that it is open access to source code that has allowed Linux and BSD to maintain a comfortable lead as the most popular OS powering servers that run the internet. It is also anathema to Microsoft and Apple who have built empires on proprietary (closed) code with business and consumer customers respectively. Google’s stated strategy has already proven effective by Apple as their closed OSX is actually running on top of a variant of BSD (which is probably why it is so stable). Ubuntu Linux has been making some inroads on cheap and older hardware (as users replace a corrupted Windows OS on an older machine), but on new hardware, Windows still dominates. A Google OS based on Linux is exciting (if predictable).

While virtualization isn’t a new technology, I haven’t had time or a specific need to mess with it until recently. Since I’m always on the lookout for open source solutions, I found that a fairly robust software package from Sun (you may know them from their only slightly more popular Java software) called Virtualbox was available for install in Ubuntu through the Synaptic package manager. Virtualbox is just about as easy to install in Windows and OS X if you use their binary packages which are also free, but don’t come with sourcecode. The open source edition (OSE) doesn’t have support for USB, only offers a virtual IDE controller (a faster virtual SATA is available in the closed source binaries), and doesn’t allow for remote desktop access to the virtual machine [edit: I found this is working fine in 1.5.6 OSE] – but Sun hopes these features are more important to business users and will allow them some amount of revenue from companies that need to develop with those available. I’ve been trying out Virtualbox on Mac and Ubuntu mainly and my experience so far has been great.
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Things have changed a great deal since 1982. These days, having a computer is almost synonymous with having access to the internet. In truth, a computer that cannot access the internet today is almost quaint. Sure the average Linux distribution comes with enough software to run an entire office out of the box, but if you can’t communicate with your customers via email, fill in forms at online websites, or look up information on the web you’re SOL.
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ThinkPad R32 2658-N3U
Original description: P4-M 2GHz, 256MB RAM, 30GB HDD, 14.1 XGA(1024×768) TFT LCD, 8x-3.3x DVD-ROM, Modem(CDC), Ethernet(LOM), Li-Ion battery, WinXP Pro, Wireless upgradeable

I like to try out laptops once in a while and put Linux on them to see if how easy it would be to do everything I need to do without paying a Microsoft or an Apple tax. Since I “switched” to a Mac (from Linux) in 2002, I still use Linux at work, and have a family PC set up with Linux and I’ve been thinking it might be time to switch back. I’m not a big fan of Apple’s move to Intel, and while Macs are really slick, setting up house in Linux is a lot more fun. This is not a comprehensive report, but just my personal notes as I attempt to use the machine.

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I’ve lost count of the number of times parents have asked me how to block internet use on their home PCs. Usually it’s because their kids have been caught visiting sites they shouldn’t have been allowed to go to and the completely clueless parents had no idea what their kids were doing until it was too late. Why anyone would allow their kids totally unsupervised acess on an internet connected machine is beyond me, but it happens. I hear some of you yelling, “Get to point Nate, what did you tell all those people who asked?!”

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