Roy Schestowitz spewed this vial garbage:
> Why hasn't Linux made it mainstream on the desktop?
<complete honesty from a certified Linux nut>
Lack of public awareness - There isn't a single company promoting Linux on
the home desktop to the mass public. Just watch the Superbowl, FIFA World
Cup, World Series, NBA playoffs, Stanley Cup playoffs, or whatever other
major sporting event, as well as any of your favorite television shows and
pay attention to the commercials. NOWHERE, and I mean NOWHERE will you find
a commercial pushing Linux onto the desktop of the home computer. Not even
G4TV nor the former TechTV had Linux advertisement. Not Red Hat, Novell,
Linspire, Ubuntu, Mandriva, or anyone. Pick up any major magazine that
isn't Linux based. It's void of any home desktop Linux promotion at all.
The general public simply is unaware of the choice. If they have heard of
it, they've heard about how 'techie' it is and want no part of it.
Lack of a major OEM installing and promoting preinstalled Linux - Sure, you
can get preinstalled Linux at Walmart's website, but it won't be a Dell,
Gateway, eMachines, or whatever major brand you've actually heard of. Not
even HP, who has a major steak in Linux, pushes it on the mass public and
offers it preinstalled at a major retailer. Some major brands like Dell, I
believe, once offered it years ago, but buried the option deep and it was
pretty much ignored. And what if they did offer it? What if they offered
Red Hat, but you like Suse, Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS, Slackware, Gentoo, or
Mandriva? Do you see the dilemma OEMs face with preinstalling Linux?
How many people actually install their OS? - Really? I mean most users never
install an OS. They use what comes on the computer and many upgrade the
computer when a new version of Windows comes out. My ex-girlfriend called
me up telling me how screwed up here computer is. I asked her what was
wrong and she replied that she needs a new computer. I asked what it was
doing and she said some debugging thing comes up and she gets lots of
errors (Windows XP Home). I asked why she needed a new computer when it was
a Windows problem and a wipe/reinstall would fix everything. Her response
was that she was just going to go get another computer. This is the typical
mentality of the mass public.
Too many options - Sure, as a Linux user, I love and relish the freedom to
choose and the multitude of choices I have. However, the mass public wants
nothing to do with it. They just want to turn it on, get some emails, surf
the net, play some games, and maybe write a paper and balance their
checkbook. Hey, Windows came with the computer, it does the job, and it's
works fine. That's the way they see it.
Poor perception of Linux - Let's face it, though I'm quite far from a geek,
myself, Linux is seen as a geek's plaything, for anyone that's actually
even heard of it. It also is seen as not quite ready for prime time. Many
people feel as if it still has too many rough edges - and it honestly does.
Many would-be Linux users have, in their own stupidity, ruined their WinXP
installation, wiped their hard drives clean, completely botched
installations, or had unsupported hardware or ACPI problems they couldn't
address. With their "I know all about computers" ego, they wrongfully
assumed that they knew what they were doing with a completely different OS
and screwed everything up, blamed Linux, and will never touch it again. Not
Linux's fault, but it sure puts a bad taste in some people's mouths.
Lack of 3rd party hardware support - It's getting better, but how many want
to easily use their 5.1 Surround Sound, 7 button laser mice, multimedia
keyboard, or whatever only to find OSS drivers don't give them the options
or complete support for their hardware? Or maybe they don't have a clue how
to setup these items.
Poor advice - How many Linux users are out there pointing new users to
Ubuntu, Slackware, or Fedora? Really...these aren't for the new user. With
some help, someone could install and setup Ubuntu, but how many new users
have someone they can turn to for help? Sure...there are Wikis and forums,
but the average Windows user knows someone at work or school that knows
more about Windows than they do and that can help. How about the new Linux
user? He's in isolation without the net, and many don't even know where to
start.
No advice - How many people have asked a question in a Linux group, only to
be pounced upon because they top posted? Or have been ignored because they
weren't aware they needed to provide more info, when they often don't even
know where to go to get the info? How many were subjected to rude, arrogant
Linux techies that look down their noses to someone who hasn't quite
grasped the concept? It happened to me many times when I first started
using Linux. I visited a Red Hat channel on a chat server to get help, and
when the person was going down the wrong path to find my answer, obviously
not understanding my question or something, and I tried to steer them in
the right direction, they lashed out at me saying (I'm not making this up),
"How dare you tell me what the problem is. I work for Red Hat as a support
person. Do you want help or not?". I persevered despite this type of
treatment. But how many don't bother?
Linux is splintered - There is simply no way for someone fresh to make sense
of it all. How many LiveCD/DVD distros are there? How many retail distros?
How many community based distros? How many different package management
systems? How many different installation methods? What? 20,000 packages
available? Do I _need_ that many? What do I need them for? It's confusing
to the new user...
Broken websites and other Windows-centric items - FlashPlayer 8 not
available for Linux, yet. Acrobat Reader 7 took forever to get to Linux.
How many times have you run into a website that has a 3D application that
refuses to load? Or have a website tell you that you don't have FlashPlayer
or Java installed, despite the fact that you do? I mean, it works fine in
Windows for most people.
Familiarity - Windows is familiar. Linux is foreign. Enough said.
Favorite apps - Everyone has them. I love Photoshop. Some people can't bear
to be without them. If it isn't available in Linux, despite some pretty
good alternatives, people just won't bite.
This was just off the top of my head. I'm sure I can come up with a few
more. Listen... I love Linux. I use Linux 95% of my computing time. I
advocate everyone try it. However, let's be honest with ourselves. You
don't have to even answer back in the newsgroup, but take a moment to
yourself and objectively see how true much of what I wrote is. Truth hurts.
|
|
