

Desktop Linux: The Dream Is Dead - scrrr
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/207999/desktop_linux_the_dream_is_dead.html?tk=hp_new

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shib71
Credit to the guy, when he trolls he doesn't do it half-arsed. A whole article
of linux FUD and crud.

Desktop linux will probably never match Windows' or Mac's market share, but it
is not dead.

~~~
gaius
From the article:

 _modern Linux distributions such as Ubuntu have utterly transformed the open-
source desktop user experience into something sleek and simple, while arguably
surpassing Windows and Mac OS in both security and stability_

Hardly sounds like he's anti-Linux. Truth is it's been "the year of the Linux
desktop" _every_ year. Maybe it's time to move on.

~~~
makmanalp
This is because someone else comes up and proclaims that it's the year of the
linux desktop every year. This should be taken about as seriously as "x is
dead" posts until it's the consensus of the majority of the industry.

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motters
This article is a solid block of FUD. It reminds me of the arguments made by
IT industry types against Windows 3.1, fancy fonts and graphical user
interfaces in the early 1990s.

For me desktop Linux happened about five years ago. The main reason why it
doesn't have much market share is simple: Windows is still shipped by default
on nearly all new PCs. However, if Canonical does a decent job with its
software store I think things could change quite rapidly and they could be in
a similar position to do deals with box shifters as Microsoft has
traditionally been.

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runT1ME
Nope. It's coming. Now more than ever. Why? Because of Android.

For the longest time people tried to get linux from the server market to the
desktop market and failed. But now we're seeing the opposite starting to
happen. We'll start to see Android tablets and netbooks, and when that starts
to become accepted...mini computers wil follow. Will it ever dominate?
Probably not. But it isn't a fantasy either...

~~~
ezy
I don't think of android as a "desktop". I don't see it as being useful for
workaday stuff -- in the same way my iPad isn't really great for that. I'm
doubtful, but I hope I'm proven wrong -- just because it'll be interesting to
see it evolve towards that.

------
ezy
I've always found the competition for the "linux desktop" to be somewhat
weird. It will never "win" -- and who cares?

If you're not sold on the Free Software manifesto or not dirt poor (or just
cheap), why bother when the non-free alternatives are radically better (and
they are IMO)? If you are, why do you care if your desktop is popular, as long
as it's "Free"? If you're cheap, then stop complaining about your free shit.

I sort of understand: Most of the success of the free software movement is
based on not having to pay for it -- e.g. getting a free compiler. Turns out
that's a good way to go for some software for many other reasons, but it has
nothing to do with this "us vs them" crap I see when people talk about the
linux desktop. You get what you pay for, and the GNOME desktop is pretty damn
good for the price of a download. However, it's nowhere near even windows XP,
except at the most surface levels, IMO.

"The" Office and Steam (its games) run better on windows. Mac Office, iLife
and the thousand little accesories (dashboard stuff, writeroom, etc) run
better, in a more integratedfashion, on a mac. None of these run well on
GNOME. Instead of iTunes, you get 3 music management apps that are supposedly
"better", but in truth, they were designed by ADD teenagers (or not designed
at all). And iTunes isn't even _that_ great as a target. Oh, and don't forget
OpenOffice, which, being completely free, is also completely crap.

And if the future of "desktop" linux is web apps, that really isn't any future
at all is it? It simply means that Linux may or may not be running under that
snazzy Web Terminal you're running. It means you might as well install
windows, 'cause at least you'll be able to run good native apps _in addition_
to the marginal web apps.

Paradoxically, the linux "desktop" wins in a key area: command line "apps",
research and dev. I can literally download ubuntu and with a single click,
install whole dev environments, for various different targets, in various
different laguages. This is also true for research envs, not particularly
related to dev.

This has no peer on windows, and mac is better, but still not as good. And the
graphical "desktop"? That becomes just an excellent means to visualize my dev
or research work. Even here, you get what you pay for. If you have a mac, look
into some of the "Instruments" stuff Apple provides for visualizing what
programs are doing. Fucking night and day vs. your typical linux fare. And..
yeah... while it's "free" to you, someone was paid to write it, and you _did_
pay them (by buying mac hardware).

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esponapule
The main reason I am stuck with windows is because I have to reboot to play my
new "windows only" games (wine cannot handle it) and, I have hardware with
"windows only" drivers and I use as a freelancer CS5, gimp scribus and
inkcsape just are not there as far as innovation and then people keep sending
me M$ word docs and openoffice just cannot format these files 100%, in
business this needs to work seamlessly.

I prefer a linux desktop but the rest of the world keeps making it "windows
only."

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mindcreek
The guy states the points about why an operating system cannot generate
revenue, but he misses the point that Linux distributions does not need to
generate revenue.

It's total flame-bait, the guy needs the attention and tries to get it by
half-ass disguised trolling.

Carefully added note under the story does not change my opinion of a barking
dog under the wrong tree.

Precious minutes of my life wasted on reading unworthy crap.

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francispotter
"common streaming technologies such as Flash ... deliver poor results on
Linux"

I have a 4-year-old Dell PC running Ubuntu, and a brand new MacBook Pro
running Snow Leopard. The Ubuntu machine shows Flash video content much better
than the Mac.

I don't want to reopen the Adobe-vs-Apple question, or who's fault is it. Just
pointing out that Flash Player works great on Ubuntu.

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tpr1m
The stage wasn't set a few years ago, even using Ubuntu was too high-level for
many people, since it inevitably required at least a bit of command-line
usage. I expect linux will continue to get more popular as the medium level of
computer users decreases.

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macco
1# I don't believe his numbers. I don't think market share is at 1%. 2# I
think it is desirable, that Linux is the world's leading operating systems. 3#
The future lies in asia, Linux is much stronger there.

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wyclif
I'm surprised this piece of linkbait is on the front page of HN.

