The very notion of a PC (Personal Computer) came about when most computing was 'business computing' - workstations (low intelligence machines) attached to a network where one or more central computers (servers) did all the work - ie. housed the CPUs (central processing units), the memory and the storage (disks). The PC was different. It was a stand-alone computer that provided all the human interfaces of the workstation as well as the CPU, the disk and had its own memory. It was intended for a single person (hence 'personal') to have full control over all the computing that the machine would do. The PC only had to worry about itself - not a variable number of other devices (workstations, other computers, disk, peripherals etc). In both cases some software was required (called the Operating System or OS) to manage all these resources. There was no need for any notion of 'security' with a PC since it was never going to be attached to anything else.

For this reason the original PCs only needed very simple OS software - so simple, in fact, that it was referred to as a Disk Operating System (DOS) since the Disk was the only really important thing a PC needed to be bothered with. Business computing networks, on the other hand, were using very sophisticated OS to manage a variable number of devices. The earliest PC OS (MS DOS and PC DOS) were build in a few weeks by one or two people. The business operating systems (Unix, VMS, RSTS etc) had evolved over many years with full time work from hundreds of people and contributions from thousands. The software development methodologies employed were professional, exhaustive and ensured that the product was robust and extensible.

As soon as PCs started to be connected to other PCs (networks) problems started to arise. Because the OS had not been build with this in mind at the outset, the OS was tweaked and modified, bits added on and bits changed to allow interconnection. As soon as PCs started to be connected to the internet even more problems started to arise - viruses, spyware, trojans etc (collectively called 'malware'). The OS was tweaked and modified further, more bits were added on and changed to protect the OS from this malware. Every time a new item of malware was discovered, a new OS tweak was needed. Eventually the OS became so cumbersome and unwieldy that it was plagued by unreliability, performance issues, incessant updates and a continual need to upgrade hardware as well.

The business class OS did not require these tweaks since all these scenarios had been built into the OS from the outset. The business OS environment was, therefore, more stable, more robust and did not need the same level of continual updates.

Unfortunately the business OS was simply not a feasible option for PCs - it was built by 'techies' for 'techies'. These OSs were not something that ordinary users of computers could afford to spend time learning to manage. Businesses employed specialists to manage their computer operating systems. These were called 'systems programmers'.

Sophisticated users of PCs (often those who had used Business computers too) became frustrated with the burgeoning PC operating systems with their never ending add-ons and 'tweaks' and their continual thirst for more compute power - just to run the OS! They began to look to the attributes of Business Computing to see if they could get the same robustness, reliability and stability on the desktop.

Evolution of the PC OS involved taking a pretty front-end and incrementally adding bits to the back-end that gave it some semblance of business class robustness and reliability - a never ending process requiring ever-more compute power to run.

This is quite the reverse of the evolution of the new genre of Business Class OS. The developers started with a powerful, robust, reliable OS (Unix developed since the 1970s) and added the user-friendly 'front-end' that people had become used to with PC operating systems.

The result is astonishing!

LINUX - (the core Unix system modified by Linus Torvalds - pronounced 'LEEnux') now provides the basis for any PC user to get the best of both worlds - a Business Class operating system with all the user-friendly attributes of legacy PC operating systems.

The biggest advantage in using Linux is certainly a more powerful OS which runs on less powerful computers. It is more stable, more robust and requires NO virus protection or spyware protection as these were all built into the original design of the OS. Another big plus is the industrial strength networking (local and wide area) and device management capability. There are good reasons why there are more Linux Web Servers than all others put together.

But perhaps a key advantage (particularly for business) in using Linux is that both the operating system (Linux) and a host of applications (Open Office, Graphics software, development tools etc) are all FREE - yes zero cost! Overall, the cost savings on system and application software together with the money saved from reducing hardware upgrades is substantial and can be well applied to strengthening business processes and getting the IT to work toward reducing costs even further.

There are numerous other reasons why any business serious about stability and continuity would use Linux as their strategic computing platform. But that is an area for far more detailed examination.