Linux: Is it suitable for your desktop?

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): Last April, a reader, who is a lawyer by training, sent me an e-mail asking me why I never touched on Linux in my column.

"If big companies, many of them Fortune 500's, are willing to rely on Linux, it must be the proof of the success of their programming approach," he wrote.

He was absolutely right. As a matter of fact, getting hands-on experience with this unique operating system was already on my agenda after I returned from the Computer Associates' CA World event in New Orleans, last year.

Unfortunately, time has become so scarce nowadays that I have never gotten around to doing it. I admitted to this reader that the only reason I had never spoken of Linux was simply that I haven't had the chance to really explore it yet.

But, it just so happened that the Singapore-based IT Asia monthly asked me to find a user group in Indonesia and write about its activities for them.

In passing, I had been hearing that the Linux communities were very active in this country. I started asking around for leads, and I ended up with one name, H. Prihantoosa. He was the chairman of the Jakarta chapter of Kelompok Pengguna Linux Indonesia (KPLI, or Indonesian Linux Users Group). I had an eye-opening session when I interviewed him at his Nurul Fikri computer training center in Mampang, South Jakarta, which is also KPLI Jakarta's secretariat.

That evening, he explained to me why Linux has been gaining such strong support. "Linux is an open source operating system, which means you can download it from the Internet for free. But, because it is free and everybody can use it, it has also become the most widely tested operating environment. Thanks to the cumulative efforts of the community, it has also become one of the most robust operating systems ever available. It can be used on different platforms, including Intel-based PCs and Macs, all the way to the high-end computers from Sun Microsystems," he said.

KPLI itself, which consists of dozens of local user groups in smaller cities and towns from Aceh to Jayapura, is a very loose organization. There is no formal structure on the national level. Yet, in their respective geographical areas, these user groups have been very active in creating an awareness of Linux.

Of course, KPLI Jakarta, which now has around 400 members -- half of them students and half full-time IT professionals -- has the privilege of always getting the latest information, literature and publications on Linux.

"Therefore, one of our programs is to disseminate this wealth of information to the regional KPLIs," said Toosa. "For this purpose, from time to time we go to the provinces and give training seminars."

Also for the Desktop.

"I read an article that said Linux is more suitable for servers," I tried to challenge Toosa. "That's not true," he replied and showed me his notebook, which was completely run on Linux.

"I can play MPEG files, I can listen to MP3 music just as you can do in Windows." Next to his notebook was a desktop PC, also running on Linux. On these two machines, he has Sun's StarOffice, which can read all the files created in Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint and Excel).

Then Toosa took out his copy of last month's InfoKomputer, which happened to feature Linux, and pointed out all the applications that were available on Linux. There was a browser called Mozilla; there was also GIMP, the "Photoshop" for Linux.

Most of these applications can also be downloaded free from the Internet. Free! And that leads to the other major benefit of Linux. Because it is free, according to Toosa, users do not have to worry about licensing.

Now, given the fact that Indonesia still has one of the worst reputations in terms of software piracy, using Linux could be the most appropriate solution.

"Maybe not a lot of people know it, but more and more companies in Indonesia are already making the move to Linux," he said. Linux, he believed, may help businesses that are still using pirated copies of commercial software because they cannot afford the original ones.

What about local talent in Linux programming? "It's really amazing! We have plenty of them, and some, like Pak Zen, are even playing an international role," said Toosa. He was referring to M. Zen Muttaqien, current Vice Chairman II of KPLI Jakarta, who is a member of the Samba project.

There are others such as Idban Secandri, who posts application after application that he has written on a popular Linux Web site.

Curiously, many of the best Linux experts in Indonesia -- and perhaps in other parts of the world as well -- do not have a background in computer science. Toosa himself is a graduate from the school of mathematics at the University of Indonesia. Pak Zen was a graduate from the department of library science at the University of Indonesia.

"One of the reasons for this, perhaps, is that with Linux you can keep on learning. It is an ideal training ground because it is not a closed system like Windows, for example, where you can't tinker with the codes."

The Linux philosophy seems to have a very strong impact on its users. For example, a book on Linux servers is going to be published soon, and, following the open content principle, anybody can make copies and then sell them without having to worry about royalties and licenses, as long as they meet one condition: The contents, including the name of the author and the publisher, are not altered in any way. That's how far the open source movement has affected the Linux community.

Incidentally, I am going to assemble a new PC for myself next week, and when I partition the hard disk I'll make sure that Linux will also be available on it. (zatni@cbn.net.id)