Comments on: When Will Linux Really Go Mainstream?

By: Elmer Curtis

Elmer Curtis — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 01:29:26 +0000

I wholeheartedly agree with Admin in this arical!! I’m 80 years old and have been into computers since they started but only as a user and I hate Microsoft with a passion!!
I would like to change to Linux but tried a copy of Knoppix and found it so confusing that I finally tookit off my computer. The help files are worthless and when you ask questions in a forum the answer is usually in
programers language and leaves me scratching my head.
I been thinking about buying a copy of Ubuntu along with instructions of use but so far I can’t find out how the instructions would help me since they don’t give you a clue as to whats in them before you buy so
that would be like buying a dead horse.
My big problem with Knoppix is missing drivers and where to find them and then how do you install after you get them??? Also I have Hughes as my provider through wireless and tried for a whole day with Knoppiz
to get hooked up to no avail so as you can guess I’m
back with windows vista and can at least hook up to the internet.
As you can see I’m a little leary but if I had some assurance I would try again so I hope the Linuz people get there act together.
Elmer Curtis

By: Clif

Clif — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:01:11 +0000

I think the end user feedback for Ubuntu is certainly amiss. I took the time to feedback the Adobe Reader with no sound issues for months, and if I wasn’t so anti-M$, I probably would have just gone back to M$.

Still, my feedback fell on deaf ears (er – eyes), with the wonderful note – you don’t have rights to post to this thread. After all the effort, the developers couldn’t get my feedback because the group they were set to get the email feedback from was a closed entity.

All in all – Morghus has it right. If I turn on ten folks to Linux, and none stick with it, because it fails in running whatever application or specific need they may have, then that’s just the first reason they leave. It’s also why they often won’t return.

M$ got this lesson with Vista. When your “new” OS won’t run your favorite “old” program, you look to the software upgrade from the developer. If it never arrives, it obviously affects the user’s appeal to upgrade.

I’ll offer another “solution” – I’ll add a website link to compare and relate applications from cross OS – making a reference for new converts to determine how to perform their old software functions. Unless someone can tell me this already exists, then I’ll just add the link…

By: TheSheep

TheSheep — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:14:36 +0000

“But the fact is their sales wouldn’t suffer if they never mentioned Windows. Consumers don’t care what OS the hardware is running.”

I absolutely do not agree. Here are some easy examples I could think of:
* I use Windows at work, so it is more comfortable to use it at home. Also, the job market requires knowledge of MS products (try to find a job add that requires OpenOffice, not in my area)
* My ISP says that it does not support Linux
* Many toys require Windows (even those toys might work with Linux), but as a consumer I wouldn’t know
* Your (or your kids’) school may require MS for home/class work

So, if I am an unsuspecting “customer”, I’d be looking for Windows PC specifically.

By: BugFreeLinux

BugFreeLinux — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 07:00:19 +0000

The thing is:

1. Linux has a broken audio stack
2. Linux has a broken graphics stack
3. Linux developers are too easily swayed to the newest trend rather than implementing properly robust and complete software

Theres too many bugs. Too many things that drag on and on without being fixed and too much new crap being released that doesnt fix the old stuff.

By: Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 03:41:50 +0000

Aikiwolfie: Stay tuned. I’ll be blogging about major hardware companies backing Ubuntu Server Edition and Ubuntu desktop multiple times in the next day. Big news coming on the marketing and certification front.

By: aikiwolfie

aikiwolfie — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 20:16:05 +0000

No HP and Dell don’t really do a lot to market Linux. They don’t need to. All they need to market is their end product and what it can do.

The people that need to market Linux are the distribution and project developers. Where this marketing has been done. Linux is a success. Canonical has made a good start in turning Ubuntu into a low cost netbook OS. The kernel project is another example of success when Linux is marketed properly.

Few people realize the Linux kernel is running more hardware out there than we could list. Linux runs everything from your WiFi router to your cable TV set-top box and now mobile phones.

As a desktop OS it’s not enough for Linux to be freely available to download by anybody. It’s not enough that Linux is open source and endlessly editable and configurable. Distribution developers have to put together a compelling product and push it to OEMs to pre-load onto or embed into their own products.

Dell and HP advertise Windows because Microsoft pay them to. But the fact is their sales wouldn’t suffer if they never mentioned Windows. Consumers don’t care what OS the hardware is running. All they care about is that it works and does what they need it to do.

The consumer isn’t the target for Linux advertising. It’s OEMs. It’s HP, it’s Dell, it’s Asus, it’s Acer and Gateway and everybody else producing PCs, laptops, netbooks, smart phones and MIDs. These are the companies that need to realise there is life beyond Redmond.

By: Bogdan Bivolaru

Bogdan Bivolaru — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 08:03:04 +0000

Call me a wet blanket, but I don’t think usability and QA are major game changers for Linux. They will allow people to come to GNU/Linux systems, but they won’t drive them here. People tend to bear with bugs if they have reasons to (I use Windows at work).
This is a bit offtopic, but in my opinion, a major game changer is the free culture (creative commons, open data) and not just free software. That is because it gives people a better understanding of what sharing actually is and how it benefits them. Showing users how sharing works in their field of interest (law, music, design), allowing them to form diverse communities that is what grows our community.
But so far, many tools that build communities (social web services and desktop clients) are proprietary and/or do not have ports for our systems. I think this is a major roadblock for the advancement of Linux on the desktop.
When we will make Ubuntu packages for Mugshot (a social website made by RedHat) more fun than it is writing on Facebook on Windows, then people will come to us.
When we will have free software on the server and client side for something like http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse, then we will be able to draw users by the thousands.
And these users will not be quiet about it, they will brag, write and speak about it, so they will take the word out, on the street.

By: makkay

makkay — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 05:39:39 +0000

ubuntu and other gnu/linux distros have some problems .. nothing perfect after all

microsoft windows has so many problems .. they are much more than you have just said about linux .. and it’s mainstream

it makes no sense then .. me thinks that the problem people have never actually heard or tried -when i say try it really not just for one day or two- ubuntu or linux

i’ve already installed ubuntu to two people who don’t know the difference between windows xp and windows vista -really i’m not kidding- and they love ubuntu and how great it works

By: TheSheep

TheSheep — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 23:29:24 +0000

In order to make Linux marketable, it has to show that it is a biz parter (rather than an alternative to other OS); and it will provide an attractive ROI. It does not cost a lot money to use it, but it will cost to market and support it.

Also, QA/QC is nice idea. The other missing piece of proper QC is a set of comprehensive documentation. To put a tester onto something, you’d need to provide a document describing expected functionality. Are there many distributions (or individual projects) that provide detailed documentation?

Somebody mentioned that Dell, HP, … sell PCs with Linux. Are they really marketing those PCs? I believe they keep it on the shelf just in case Linux sales would pick up. Otherwise they don’t do much to promote/market it.

By: aikiwolfie

aikiwolfie — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:31:23 +0000

There is one simple reason why Linux hasn’t gone fully mainstream yet. It’s marketing. Linux isn’t marketed. Linux is posted on the web for all who stumble onto it to download. It has nothing to do with the quality or usability of Linux applications.

When Microsoft was pushing MS-DOS to OEMs it had to give them the hard sell routine and practically give it’s product away for nearly free. Linux developers give their products away for free. But they don’t put the hard sell on anybody.

Red Hat for example doesn’t really push Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Red Hat markets “solutions”. These “solutions” don’t just include the Red Hat Enterprise Linux OS. They include the whole software stack that will be bundled on to the server.

By: Stephen Rufle

Stephen Rufle — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:15:22 +0000

I agree with the article, but “Apache Tomcat” is not for the average user.

By: Vadim P.

Vadim P. — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:23:11 +0000

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing

It’ll also go mainstream when windows techies realize that non-techies can use Linux (and they can), and realize that better (prettier, stabler, easier to use and more human friendly) solutions exist than windows.