Why Linux is ready for the desktop today

TalkBack 36 of 77:: Next »; « Previous

Thread View
Flat View

Not these reasons: Open source reaches maturity: Does not matter because companies are so entrenched with MS Office, and Office does not handle ODF correctly.

ODF is not the issue with office. I'm not sure I even understand your reasoning there, but although traditional MS Office document formats are somewhat of an issue, they are not the real issue. The real issue is not really MS Office itself, but all that VBA code that has to be reimplemented.

Linux Preloads Increase: Does not matter, because they are returned at such a higher rate than windows based machines,...

Hogwash. I've never seen any evidence to support this. Most Linux preloads are bought by either businesses or people who know exactly what they want.

plus no B&M store carries them.

True enough, but only relevant to the home market, and the home market is driven by the business market. When businesses change operating systems, home users eventually follow suit.

Netbooks: Incorrect. Recent reports peg nearly 90-95% of netbooks shipping with windows. Plus, as above, people return the linux versions far more.

Recent reports of U.S. brick and mortar sales place XP at 90-95%. Let's be specific here. Of course that neglects to indicate that Linux netbooks have largely been dropped by brick and mortar shops in the U.S. since XP became available on netbooks. Worldwide sales figures for netbooks appear to be 25-35% Linux preloads. Of course, the definition of 'netbook' is not very concrete, so figures don't necessarily tell you much. And again, the Linux return rate being significantly more does not seem supported by any actual figures, but only one statement by one company executive who appeared to be talking out of his hat.

Security Issues and Windows: Stop surfing pr0n, clicking yes to every popup, and opening every email attachment and you won't have a problem.

Pretty true, although I would add a couple more precautions. However, knowing the precautions and getting users to follow the precautions are two different things.

Cloud: If mobile me is any indication that won't be any time soon, and either way, the cloud is no more linux friendly than it is windows.

I can't help but agree with you here. In fact, I would go a step further and say that Windows needs the cloud more than Linux does. The expanding market that Microsoft has depended on is slowing down too much. Microsoft needs to tighten their belts and look for other ways of making money. Subscription based software is one of the ideas they have started to investigate.

You cannot buy software for it and the software manager/add remove area in most/all distros is confusing, oblique and filled with apps and programs that are not even compatible with the version you may be running.

Not really. The full list in Synaptic (or whatever) can be a little like this, but not the simpler Add/Remove interface that distributions have started to include.

People like to buy a retail box with a list
of requirements on it. With linux, you guess.

People adapt to downloading software a lot better than you think, and for the most part if it's an application in the add/remove menu (not a library or driver in the full repository list), then you know that it will at least work with your software.

ALL linux distros still lean on the command line. It's 2009. Build an OS that does not require the average joe to write code to install a driver.

This isn't really true anymore. Most of the time the "average joe" won't need to even install a driver, much less open the command line or "write code" to do it. With very new hardware sometimes you can run into configuration issues or find the driver doesn't exist or is in a beta stage, but this is an issue of vendor support (tied into your next point) rather than distros 'leaning on the command line.'

Crappy driver support- I call it as I see it. No one creates linux drivers. exaggeration I know, but you get me)

Well, at this point this is a fairly gross exaggeration, but at least there is some validity to this point when it comes to new hardware. When it comes to a bit older hardware, Linux often gives you an advantage over Windows, because older devices are still supported in Linux whereas support for them is often dropped altogether in new versions of Windows.

No gaming- 'nuff said. No body under ~30 wants a computer that they cannot throw a game on. And lets be honest, with the explosion of casual gaming (Sims 3?) this will be more important.

Well, not no gaming, but not enough commercial games. However, although they have gained in importance a little, games don't really matter that much. When it comes to home computers, game production is driven by platform popularity; platform popularity is not driven by game production (console gaming is different). Only a small fraction of high end PC sales are driven by games.

Stupid app names. ALl of the application names for linux make no sense and are confusing for someone looking for something: Konqueror, Dolphin, gedit, ndiswrapper.... wtf mate?

This isn't really much of an issue. You exaggerate it a bit, and it's nothing new: Excel, Acrobat, Lotus. Not every name can be generic. Besides, two of your examples are invalid: Gedit is pretty easy to decipher as GNOME editor, and ndiswrapper is exactly what it says it is; it just has a technical function that hopefully will be needed by fewer and fewer people.

The real issues are mostly to do with business, since the home market tends to follow the business market (if the business market followed the home market, we'd all be using Commodore compatibles instead of IBM compatibles).

Specialized applications: Many companies are very dependent on one or more specialized applications directly associated with their field of business. Most of these applications someone outside that field of business has never heard of, but these applications are designed to run on Windows, so that is what the companies need to use to run them. The companies I work for are in this situation.

Major quasi-standardized proprietary apps: As I said before, not really MS Office itself so much anymore, except for Outlook, but other things like popular CAD applications (AutoCAD, most prominently), editing and publishing applications (e.g., Adobe products like Photoshop and Acrobat), and other applications which people have a hard time leaving run on Windows and not on Linux yet.

In house applications: Many companies have in house applications written in VB or VBA. There are even a few other Windows only development platforms that some use.

Inertia: Businesses change slowly. They don't like to replace systems that are currently working. Windows NT, 2000, and XP systems are still in use. For years Microsoft's biggest competition has been and may still be its old software. When businesses have to change, then they will take Linux into greater consideration, but they won't change for the sake of changing.

These things are tough to overcome, but eventually things will change some way or another. Cost is one factor. Also, a fair amount of in house development is switching to web interfaced software using HTML and PHP or Java. Linux has certain appealing characteristics to businesses, so it may very well have a share in whatever change does come. If desktop Linux gains traction in the business world, then it will inevitably gain traction for home use as well as people acquire at home what they are familiar with from work.; Posted by: CFWhitman Posted on: 06/05/09 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use