Desktop Linux (fwd)

travis at scootz.net travis at scootz.net
Wed Feb 25 11:00:17 EST 2004


> It will also fail because the normal "support line" of at-home desktops
> (the church, the club, the nextdoor neighbor) will not be there in
> 2004-2005 because it is not being used at work in 2002-2003.  But as
> people start using it at work two things will happen:
> 	o that alternate support line will be built
> 	o ISVs will start porting that "cool software"

That's what Apple thought too by putting Macs in Schools. That didn't
really work for them.

> Make no mistake about it.  Vendors do not port or not port their
> software due to the difficulty of the port.  They port it due to the
> perceived volume growth in new desktops.

That is true, but there is also a problem with the Linux comunity in that
they think everything should be free. I'm not saying a commercial software
package can't work for Linux, but in the past it hasn't for many Linux
game companies, as well as Office style packages. People either refuse to
buy them because they're not OSS, the Windows version runs better so they
dual boot into windows for the added features/speed/support, or they start
developing, or push for the development of an OSS version.

> I think that Linux will start to see that growth in 2004/2005, and I
> think that the ISVs are already porting.

That's been said over and over. When I see it, then I'll be excitied. I
myself still use Windows on the desktop at work, and OSX on the desktop at
home. I use Linux for my servers but that's about it. And even there I'm
thinking strongly of switching to FreeBSD.





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