Location: Room 1301 — Conrad Grebel University College, 140 Westmount Rd. N. · Waterloo, ON N2L 3G6 (bottom floor, in the hallway that connects the main building to the Chapel-Residence building)
Date: Monday, 16 September 2019
Time: 7:00-9:00PM
As of the last count for February 2019, NetMarketShare estimates that
Windows’ desktop market share sits at 87.56% worldwide, the rest of the
desktop market share is divided up between macOS – 9.65%, Linux – 2.14%,
Unknown – 0.32%, ChromeOS – 0.32% and BSD – 0.01%.
In September 1991, the Linux operating system was released by its
developer Linus Torvalds. Since that time, Linux has grown steadily into
an operating system to rival all operating systems. Today, the Linux
operating system is core to the Android cellphone system, is used
pervasively in enterprise business and banking, runs government agencies
and powerful science labs. What attracts these large groups to the Linux
operating system is the fact that it is open source and is developed
freely by an army of volunteer developers. In addition, the Linux
operating system is all developed free to use and modify by any
person or group.
For the average desktop user, the Linux system brings some
innovations to the desktop, as well as offers a system that is
largely immune (if regularly updated) to viral and spyware
attacks. By and large, one does not need to install a virus
checker on a Linux desktop, which frees the system from much of
the throttling of CPU speeds usually required by security
measures on the Windows operating system.
For this KWNPSA meeting, long-time member and co-ordinator Steve Izma
will demonstrate that the Linux desktop has all the facilities
needed for a range of users, from those only interested in Web
browsing to system administrators and programmers.
Coordinators:
Bob Jonkman
Marc Paré
Steve Izma