

Desktop Linux: Ready for the mainstream - ccraigIW
http://www.infoworld.com/article/09/03/02/09FE-desktop-linux-mainstream_1.html

======
ErrantX
Again? Really?

Nope it's nowhere near the standard for a mainstream OS. Yes it is technically
very superior to other offerings. But all these techy types never seem to
realise that that is not an important consideration for an average joe user.
M$ might be the sum of all evil but they spend millions on user testing and
development - and man do they get it right! And yet Linux refuses to utilise
the mistakes and lessons M$ have gone through and start from scratch... hmmmm.

Some things that are wrong:

\- Difficulty, the learning curve is still too steep

\- UI, serious UI issues that people are not fixing (Ubuntu "the saviour" has
a BROWN desktop.. where is THAT a good idea for mainstream use???)

\- Uniformity, menus, methodolgy, syntax, naming is still not uniform enough

\- Tech lingo, too much stuff is _still_ in tech speak (take a reccent
conversation I witnessed on a linux forum where the advice to a first time
poster was "read the man page". Well if they knew how to find that I doubt it
was helpful, most man pages are double-speak :)).

So, no, it's not ready yet. We stil have some nig hurdles to address :)

In terms of that specific link. I have one point to make: "But desktop Linux
does support basic Active Directory authentication for user access
management."

Obviously the writer has never _tried_ to use that functionality. Because it
is not as simple as a one line sentence suggested. Certainly way outside your
average windows user....

------
dan_sim
Linux has been ready for a long time, it's just that people are not ready.
Just look at Vista. It's more user friendly than XP, still, people don't want
to switch. They learned XP for 5 years and they now understand its small
flaws. It was hard for them to get there. They will switch only after
"everyone" will do and they'll keep their new OS for 10 years again.

It's not about Ubuntu being ready or not...

------
mojonixon
I use linux extensively, but no, no it's not.

