What is Linux?

Linux is an operating system created by Linus Torvalds all through his time as a student at the University of Helsinki. Linux was created and intended to be used as an option or substitute to the supplementary operating systems being used by computer users, like MS-DOS, Windows, Mac OSX, etc. Linux is not a program or a set of programs like a word processor of an office suite.

A Short History

While studying at the University of Helsinki, Linus used a version of the UNIX operating system called ‘Minix’. Quite a few requests for modifications and improvements for the operating system were being sent by Linus and other users to Andrew Tanenbaum, Minix’s creator, but he felt that they weren’t necessary. For that reason, Linus decided to produce his specific operating system; one that would get into account the users’ comments and propositions for expansions.

A “kernel” is the central point of any operating system. Without going into remarkable detail, the kernel tells the CPU to do what you want the program or application that you’re using to do. An operating system would not exist without a kernel. Nonetheless, a kernel is also a waste of time without any programs or applications.

In 1991, two significant situations evolved that would serve as the starting point for Linux. A kernel was already created by Linus, but he had no programs to utilize; some programs were available from GNU and Richard Stallman, but they had no working kernel. So Linux was born by combining the programs from Richard and GNU in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with the kernel provided by Linus in Helsinki, Finland. It was a lot of ground to cover and far to travel, so the Internet became the primary method of getting Linus’ kernel collectively with the GNU programs. It can almost be said that Linux is an operating system that came to life on the Internet.

Not For Everyone at First

Other software businesses will advertise you software enclosed in a CD or a set of floppies, together with a concise instruction booklet, and in half an hour or perhaps even less, you could set up a completely functional operating system on your PC. You only needed to know how to read and follow instructions in order to install it. This was what those businesses had in view when they developed their operating systems. On the other hand, when Linux was developed by Linus, this factor wasn’t initially considered. Later on, Red Hat and other like-minded businesses made it their purpose to develop Linux to the point where it could be easily installed just like any other operating system in the market, by anybody who can abide by straightforward instructions, and today we can absolutely say that they have succeeded in this exacting purpose.

Linux Today

These days, there is a huge deal of favorable reactions from PC users concerning Linux. The fact that Linux has proven to be impressively stable and flexible, especially as a network server, definitely has played a big portion in this reputation. Down-time is minor or insignificant when Linux is installed and used as a web server or in commercial networks. Many cases have been reported wherein Linux-powered servers have been running efficiently for even more than a year without the need to re-boot, and when it had to be taken down, it was only for a brief period for maintenance purposes. Its price effectiveness has turned out to be to be one of its strongest promotion points. Linux can be installed and run on both a home Computer or a network server, without having to spend as much as it would be for supplementary software packages. More dependability and less cost – it’s ideal.

The single most important factor when choosing a web host is reliability. This is confirmed over and over again in surveys of webmasters and online entrepreneurs.

But “reliability” is not a simple thing. If you assume for the moment that most web hosting companies are technically competent, have been consistently upgrading their systems, and have products that are reasonably priced, then a major component of web hosting reliability comes down to good old fashioned “customer service”.

In other words, what you really want to know is, “When there is a problem with my website, can I get speedy no-nonsense solutions?”

With web hosts the “no-nonsense” thing can be a problem.

**Talking with technical support can be difficult

If you have ever talked to a web host technical support person you get the impression they are handling three or four calls all at the same time. That’s because they have thousands of clients, and often the problems come in waves. And that can lead to frustrating conversations with your tech person.

For example, I have recently been having a problem with one of my web hosts. The problem has to do with accessing some of my sites to make changes. Now I have been doing web building for years, and with many different hosts, and this is the very first time I have had this specific problem.

So although I am open to the possibility that the problem is somewhere at my end, I think it is unlikely. All my sites with this host seem to have this same issue, and none with any of the other web hosts that I use. In either case, what I am looking for is some intelligent suggestions.

But so far I have not been able to get an intelligent response — even though it has been happening on and off for about a week now. I get the standard response: “Have you tried this, have you tried that…” all of which imply that the problem must be at my end, and none of which give the impression that they are actually thinking about what is going on.

Having been there myself quite a few times, I can sympathize with the technical support person’s dilemma. But in my experience, most tech support people have seen these problems before, and they probably know the answer. It is just very difficult to get them to actually focus on your issue.

**Reliability starts with a Customer-First Attitude

This has a direct bearing on the “reliability” of this host. Service people often take the attitude that if they stall long enough the problem will go away. And, yes, sometimes it does go away.

But on the other hand, I think they usually stall because they are just too stretched out to be focused on your little insignificant problem. In other words, they are not sufficiently “customer-focused” on me to solve my specific issue.

This is when web host “reliability” takes a hit. And it is when customers start thinking hard about changing hosts. While the tech person is stalling you are wasting time trying to get your blasted website to work. And more often than not, getting it to work just takes a little bit of effort on the part of the tech team at the other end.

This merely confirms what marketing people have been saying for years about “customer service”. Customer service is important in every business, and at every stage of the sales and delivery process. Your sales and accounting people must be customer focused. Your production people must be customer focused. And your tech support people must be customer focused too.

Unfortunately many web hosting tech support people just do not understand this. They often consider themselves superior to their clients. And they have been able to get away with shoddy, unfriendly service because it is just too inconvenient for clients to change hosts.

Thankfully this is changing. There is enough step-by-step information available to help make a host change, and many hosts will actually help you trasfer your domain to their system.

**Making Your Choice Based on Customer Service

Unfortunately there is no completely fool-proof way to know in advance where you are likely to get good, reliable, customer-friendly service.

You can try looking at web host review sites to get some comparisons between hosts. But unfortunately many of these sites are themselves not reliable. For one thing, they are usually trying to resell hosting services, so the “reviews” are often tainted. For another, if they contain comments and reviews by the public, these can also be manipulated. Some hosts will post bogus reviews praising their own services and criticising those of their competition.

You can also scan web hosting forums for comments and recommendations. These seem to be generally reliable, but are still open to the kind of manipulation mentioned above. And since things change so quickly in the web hosting business, comments made a year ago about a specific web hosting company will probably be out of date.

My own preference is to look closely at the website of the host itself. If it is overly technical and confusing I usually move on. That usually suggests, to me at least, that the focus of this host will be on technicalities, that it may be difficult to navigate their support system, and I may have difficulty getting plain and simple answers to my inquiries.

A simple layout with a minimum number of customer-oriented products and an easily-accessed support system suggests the company is customer-focused. I also recommend contacting the customer help desk in advance of ordering just to see what kind of reception I get.

I also look for testimonials from real web hosting customers. Make sure they are clearly identified with names, physical addresses, and website addresses. If you really want to be aggressive, you might contact some of these people directly.

Of course I agree that none of this is fool-proof. But given the highly competitive nature of the web hosting business, all other things being equal, a simple, straightforward customer-focused approach is what you should be looking for in a web host.