The Irreplaceable OS

by Sam Dean - Jul. 28, 2010Comments (3)

Kudos to the Eleven is Louder blog (you gotta love the name--homage to the movie Spinal Tap) for nailing a simple truth about operating systems that so many people choose to overlook: No operating system is replaceable. Failure to fully digest this idea has to do with everything from Microsoft's hegemony to opportunities for Linux to move ahead (and shortcomings it has) to misunderstanding of cutting-edge new operating systems. The idea that you can just whimsically chuck one OS for the other is comparable to the idea that when you find a fault in the love of your life, you can just whimsically replace that person with a new one.

Sure, people switch operating systems all the time--and they switch the loves of their lives. It's not impossible to make a switch. But when it comes to operating systems, there are ties that bind that go far beyond the OS itself--not the least of which would be applications. We are very tied to our applications, and I like the fact that the Eleven is Louder blog begins its argument with the example of applications:

"Let's look at Windows for a moment. There are two things that hold people to Windows like super glue. The first one is MS Office. The second reason many people stick with Windows is due to third-party software they depend on for their businesses. Many tax programs, payroll programs, and other such software [applications] are not available for Linux. Running them in WINE is a bad idea considering that these applications are mission critical."

Both points above are true. OpenOffice.org is a great open source productivity suite, but it is not completely compatible with Office documents, which makes it a compromise for many people despite the fact that it is free. Likewise, I wonder what people are thinking when they buy completely into Google's current argument that its upcoming Chrome OS should handle data and applications completely in the cloud. What about my countless local applications that I depend on and the local hardware resources I use in conjunction with them?

There is room for many operating systems, and I use many, including Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. The applications I use for each are different, as are the resources. I like them all for various reasons, but I don't see one as completely replaceable by another any more than I see a loved one as completely replaceable.

As the Eleven is Louder blog also notes, the same is true for mobile phones and operating systems. You can switch them, and people do, but if you're completely tied into your iPhone apps, it's not going to be a whimsical no-brainer to dump the iPhone. What people love, and what they dump, come with lots of baggage.