Why Linux is not (yet) Ready for the Desktop

[MixMan]

Why Linux is not (yet) Ready for the Desktop
Interesting article from a Linux fan.
http://linuxfonts.narod.ru/why.linux.is....sktop.html

[pcostanza]

I pretty much agree but I've not done all the article states. I've dabbled with dual/tri booting into Ubuntu since v6 and it's improving but I've suffered thru mythtv and it's a burden and not worth it. I figure it'll be a least 18 months before the blur is less blurred.
Still, it has it's advantages. Mine runs fast but I still have so much more to learn.

[johnsonx42]

yeah, I've installed Linux many times on my systems. While I continue to be impressed with each new version, there's always something that has me booting back in to Windows. About the third time I have to stop everything and reboot to Windows to get something done, Linux again becomes relegated to the 'fiddle with it from time to time' OS and Windows goes back to the default OS. In fact my recent upgrade to Windows 7 hosed my GRUB loader, leaving me unable to boot into OpenSUSE 11.1... and I just haven't cared enough to fix it (yes, I know how).

I do use Linux (in the Novell Open Enterprise Server form) for several customer's servers though; it's a more logical replacement for NetWare than Windows.

[pcostanza]

Give EasyBCD a shot. It's uber easy to change boot options. And it's free.
VistaBootPro is another helpful tool but I think it's no longer free.

[psycik]

or virtualisation. VMWare server FTW. I currently run a Windows Home Server as the base OS, and have my primary desktop (Windows 7) as a VM oin top, and an Ubuntu Linux server as another vm.

Much easier to deal with than dual booting.

[mvallevand]

I come from the other side (typing this on a home linux laptop) and can't help thinking how messed up the Windows world really is, I don't think the computing world is better for having Microsoft dominate/direct it. My wife is more likely to buy an app for an iPhone then trying something new on her Windows laptop for fear something will break and I am sure she is not alone.

My bland office computer with that Win 2k look and feel, is littered with icons designed to work with a infrastructure for managing Windows and protecting the user from Windows weaknesses and vulnerabilities and for the most part we have no programs other than IE, email and an office suite. The office might even fall apart if Firefox was ever installed.

The reasons for Win 7 upgrades in the future in the corporate world won't be for the reasons in that article, they will about improved infrastructure management. How is all of this good?

Martin

[McBainUK]

I've always found these kind of discussions a little strange. IMO the title you really care about should be is Linux/Windowx/OSX/DOS/typewriter ready for YOUR desktop.

[markbb1]

I come from the other side (typing this on a home linux laptop) and can't help thinking how messed up the Windows world really is, I don't think the computing world is better for having Microsoft dominate/direct it. My wife is more likely to buy an app for an iPhone then trying something new on her Windows laptop for fear something will break and I am sure she is not alone.

My bland office computer with that Win 2k look and feel, is littered with icons designed to work with a infrastructure for managing Windows and protecting the user from Windows weaknesses and vulnerabilities and for the most part we have no programs other than IE, email and an office suite. The office might even fall apart if Firefox was ever installed.

The reasons for Win 7 upgrades in the future in the corporate world won't be for the reasons in that article, they will about improved infrastructure management. How is all of this good?

Martin

As a USG employee, I have recognized that Linux would work much better in the office environment where user configurability is nonexistent than in the home. At work, since I can't do anything that hasn't been provided in "plain vanilla" form to all users, I might as well use Firefox, Ximian and OpenOffice instead of the Windows stuff. At home, since I discovered PERL for Windows and learned enough batch language to do what I need, I haven't booted into Linux for years. I used to think Linux had the potential to replace Windows, but it continues to be just a bit too far behind the technology I need to be practical.

[baj1]

Learning more about Linux is on my to-do list, and I suppose I should just bite the bullet and install it somewhere (probably a VM) and start piddling with it.

I sent the link above to a couple of my bit-head Linux buddies and they tore it to shreds. They did agree with a few of the short comings, but said that many of the arguments listed by the author just proved he didn't really know Linux very well. Maybe that's the real point, you need to commit more time to learning how to use it correctly.

The Linux development world seems to be focused on allowing users to do more while the Windoze world seems to be focused on making things idiot-proof. Both have hurdles. Certainly the task of idiot-proofing is difficult when the world has so many of them who are so good at it (and I cannot say I'm always a mutually-exclusive element of that group).

Everytime I mention Linux to my one friend he sends me his server up-time report. He has quite a few machines running Linux (I can only imagine his electric bill), and has several at 700 days up-time. That's almost 2 years without a reboot. That got me curious as to how often I reboot my machines. I've added a shortcut on the desktops of my machines to a batch file containing the following and routinely run it when reboot time has come.

Systeminfo | Find "Up Time"
pause

It's seldom more than two weeks for me, either on the home machines, my work computer, or my GB-PVR machine. I was having issues with needing to reboot often on my GB-PVR machine, so I stowed it away in a corner and eliminated other tasks from it's to-do list when I rebuilt it last December. It helped a little, but if I don't reboot roughly every two weeks or so, my recordings start getting a little jumpy or comskip quits working. I would love a system that would run for months unattended with no issues...

[psycik]

actually I installed a linux desktop machine the other day as a vm. I was suprised at how many times I had to jump to the terminal just to install a program.

Was playing with some video encoding stuff, and rather than getting a precompiled windows binary to much around with, on linux it was, get this package (download)....get all these supporting packages (apt-get in terminal), run this command, run this comand etc (all in terminal).

I miss the double click to install of windows.. So that might just be me, and that I know that you can do a bunch of stuff inthe terminal and haven't found the desktop equivalent. But it just seemed hard to me and a lot of extra work.