Friday, January 2, 2009

The linux desktop or RE: The Truth About Linux

I wrote this as a comment on a pcweenies comic about linux, and decided to share my view here as well.

Linux has been a viable desktop for typical users for a long time. If all you want is a word processor and internet browsing, then linux has been a functional solution since abiword and Netscape navigator, and a mainstream-able solution since openoffice and firefox + flash.
The problem has always been installation. When you really think about, vanilla windows isn't even there. MacOS is because they have the hardware platform locked down. People can reinstall windows because they have custom discs from the OEM that are either drive images or the OEMs drives rolled into the windows installer.

Many people talk about the mom test, and I have a typical mom. She uses Gentoo Linux. She cant maintain it,or install it, but she couldn't do that for windows either.

Really what we are talking about is the tipping scale of barrier to entry and Microsoft dissatisfaction. Mac has a higher barrier to entry because its a learning curve plus an expensive cost. As Linux installers get more slick and easier to use, like Ubuntu, more people will give it a try.