

Why we[The helios project] insist on Linux on the desktop - sagarun
http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-we-insist-on-linux-on-desktop.html

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zdw
I feel that linux has reached parity with other OS's in all ways but these:

1 - Continuity of applications. For example, in updating Ubuntu on a laptop I
use for compiling embedded kernels, I lost the swanky power management window
that could tell me things about battery charge/discharge rates. No idea where
it went. Then the next version changed the interface again. Adding and
removing apps between versions causes problems, if only from jarring users
from how things used to work. This is the main reason that I don't support
Linux on the desktop as much as I could - I can't more than a few versions of
"how the GUI works for program X" when X seems to be replaced frequently.

2 - Hardware compatibility at the edges. The core works great - the problem is
with weird/proprietary things (binary drivers, etc...). I don't have a
solution for this, other than proper hardware choices at purchase, which is
harder than you think.

3 - Microsoft specific formats. I'm talking .doc/.xls/etc. These are the
biggest reason people "can't" switch - they have too much rolled up in these
old crappy formats that don't convert perfectly to OO.org. 90% of those
problems are formatting/fonts/printing/interchange related. The BIGGEST win
Microsoft ever had was getting their XML formats (.docx/.xlsx/etc.) approved -
had the standards bodies and governments rejected them, everyone, on all
platforms (Windows included), would be in a much better place now.

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cnkt
yes, windows has a lot of virus. ok, we get it. we get it for over ten years.
every year i hear "this year linux will be on every desktop". But it never
happened. Just be more realistic please.

data source:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_system...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems)

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derleth
The point he's making is that Windows is being kept alive, in large part, by
closed-source fanatics.

