linuxhaxor.net— Despite coming from a very rich and early history, Linux OS consumer market share is less than 1%; and the community more divided than ever. What are we doing wrong?
Jul 24, 2008View in Crawl 4
Most users want as little learning curve as possible, never want to use the command line, and want to use what they already know- and that's windows at their job.Unfortunate situation, but that's reality.
I will explain why I have no interest in Linux. I am internet savvy and computer illiterate. I like my hardware to work with my software, straight out of the box. I don't know what a kernel is, nor do I need to know. I don't mind paying a little extra money to get an OS that does what I want it to do without any customization or hassle.Here's an analogy. I want to fly from New York to Los Angeles. I don't need flight training to get there when Jet Blue does a good job doing it for me.
As an outsider I would say it's mainly those with large mouths (hands?) who make it seem that the communities are divided from each other. By large mouths I mean those that are a fan of one distro and automatically just hate any other distros.
See your wrong on one HUGE point:Users care mainly about usability, second to that what 'experts' are saying. Just look at Vista (apparent 'experts' say its bad so people dont like it) and what they did with their Mojave test (called Vista Mojave to some Vista bashers, and 90% LIKED it). Perception is reality.One great example. Girlfriend and I go shopping for a new laptop for her.Whats the most important factor? CPU?RAM?Brand?GPU?HDD?Screen?Nope, how 'tappidy tappidy' the keys were, I kid you not!I dealth with everything bar that one CRITICAL factor. She seriously tried every keyboard of every laptop we looked at. Second to that was how it looked (couldnt be a flat white/black/grey/silver).
One thing this article does not address is increase amount of exposure Linux systems are getting. Go to a major university and their main or engineering computer lab will have about 20% - 30% of the machines running Red Hat. Many research labs use Linux because of its versatility as both a workstation or a sever, at least in my field of study. There are software compatibility issues, but if you use the past decade as an indicator, more and more software companies are producing versions for both Windows and Linux. One Example: Matlab, excellent calculation and plotting tool used extensively in most engineering fields. In my experience, the biggest complainers about Linux are gamers. Linux sucks for gaming. But if you look at the deceasing sales for PC Games since 2002, this is becoming a non-issue. And remember, you cannot really compare Linux to Windows. You need to compare Windows to a distro for a given task. For example, if we are talking individual desktop pc? Compare Windows to ,say, Ubuntu. If we are talking severs or a network of computers for a business, compare Windows to Red Hat. The distros are developed with a specific purpose in mind.
Okay, I like using Linux, but prefer Windows XP and Windows apps. I hate the terminal and resent the way the apps need to be compiled from source. How and when will the Linux be improved to such a degree, when an average user like myself would not need to resort to endless typing and compiling? And don't get me started on package dependencies, the RPMs, DEBs, etc. These are the real, down to earth reasons why people at large won't adopt Linux - there's simply way too much work. And why all this work is needed if there's life to enjoy after you get things done quickly and easily with Windows? When Linux arrives at that juncture, I will gladly dump Microsoft, but until then, my time is way too valuable to expend on trying to get things and apps work in Linux. We need Mark Shuttleworth of Ubuntu to become the next "Steve Jobs" and get all this stuff to work seamlessly. By the way I'd rather pay for a mature, stable and complete OS than get "free", "free", "free" system with half-done components.
vaultJul 25, 2008
Most users want as little learning curve as possible, never want to use the command line, and want to use what they already know- and that's windows at their job.Unfortunate situation, but that's reality.
beachhousechrisJul 25, 2008
I will explain why I have no interest in Linux. I am internet savvy and computer illiterate. I like my hardware to work with my software, straight out of the box. I don't know what a kernel is, nor do I need to know. I don't mind paying a little extra money to get an OS that does what I want it to do without any customization or hassle.Here's an analogy. I want to fly from New York to Los Angeles. I don't need flight training to get there when Jet Blue does a good job doing it for me.
tbhurstJul 25, 2008
Seriously, why? I know that was lame, but couldn't help it.
schmichJul 25, 2008
As an outsider I would say it's mainly those with large mouths (hands?) who make it seem that the communities are divided from each other. By large mouths I mean those that are a fan of one distro and automatically just hate any other distros.
hellman109Jul 25, 2008
See your wrong on one HUGE point:Users care mainly about usability, second to that what 'experts' are saying. Just look at Vista (apparent 'experts' say its bad so people dont like it) and what they did with their Mojave test (called Vista Mojave to some Vista bashers, and 90% LIKED it). Perception is reality.One great example. Girlfriend and I go shopping for a new laptop for her.Whats the most important factor? CPU?RAM?Brand?GPU?HDD?Screen?Nope, how 'tappidy tappidy' the keys were, I kid you not!I dealth with everything bar that one CRITICAL factor. She seriously tried every keyboard of every laptop we looked at. Second to that was how it looked (couldnt be a flat white/black/grey/silver).
samusauJul 25, 2008
and the really horrid thing is the first three comments just play into what the post is about.
lynx55Jul 25, 2008
I personally am scared to death of Linux! All I read is that one must practically a PC tech in order to run it! If not, Linux has an image issue!
nintensityJul 25, 2008
One thing this article does not address is increase amount of exposure Linux systems are getting. Go to a major university and their main or engineering computer lab will have about 20% - 30% of the machines running Red Hat. Many research labs use Linux because of its versatility as both a workstation or a sever, at least in my field of study. There are software compatibility issues, but if you use the past decade as an indicator, more and more software companies are producing versions for both Windows and Linux. One Example: Matlab, excellent calculation and plotting tool used extensively in most engineering fields. In my experience, the biggest complainers about Linux are gamers. Linux sucks for gaming. But if you look at the deceasing sales for PC Games since 2002, this is becoming a non-issue. And remember, you cannot really compare Linux to Windows. You need to compare Windows to a distro for a given task. For example, if we are talking individual desktop pc? Compare Windows to ,say, Ubuntu. If we are talking severs or a network of computers for a business, compare Windows to Red Hat. The distros are developed with a specific purpose in mind.
innercrDec 9, 2008
Okay, I like using Linux, but prefer Windows XP and Windows apps. I hate the terminal and resent the way the apps need to be compiled from source. How and when will the Linux be improved to such a degree, when an average user like myself would not need to resort to endless typing and compiling? And don't get me started on package dependencies, the RPMs, DEBs, etc. These are the real, down to earth reasons why people at large won't adopt Linux - there's simply way too much work. And why all this work is needed if there's life to enjoy after you get things done quickly and easily with Windows? When Linux arrives at that juncture, I will gladly dump Microsoft, but until then, my time is way too valuable to expend on trying to get things and apps work in Linux. We need Mark Shuttleworth of Ubuntu to become the next "Steve Jobs" and get all this stuff to work seamlessly. By the way I'd rather pay for a mature, stable and complete OS than get "free", "free", "free" system with half-done components.