InsideTech

InformationWeek's Alexandar Wolf wrote a great article on why Linux is still lagging:

7 Reasons Why Linux Won't Succeed On The Desktop

The open-source operating system is destined to stay stuck in the shadow of Windows, blogger Alex Wolfe opines. Read why he believes desktop Linux hasn't--and isn't--going to have any significant impact, then join the debate by posting your opinion in the discussion section at the article's end.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201807072

Don't get me started on the "uniformity" thing. Diversity is one of the strengths of the Linux distros, and I love that. The whole point behind the diversity is that it makes the OS customizable to almost any need. True, this is no task for newbies or the faint of heart. But that's what Windows is for! LOL
After years as a die-hard Caldera fan, I finally was forced by their decisions (another "don't start me") to try other flavors. Fedora was nicely utilitarian, but smacked too much of the bloat and proprietary-ness that has snuck into the Red Hat commercial distribution. Debian, yeah - but I'm a NetAdmin, not a developer. Haven't tried Gentoo, though I see it's rabid adherents all over the forums. Then I gave Ubuntu a shot. I have to admit that Ubu and I have become buds - both the v.7.04 and Ubu-Server. Greenar's right in that it's a strikingly easy install (even the Server version!) But what I like best about it is the unflappable stability of the thing!
It's been on a dual-boot system with XP for months now, and not a burp out of it. Microsoft will NEVER be able to say that!

Great article over in InformationWeek today on the bugs of Linux...

http://www.informationweek.com/software/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=GWE3PEDLZ10XIQSNDLOSKH0CJUNN2JVN?articleID=202600515

Maybe one reason Linux isn't taking hold is due to bugs.. Andrew Morton says its time to start fixing them..

At our company we have Unix, Linux and Windows servers. On the desktop we have Windows XP, mainly because of some of the Apps we use. I would love to find Linux equivalents to these programs, but they're just not out there.

Linux installability has improved so much over the past 7 years. I currently use Fedora and am very happy with it. But after fighting with computers for 8+ hours a day at work, I just don't want to come home and fight with them. Sometimes we just want to use our computers! I don't want to have to take months to get a program working. I just want to install it and have it work!!! (MythTV, Freevo, etc.)

Something I've always said is that the best thing about Linux is it very configurable. And the hardest thing about Linux is... it's very configurable!

A year ago I tried my first Linux. At that time Kubuntu 6.10, for I am very in favor of the KDE Desktop. Learning to get I around with it I have hardly come back to Windows XP. The only thing I use Windows for these days is printing, since unfortunately my printer is not supported.

But the ease to use Linux in everyday work has made me consider: What can Windows do that Linux can't? The answer to that is nothing. In some areas Linux is even better than Windows.

After trying Fedora, Debian, Gentoo, Slackware and most of the mainstream distros I found my way back to the Debian-based systems and am using noe Kubuntu 7.10 on my Desktop and eLive 1.0 on my Laptop, for it is a very light-weight distro.

In the company that I am currently at the base system is made of SLES 10 which just got Windows client and it works perfectly. Probably better than using Windows Servers with Linux clients.

I think that for the AVERAGE user there really isn't that much of a learning curve. Web, e-mail, word processing and spreadsheets work pretty much the same on both. My Mom was 74 and was using Fedora for Web and e-mail access, with some word processing thrown in (and my Mom knew NOTHING about computers).

I think the main differences for regular users comes in the differences in the various programs. Also, it looks and feels a bit different. Unless they are configuring the system, though, the basic usage is pretty much the same. It's mainly when you get to the more advanced stuff that the learning curve steepens.

Since we do a lot of legal stuff we use a lot of niche programs that just don't have a Linux equivalent. Most of the programs we use are databases, so we could probably build the stuff in-house, but we would need to find a programmer (who will work for almost nothing - not going to happen).

I've had a couple of weeks to think further about this thread. It should be obvious from my first post that I'm a Linux supporter - I have been since Caldera 1.3 - but I'm also the first to admit that I've had my tribulations with it. Hardware compatibility was a HUGE issue with almost every distro, and its an issue that only recently had receded to a point where the majority of user's systems don't have to worrry about it any more. That's in large part because manufacturers have finally gotten the hint and are writing Linux-based drivers for their products.
Ah, but then there's the differing GUI's... having used KDE and GNOME about equally over the years, I really don't have much of a preference. My experience has always been that it depends on what you want to use it for... for instance, if I'm doing a lot of work with apps and nothing much to do with a terminal then KDE offers a better/friendlier environment. If, however, I want to keep the "user-friendliness" cut down to a minimum and concentrate on my command-line, terminal app, or compiling of any kind then gimme the GNOME.
Ah, dang it... back to work. The users are whining about their MS desktops again...

I run Fedora (and Windows XP-dual boot) at home. I have used red Hat since v5 and like it. I've gotten used to the Gnome desktop and just don't like the feel of KDE. but that's MY thing. Anyway, for some of the stuff I do Linux just doesn't work. I would like to get MythTV working, but talk about a pain in the posterior!!! Also, there is no software to link my Blackberry Pearl to Evolution. I know with time I could probably get some of this stuff working, but I really don't feel like fighting with it. As it is my computer is lucky to get turned on once a week, if that! I need a LONG break!!!

Wow, I haven't seen someone mention Dyne:Bolic on a while. I have to admit d:b has some nice features for a live cd, such as their docking and nesting feature. I haven't really played with it since the 1.4.1 days, as my interest in it lessened when they removed OpenMosix clustering from the distro. Lately, I've been gearing up towards blowing out my main DAW (Win2K) and dual-booting between XP and JackLab (openSUSE based DAW distribution).

I agree the main worry in the corporate world is support. They don't want you to mess around on forums for a day trying to get a solution that might work, especially if it's mission critical. They want you to pick up the phone and have it fixed in 10 minutes. I don't feel costs are as much a worry, as if it is deemed a necessity, they will pay for the Linux admin and support. When you add that to the TCO of an open source/Linux environment, it balances out.

As for the average user, Linux can make a great desktop, but it's not for the computer illiterate. As long as it works out of the box, and the applications are there and comparable enough to a Windows-based equivalent, the average user is fine with Linux. The second he tries to install his new all-in-one printer, hits the first page requiring Java or Flash that wasn't initially installed, and is told to drop down to command line, the average user is lost. When he/she manages to crash the x-server while trying to upgrade to the latest Nvidia or Ati driver, the next step they will take is to insert the nearest Windows CD.