OSNews

He's doing his online comedian debut, can't you tell? Why else would he submit articles that are so one-sided and lacking logic justifying a view, other than as satire? Let me explain.

When Linux is both perceived as being easier to install and administer than Windows XP and (when it becomes available) Vista, that will contribute to adoption on the desktop by mere mortals, but it honestly isn't enough. When Linux is perceived to provide for all people's needs (such as viewing content on the media that has some sort of DRM: like it or not, there are desktop users that actually expect that to work without searching for cracks of DRM systems that require them to be programmers) as well as running their existing software that isn't available on Linux but is on Windows, or at least fully utilize their accumulated data, then there may be a better chance of people considering switching to Linux for their desktop OS. If Vista has such poor backwards compatibility (and they know of this before switching) with their existing software they already own, that will also be a contributing factor, which is one of the most important: if they truly have nothing to lose financially or in terms of time reconstituting their production system, it becomes far more viable.

And let's not forget the biggest issue: people just don't feel like going through all the time and hassle required to migrate everything they currently have setup in terms of data and applications to solve their problems/needs, and then learn how to do it with new software, or hope WINE or something along those lines actually runs their old software well enough. Even if you're so slanted as to state "Linux is the best possible desktop system!" it is important to remember that the enemy of the best is what is "good enough" and unless the perception of going from "good enough" to "best" provides a meaningful enough jump in value for someone, the investment barrier (not always measured in purchase price, but also in time and effort) is too high for all but the most adventurous to bother with, because the risk is high enough to say "Maybe next year!" until they think about it again, which may again have them think the same thing.

If Windows Vista and the next version of OS X are really bad for desktop users, and users don't have an option to use older versions of Windows and OS X, then those that are buying new hardware will have a much higher chance of thinking about Linux. Until then, no real or perceived added value of whatever zealots say matters one bit.

I think that if you are savvy enough to know what Linux is, you're probably already aware that Linux is as easy (typically easier) to install and administrate as Windows XP.

That is not an issue as home user's almost never install an OS. They buy a PC and it comes with Windows -- and thus they're system at work ought to work the same way.

They key to market dominance has nothing to do with the quality or fit of the product to the needs or wants of the consumer. It's about placement, perception, and ease of the sale. Windows -- you get it by default. Linux -- you need to specify it. Therefore, there will always be more Linux than Windows systems. Even if Linux read your thoughts and did your bidding in 1000th the time on hardware that costs 1/10th as much, that sould be insufficient to overcome the marketing variables.

I use Linux exclusively at work. Various parts of the research organization have adopted Linux at the desktop too, but there are still traditional wet-labs in our org where it's largely unknown. When I give talks/presentations I often get comments about the desktop (they can tell it's not Windows, and it doesn't look like a Mac, yet it seems easy to use -- particularly things like the HTML and PDF preview icons they like for some reason). Those that do use it find it more or less a suitable replacement. Yet, our IT department has no knowledge of Linux per se (so a different department internal to research manages them -- the attraction for most users is that Research has a lot less down-time and is more effective at responding to their needs).

Man... I don't know what the heck you just said, Little Kid, but you're special man, you reached out, and you touch a brother's heart. +1 for you.

I aint a comedian , its not my first day on-line , I am not offering one sided article , all the article I submited where logical and justifying a view.

GNU/Linux is easier to install. People buy full turnkey integrated computers from Microsoft and Apple vendors. There is some lacking there but its much more better then you think and know.

The are people who offer the service for a very affordable price to migrate your information and data to GNU/Linux , its not an hassle anymore.

Its GNU/Linux , it stand on its own , you dont like it fine , dont use it. But you have to upgrade your predetermined old answer scripts , and try the new version and the service and new hardware in order to make a valid and accurate answer , things have changed , thigs will also continue to change and improve.

The user base is growing , by the millions , so it must work for some people and enterprise.

Not you , but its ok. We dont cather to you anyway.

eMagius , those who submit run the risk of getting there submited article picked-up ... If you have something you would like to share the submit button is on the left and is called submit news.

I also submit a lot of article that the editors here do not select or that someone else posted/submited before me ...

The "Year of Linux on the Desktop" was like the early 2000s. That's when people started to use it heavily on the desktop.

Linux on the desktop has been reality for years now, and now Linux has marketshare comparable to Apple. It's already arrived --- now it's in the long, tough, uphill marketshare struggle with Microsoft.

"now it's in the long, tough, uphill marketshare struggle with Microsoft. "

Its not Microsoft fault GNU/Linux is not installed and offered as default on all major and minor hardware vendor.

"Its not Microsoft fault GNU/Linux is not installed and offered as default on all major and minor hardware vendor."

Actually, in alot of cases it is, at least partly their fault. They are the ones breeding down the neck of these vendors and doing whatever they possibly can to keep them offering and recommending Windows boxes.

Why do you think are HP and Dell so shy in admitting they actually sell some GNU/Linux boxes, cause they do sell them. Once they get pass their "fear" and dependance on MS they will advertise their GNU/Linux boxes more. We can help them in that, by being ready to buy those boxes, vote with our wallets.

As GNU/Linux mind share grows, this option will become more attractive for major vendors as well.

You whant the answer , here it is , you whont like it do :

"Actually, in alot ... recommending Windows boxes. "

In a lot of cases its the GNU/Linux distribution themnself waiting for the hardware vendor to pay them to support there hardware ...

Microsoft pays the hardware vendor to get on the prototype and do joint sales and pay for supporting the hardware.

You missed history where IBM lost to Windows on its own hardware. There not good , There not the best , they play to be the only on to win.

"Why do you think are HP and Dell so shy in admitting they actually sell some GNU/Linux boxes "

There not shy , just listen to there press release : We Support GNU/Linux !! They make hundred of millions from it too. They are going to defend the fact that they too have GNU/Linux box and that they support many distributions.

http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS3822185143.html

When come the time to get on the prototype do : "well we dont see that this new and excittings models are going to be able to sale a lot with GNU/Linux , look we already got our old box that no one wanted with windows that are shipping with GNU/Linux and sale are not that good there ...

You should have seen the face of the Dell rep when I asked to get access to the XPS M2010 , XPS M1710 , XPS M1210 , Inspiron 9400 , Inspiron 640m , Inspiron 6400, Inspiron 1300 , when they where in prototype.

"We dont have those models and we dont plan on having model with those names , we also dont dicsuss futur plan ... "

"Once they get pass their "fear" and dependance on MS they will advertise their GNU/Linux boxes more. "

The problem is right there its not Dell who advertise Microsoft , its Microsoft who advertise Dell with Microsoft products.

"We can help them in that, by being ready to buy those boxes, vote with our wallets. "

That as not been working for ages ... you missed reality where they already make hundred of millions with GNU/Linux.

"As GNU/Linux mind share grows "

We dominate in everything but the desktop ...

even on the new Dell the Media direct system is GNU/Linux based ...

"this option will become more attractive for major vendors as well."

Microsoft major vendor will not be the first to become GNU/Linux major vendor.

Then whose is it, pray? Pollyanna's?

Stop the presses! I think we may have a winner for first post announcing 2007 as the year for desktop linux!

You do realise that its a news website ( OsNews ) , its not a support or help website for any OS.

You seem very familliar with insulting , name calling and I will dare suggest lying about the platform and its users and developpers.

Its strange that with such a good attitude and with suck knowledge of the platform your having problem with it , and dont get anyone to help you in a good manner , I was being cynical here.

" Kubuntu grief at finding Ark "

Its two different distribution , its like asking Honda to find GM or Fords ...

"is still mangled in KDE "

How would you know ? Your machine is not properly setup , probably on troublesome hardware , by YOU ...

"do an offline install of nvidia drivers using a .deb package"

Go on-line ... your even sure you know how to install software offline ?

"Good grief, Charlie Brown!! "

Hey ! leave comic book hero out of your own self inflicted stupidity.

Your not interested in fixing the problem , or learning how to make it work properly. There is no miracle here.
Your certainly discussing it in the wrong place and not looking at the right people for an answer.

You know how to do it in Windows and Mac OS X , thats good there its not going to help you one iota in GNU/Linux.

Try this :

http://www.linuxforum.com/

And this :

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

but in your case I think you would be better sreved by This :

http://lxer.com/module/forums/t/23168/

You need a book ? :

http://www.oreilly.com/pub/topic/linux

etc ...

to search on the web :

Google.com
Yahoo.com

Actually, I was making reference to the compression utility, not the Linux distro, i.e:

http://packages.debian.org/stable/utils/ark

second, I was following the exact instructions at:

http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/Latest_Nvidia_Dapper#METHOD_1_-_OFFLI...

on a clean install of Kubuntu 6.06

I know this is not a user forum - I was merely using a concrete illustration, albeit in some frustration, to show that using Linux, including the distributon which is frequently touted as the most user-friendly, isn't always up to expectations as a desktop experience.

I hope that unpacks the scenario for you a little

MicroSoft is losing to itself. Hasta la Vista, baby.

Sorry but it's become a tradition, stopping them would be like trying to have Christmas or Ramadan removed from the calendar.

It happens every year, it's just that the detractors keep changing the goalposts.

Back in the 1990s when Linux was just something geeks and server folks used, "year of the Linux desktop" implied "the year when regular folks started using Linux on the desktop". Through government, corporate, and educational rollouts, this goal happened years ago. Then the detractors shifted goalposts. They went from saying "nobody will ever use Linux on the desktop" to "Linux will never achieve significant marketshare on the desktop." Yet, a year or two later, it equaled OS X in desktop marketshare. Now, the detractors resort to defining arbitrary marketshare figures to say that Linux still hasn't become a player in the desktop market. When Linux reaches 10% desktop marketshare, the detractors will say "you need at least 50% to be a real competitor!" When it reaches 50%, through massive rollouts in the developing world, the detractors will so "oh, all those poor people in India and Africa and those commies in Latin America don't count --- what matters is your US marketshare..."

@rayiner - you said it perfectly.

Linux keeps growing on the destkop, and the detractors keep saying it isn't, by as you said, moving the goal posts.

Also, they going back to the same old, completely false, anti Linux FUD - it's too hard, you can't get "insert item here" to work, it's only for geeks, it's for commies, blah blah blah.

And yet, companies like Novell, Linspire and Xandros keep seeing increased revenue on selling Linux desktops. And yet, Ubuntu keeps spreading like wildfire. And yet, more and more distros keep popping up (if they can even exist, means that there is a huge market in order to support such small niche players). And yet you can stick a Knoppix CD in your CD rom, reboot, and everything will just work with 98% of hardware. So on and so on.

Yes, the desktop Linux market share is still comparitively tiny, especially if you only count units sold/shipped, like IDC does. The market share gets much bigger when you consider downloads, and word of mouth, and giving out CDs, etc. Linux has an unmeasureable (by traditional means) market, because so much of it's use is free downloads, and spreading from there.

And I think the article has credibility in that Microsoft is indeed doing things to drive customers away, especially more savvy ones like the guy in the article. I've known, through my coworkers and through my company's customers, the nightmare of having to replace and/or upgrade hardware in a computer, and try to install and re-activate WinXP. The way MS is handling it is a friggin joke, continually pissing off it's users.

Then there is the Visual Studio fiasco. Over the years VS has really been one of the driving factors for MS's market dominance. VS6 was really great. Then MS decided to force all it's market/developers into .Net, because, well, they had to have a Java clone (and a non cross platform one at that). The result is a lot of pissed off developers, and developers not being to develop software the way the best suited their needs. My company is going through the VS6 to VS 2005 migration pain right now. And when it comes down to the nitty gritty details of developing softare, and the way things are handled, and the bulky, memory hogging CLR, .Net is a complete piece of sh!t as compared to VS6.

In short, Microsofts market dominance and critical mass will dictate that they'll maintain the lions share of hte dominance for a long time to come. But they are doing things to push people away. And Linux just keeps getting better and better, and in spite of the detractors, it's very easy to use and works with most stuff.

Linux is winning. Slowly. But gradually chipping away.

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

"Yes, the desktop Linux market share is still comparitively tiny, especially if you only count units sold/shipped, like IDC does. The market share gets much bigger when you consider downloads, and word of mouth, and giving out CDs, etc. Linux has an unmeasureable (by traditional means) market, because so much of it's use is free downloads, and spreading from there. "

I think internet activity is a good measure of how many people are using a particular OS, and the various internet stats sites all say that Linux has at ~0.4%, Mac is at ~4%, and Windows has the rest.

In one sense, it's pretty hard for Windows user percentage to go up; it can pretty much only go down, not due to any improvements in other OSes, but just by the law of averages over time. But it's amusing that every year since 1997 has been the "year of Linux on the desktop" when Mac has 10x the userbase of Linux.

Only problem with that is that GNU/Linux system report as windows system , for security reason first and because otherwise you get told that your os and system and browsers are not compatible with the website your viewing ...

Mac user base is lower then GNU/Linux user base. its like saying Apple is crunching Dell on the market , they sell 400 time the computer hardware Apple does.

We have a 30% user base that use Apple hardware. They dont exist on other hardware ...

That's a better statistic than professional studies by IDC and the like?

Internet stats are a horrible benchmark. It's almost the very nature of a website that its demographics are not representative of the overall population.

Linux desktop deployments have thus far been heavily in educational, corporate, and government sectors. These users are often discouraged from personal web-viewing, and many (especially school users) are behind network proxies. All these users are going to be highly underrepresented in internet statistics.

"Yes, the desktop Linux market share is still comparitively tiny, especially if you only count units sold/shipped, like IDC does. The market share gets much bigger when you consider downloads, and word of mouth, and giving out CDs, etc. Linux has an unmeasureable (by traditional means) market, because so much of it's use is free downloads, and spreading from there."

My K12 organization has 200+ Windows servers. Not one was bought with an OS. We buy the OS through a reseller to get the Academic discount.

Most large enterprises buy servers without an OS too since they have an Enterprise Agreement with OS and media etc etc.

IDC tries to take into account both free downloads and the case of companies buying the OS seperately.

Linux market share on the desktop is .4%. I suspect it is overrated on the server space too.

My guess is that most companies that do buy a server with Linux on it replace it with a pirated copy of Windows anyway.

"My K12 organization has 200+ Windows servers. Not one was bought with an OS. We buy the OS through a reseller to get the Academic discount. "

They have money to waste ...

"Linux market share on the desktop is .4% "

GNU/Linux worldwide desktop market share is at 29%

if I am not mistaken .4% is the Linspire/freespire marketshare.

"I suspect it is overrated on the server space too."

Yes the Microsoft rep told you so when visiting you for an upgrade on your license.

"My guess"

Your uninformed lies.

"most companies that do buy a server with Linux on it replace it with a pirated copy of Windows anyway."

Why would they do that ? They only need to threaten to switch to GNU/Linux to get a new pricing that is below what the GNU/Linux offer is ... Those that choose GNU/Linux whant and use GNU/Linux ...

Well said rayiner!

Because of simple things like flash, quicktime and other browser integreations which do not work.

Tell that to my laptop, which plays Flash animations, surfs Apple's own movie trailer site, plays DVDs and has Java 5 installed.

EasyUbuntu installed all of the above by checking a few boxes. I installed the mplayer-mozilla plugin from synaptic.

It seems that Linux-XP has windows APIs installed by default.

O RLY?

Is there an english site for it?

http://www.xandros.com/

http://www.xandros.com/about/contact_phone.html

A fee of $9 is charged after the 90th boot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_XP

Ummm...right.

I left Windows to get away from that kind of BS! Why would anyone think I'd be willing to put up with it in Linux?

--bornagainpenguin

Maybe instead of writing all these useless articles, people in the Linux community could take a good hard look at what the people really require in an OS and start from scratch building something that is reliable.

Windows more reliable than Linux? That's not even worth laughing at.

Linux users and developers already know what "the people really require in an OS," it's your buddies in the proprietary hardware, closed-source, and DRM-friendly entertainment industries that are retarding progress in Linux, by not releasing open source drivers OR specifications, and making sure it's illegal to watch DVD's on Linux.

Example: VMware don't support VMware Player or Workstation on Gentoo Linux, but they're available. I don't know whether they have helped the devs get them working on Gentoo, but if they haven't, that's just another example at how effective Linux developers are at getting things done, despite, not because of, the best efforts of the proprietary technology industry.