Open Ballot: what is the biggest threat to the future of Linux?

Free Software Fanaticism

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - April 27, 2010 @ 5:40pm

While Linux is based on free software, and it will always play a big part in its future, we cannot allow people who say we mustn't use Flash or VMWare to become too vocal. The future of Linux depends on attracting new users (especially end-users) and people who treat proprietary software as a bug will only succeed in driving some end users away.

The idiots that say Microsoft is not one of the biggest threats.

HandyGandy (not verified) - April 27, 2010 @ 5:42pm

The second biggest threat of all being Microsoft itself.
Since the Altair, MS has held a significant piece of the desktop/microcomputer marker. Once they hit 90% it never fell
below 90% ever. That's close to twenty years and not only the entire lifetime of the microcomputer, but past the transition from microcomputer to desktop.

Gate and Balmer still have a controlling share. That means that they get final say on everything Microsoft does, and those people in MS who say let's give FOSS a chance are out on their ass the minute Gates and Balmer decided to play hardball.

But the thing to remember is that the people that fared the worst against MS were the people dealing with MS. Logitech was entering into a deal with MS which gave MS access to their trade secrets, just before they started their own keyboard division. Excel and Word were first created for Mac in an Apple/Microsoft deal. OS/2 was created ina joint MS/IBM deal before Windows and NT. I think that is enough to get the basic idea. It's the "embrace" part of "embrace,extend,extinquish".

So the biggest threat to linux are the idiots who insist that the linux community should prostrate itself in front of the MS juggernaut ( and I suggest that you look up the history of juggernaut ) to let it roll over them.

PS
In the Cold War days the Politburo used to call these people useful idiots.

End-users are not programmers.

Renato (not verified) - April 27, 2010 @ 6:08pm

The biggest threat to linux future is the fanatism of some community members. They just don´t realize that end users don´t care for what they think about free and proprietary licences. End users just want to use computers to make their lives easier. End user are not programmers and don´t want to be programmers and don´t want to write a single line of code.

General Ignorance

Cage - April 27, 2010 @ 6:41pm

The biggest threat to linux (or Gnu/Linux for the purists) has to be General Ignorance. Now, when I say that I'm not calling people stupid. Many people who could otherwise be end linux users, are just not informed enough to understand. As mentioned before they hear stories of this elite OS for geeks and whispers of some "open source" movement "whatever that is".
Take my boss for example; "Linux is crap, some stupid software written by a kid in his bedroom." Even having seen it he wont relent, and when he discovered it couldn't play DVD's or MP3's by default he laughed as if his point was proved. "Open Source, crap, nothing that's any good is free!".
This is the type of mentality we're up against. We need polished distro's like the Lynx for sure, but more than that we need at least one distro where all that "Evil" non free stuff works out of the box, to help ease in possible converts and start them on their journey of discovery of the open source world, without tossing them in at the deep end to see if they don't drown.

Locked down devices

Muzer_cbatli (not verified) - April 27, 2010 @ 6:56pm

I wonder how long it'll be until every device available is locked to its original OS? M$ have recently jumped on the bandwagon with WinMo 7 (or whatever they're calling it now), and Apple have been doing it for years obviously - and the latter is starting to make forays into slightly more computer-like locked-down devices like the iPad. Ugh.

Hardware manufacturers apathy

Conor Murphy (not verified) - April 27, 2010 @ 7:17pm

If hardware manufacturers pre-installed Linux on the machines we can find in Harvey Norman or PC World everyone would know Linux. Especially if you explained between the OS and Microsoft Office And Antivirus you're saving 200 euro.

This would help us all by meaning the drivers and programs would all be written for Linux and the momentum all would keep building to eventual world domination.

The dumbing down of the World

Jayson (not verified) - April 27, 2010 @ 7:43pm

The greatest threat to the future of Linux is a growing population of people with an aversion to thinking. It's that same growing population of people that has made Windows based OS so popular. Windows OS puts a large focus on taking the thought out of using a personal computer. As a result, people have little to no idea of what a Windows OS is doing in in the background. They know in general to click this to do that etc... At some point, if you become a moderate to heavy Linux user, you'll need to learn something about whats going on in the background. What's bash, whats CUPS, how can I do something more efficiently? Linux based systems expect the user to understand, and know, and think. Most people who become fans of Linux are people who in general are thinkers and tinkerers. Unfortunately in a world where everyone wants everything to happen NOW!, thinkers and tinkerers are not an expanding segment of the population. So... IMO the biggest threat to Linux are people with an aversion to thinking.

other people badmouthing linux

towy71 - April 27, 2010 @ 8:24pm

My closest neighbours have both been converted to using Ubuntu but when I tried to get another friend to convert their son in law said that Linux is only for hardcore fanatics, she reverted to the horrible Vista and still has problems with wifi connectivity that Linux had cured.

My sister will not try Linux because she needs to use proprietary accounting software, which works fine under wine, because the guy she works for doesn't like that hippy nonsense.

Stuff not working!

Huw - April 27, 2010 @ 8:38pm

I know that in many cases it isn't Linux's fault, but stuff not working has to be it. I've been a loyal Linux devotee for years but even I'm considering switching back to Windows because I dared hope that I might use Skype to talk to my family when I'm away.

Or perhaps it's the shoddy implementation of Flash on Linux that will break me; Flash in Firefox crashes so often for me that it's almost unusable and nobody has been able to help.

Getting games to run under WINE, that's a good one too.

I used to boot into Windows just to play games, but I'm finding myself spending more and more time in Windows because everything works, and that's sad.

@HandyGandy

Huw - April 27, 2010 @ 8:51pm

Yep. But sound and mic do not work properly on either my desktop or my netbook.

WHAT BANANAOOMARANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

barnabus the bear (not verified) - April 27, 2010 @ 9:03pm

I WATCH LOADS OF PORN ON MY LAPTOP ALL THAT HAS HAPPENED IS THAT MY COMPUTER HAS GOTTEN SLOWER TO START UP AND TO DO STUFF BUT THAT IS IT!!!!!! NO VIRUSES THERE YOU IDIOT!!!!!!!!
SHEEEEESH PEOPLE WHO USE LINUX DONT KNOW A THING ABOUT COMPUTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Performance

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - April 27, 2010 @ 9:03pm

Linux performance is terrible. Apart from quick boot, Linux desktop is pretty sluggish. Firefox is noticeably slower on Linux than on Windows, and I don't think it is all Mozilla's fault for not optimising it enough. I think Linux' file system layout and lack of high performing libraries is to blame.

I also think the Linux kernel community's focus on servers hurts desktop performance.

The third larget threat --nonEngineers "running" Linux

HandyGandy (not verified) - April 27, 2010 @ 9:31pm

My first experience with engineering ( and in particular systems engineering ) was more then 35 years ago bicycling. I had bought a new tire patch kit by a company called Rema. The patches ( for those who have seen them ) are nopt square pieces of rubber, but these thin orange circular things with a black middle. Of course I had a flat, and of course I had trouble patching it. Why, the tube of vulcanizing agent had a solid tin seal over it. Next year I bought a few of the patch kits for that year and discovered puncturing the tube was not going to be a problem. They had put a plastic spear inside the cap top, just turn around the cap and push. That's engineering.

Over the years I've seen many engineering techniques, good and bad. Perhaps the biggest was at a company which made farm equipment. The couplers on their farm equipment: tillers, plows, reapers etc did not work with the couplers on their tractors. To use their equipment with their tractors, you had to buy a special adaptor and install it.

Linux has already established itself in some areas. The areas it has established itself it has done so because it is well-engineered. Although I generally don't worry about the GNU part of linux, in this case it is very relevant. It is not just the kernel that makes Linux robust, but the entire infrastructure. In fact much of the infrastructure predates even GNU and comes from UNIX or POSIX in general.

As long as it is a well engineered UNIX like system, it will be around; it will take PhD's instead of script kiddies to write serious viruses, crashes will not drag down the whole system but be localized. The one technical threat to Linux is that it ceases to be a well-engineered UNIX like system.

Some of that engineering is writing equations on whiteboards, and drawing UML diagrams, a bigger part is
more fundamental, talked about in the writings of Kernigan, Plauger, Jon Bentley, and Gerald Weinberg. A part of that "well-engineered"ness is openness.

If a person is given two choices: install Windows, or install a proprietary codec so that he can use his computer for work, then I say by all means install the codec. But that is not what I see advocates of "proprietarizing" linux say. What I see are people who argue that they should add layer after layer of proprietary software, to the point where if you want to install some software a computer company does not like, you have to "jailbreak" your computer.

It's important that engineers stay in charge of linux, because engineers understand that sometimes you can't have two things. That if you want for example a virus free system then you may have to eschew certain proprietary software, especially since it is the proprietary stuff that has the dark hidden corners where virii like to grow.

PS When I say engineer I don't mean software geniuses who are only geniuses when they copy Microsoft.

Corporate agendas

FruFru (not verified) - April 27, 2010 @ 10:47pm

The biggest threat to Linux is the increasing interest (and funding) from corporate entities with their own agendas. Commercial entities that view Linux as a competitive threat to their own interests are unlikely to be showering Linux developers with gifts that do not have strings attached.

At the least threatening end are development frameworks specified by a commercial software vendor that appear to offer an attractive cross-platform solution, but also provide that vendor with a competitive advantage when they modify, develop or otherwise dictate the framework.

In the middle are supposedly open standards that have a high representation from proprietary vendors, who adopt and then adapt supposedly standard specifications (html, various languages, open documents).

Possibly the most threatening is the influx of closed source, closed standard trendy devices into Linux audio, video and communications.

SOFTWARE PATENTS!

C. McConnell (not verified) - April 28, 2010 @ 12:21am

To me, By far the largest problem are software patents (at least here in the U.S.) ... what they will do is constrict the expansion greatly ... to me they are 'Evil'.

Choice

johnvile - April 28, 2010 @ 8:53am

I think choice rather than being some kind of threat, is defiantly a barrier.

Also the GNU/Linux argument has to stop. Anyone looking in at this pedantry squabbling is likely to to turned off the whole idea of free (slash as in beer) software.

The word Linux, very off putting all round really.

biggest threat: the misconception that Linux is "hard to use"

Jan (not verified) - April 28, 2010 @ 10:06am

I have a friend who wanted to buy her first computer. She went to the store, and saw the cheapest laptop was $500 and preloaded with Linux. She asked the salesperson about it, and got the reply "Linux is for advanced users/geeks - you don't want it - pay $100 more for a laptop with Windows"... and she did.

Upon not being able to configure things like wireless, flash, java on Windows (remember, she's never used her own computer before), I ended up installing Ubuntu. In the 6 months since she's started using it, I've had maybe 3-4 calls about stuff not quite working.

Linux wasn't (isn't) harder to use, and this is a message that needs to get across to end-users.

The Year of Linux on the Desktop

Cage - April 28, 2010 @ 11:04am

I must agree with Adam. We do seem to be pre-occupied with "Is this the year of Linux on the desktop". We should be doing what we've done all along, innovate. (I say we, I mean you - I can't program worth a damn , yet!)
Let Canonical continue down its path to get Linux adopters, and make revenue where it can, from what I understand it doesn't contribute a big pile to the kernel anyway, and lets have everyone else keep the innovation coming.
Except Novell who will do what Microsoft wants them to. Oops did I say that out loud. ;-)

Mainstream Linux

Alias - April 28, 2010 @ 12:48pm

I reckon that the biggest threat to Linux is Linux itself. With over 300 distros and climbing there is a lot of choice for the new Linux user. Most people I know will go with something like Ubuntu, something that gets new Linux users into the swing of free software and packages and all the other stuff that we find second nature.

However because Ubuntu has a large popularity if at any stage it starts to move away from the idea of Linux then new Linux users will be alienated from the real idea of Linux. Don't get me wrong, I'm not hating on Ubuntu, I'm an Ubuntu user myself however I'm using 9.04 instead of the latest release because I believe that they have been sub-par compared to previous releases such as Jaunty. I have a friend who has just started using Linux and what did he pick as his first OS, yep, you guessed it, Karmic Koala an OS packed full of bugs, glitches and overall shitness.

So before we can really say that Microsoft or hardcore GPL people are going to be the biggest threat to Linux maybe we should look in our own backyard.

Biggest threat = MikeOS

Anonymous MikeOS fanboy (not verified) - April 28, 2010 @ 1:23pm

Biggest threat = MikeOS gains major traction and replaces Linux as the de facto alternative to proprietary offerings.

Games of course

Dafoosa (not verified) - April 28, 2010 @ 3:26pm

Excuse me while i reboot back into xp to play LFD2; which is where ill stay (XP that is) for the rest of the evening (why; cause even the slightest loss in functionality or frame-rate will always send a gamer/senior software engineer to the best game supporting OS.

shame, as I like linux for everything else, but games (and pron) are priority 1, not work (lol at least linux does pron well).

Linux users who don't care about freedom

Chris B (not verified) - April 28, 2010 @ 5:21pm

I just don't get the backlash against free software "fanatics." Who doesn't like freedom? Only oppressive governments. The whole point of educating people of the disadvantages of proprietary software is to give consumers the knowledge to make appropriate choices and put pressure on the suppliers. Some fanatics do deserve criticism for such childish things as harassing apple store employees, I'll give you that. But there is nothing wrong with speaking about the harmful effects of proprietary software.

More like Linux users who don't care about overall quality

mags (not verified) - April 28, 2010 @ 5:53pm

and think it's acceptable to leave (e.g.) GIMP in a supposedly user friendly distro such as Ubuntu (though since removed).
"Hey, I need to edit an image on my Ubuntu"
"Just fire up GIMP"
"Ok, now what?"
"Cry. Cry long and hard."
"Wow, free software is great"
"Yeah."

Microsoft

Rhakios - April 28, 2010 @ 7:34pm

It is, and probably will be for some time to come, Microsoft. Their creeping series of patent agreements with hardware vendors (as epitomised by today's news of the licensing agreement with HTC for their use of Android) undermines the credibility of Linux as an independently innovative platform.

Just how many agreements with how many manufacturers will it take before MS present it as a fait accompli, that Linux is dependant in all important respects on Microsoft's intellectual property?

Too many re-spins too little accounting software

tony jones (not verified) - April 28, 2010 @ 9:36pm

The Linux world is focused around a few distros and many hundred of respins.

Some are good like Mint, some are little more than rebranding.
The trouble starts when the source distro changes something, and that change is unpopular like the move of the buttons to the left in Ubuntu.

When will Linux get a good industry compatible accounting software package?

Yes, I know it is as boring but if you try to run a SOHO it is the one thing that stands out as missing.

I agree with Tim V-B

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - April 28, 2010 @ 10:58pm

I agree with the majority of what has been said. The problem is Microsoft operating systems appear (and have done since the 90's) on the majority of new computers brought. If you don't know how to use it, you can go to a college to learn it, so people get to know and understand proprietary software.

As mentioned earlier, people are lazy and don't want to learn a new way of computing for the sake of it. I have just completed a two year computer course and have mentioned that I have used Linux at home since 2006 and my reasons for doing so. The majority of the students hadn't heard of it, those that had, had been misinformed about it and had no reason to try open sourced software because the college was teaching the subjects using proprietary software.

Shawn

The Greatest Threat.

Penguinclaw (not verified) - April 29, 2010 @ 1:47am

I really don't think there is a threat to Linux. We are strong because we are not a business but a community of like minded people. More and more people are dipping their toes and trying the Linux way. I acknowledge ignorance of the general windows PC users; Windows = computer. But I have educated various friends and family members and once "sold" (it doesn't take long with a virus vulnerable, sluggish computer.... not all can afford to buy the latest hardware), they have quickly taken to the new OS like a duck to water. I now have my Mother-in-law doing regular updates; with Windows I had the responsibility of this job as she couldn't get to grips with this. She is not wealthy and she really appreciated that I was able to breath new life into her old computer. My Dad reckons it's easier than windows and was really impressed with all the free software. My children are learning to use two operating systems and ,being young, just accept it as normal. The only fly in the ointment I have found is the ignorance of IT teachers...... Come on teachers..... learn your subject and read widely.... that is one of the things I was taught.

The biggest threat is the division of the community and lack...

Adam Griffiths (not verified) - April 29, 2010 @ 3:34am

...of enthusiasm.

The question was not "What is the biggest threat to Linux becoming a mainstream OS". Therefore competition from other major players is not a threat really, Linux has the potential to thrive in the same way it currently does and historically has as long as the community remains productive and excited about what it has achieved and what it continues to achieve.

The true threat is highlighted well by the comment above about getting exasperated and moving to Apple.

OS X Vs. Windows Vs. Linux

Iain B Simpson (not verified) - April 29, 2010 @ 8:07am

My OS of choice is MAC OS X, but I love your podcast and have dabbled with Linux previously. I converted from Windows XP in 2008 and have found myself having much more time to enjoy my computing experience, rather than spending half my time tinkering/fixing elements of the OS.

Linux that I have experienced doesn’t have the robust, “just works” factor.
However, it is getting much better and I will be checking out Ubuntu 10.04 on my works Lenovo machine.

We know the threats. However, with a little bit of SWOT analysis, you should be looking at the opportunites!
The biggest opportunity is unification of developers. This is already happening in a very big way with the Ubuntu distribution. Why doesn’t everyone join hands and make Ubuntu as amazing as OS X?

That would be a win for Linux.

Kind regards,
Iain.

TuxRadar open ballot

eponymous Penguin (not verified) - April 29, 2010 @ 3:33pm

The real threat to Linux is all these tuxradar open ballots

Vicious circle

Marrea (not verified) - April 29, 2010 @ 5:02pm

<<As long as OEMS don't offer John Doe the exact SAME choice of computer, with Windows or without Windows, on the SAME shelves, mainstream (non-techie) customers will keep buying Windows boxes, because they are everywhere.>>

But surely it is a vicious circle? The OEMs don't offer this because it is not what customers want. Everyone of my acquaintance, friends and relatives, wants a laptop with the latest Windows on. There is no point stocking shelves with products which are not going to sell. Look what happened to netbooks. It wasn't long before they changed from Linux to Windows. From what I read, people were returning the Linux versions because they didn't understand it/couldn't get on with it.

As I said above, surely the question we should be asking ourselves is why Linux is not more popular. Why does is continue to completely fail to catch on with the general public?

My half cent.

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - April 29, 2010 @ 10:44pm

1. Bilski getting confirmed and allowing software patents to be legal. Hopefully if software patents are found not to be legal, acta is moot per se.

2. A certain set of podcast show hosts (not from tux radar) who say there is no problem with Microsoft contributing to linux.

3. Microsoft themselves who ahve already started to contribute to ubuntu. under the noses of the community.Then they will come back later and say their code is in linux so they can hold the community hostage. like they allegedly did htc.

4. Not having pristine clean software source code repos replicated in case the worst happens. I amassing all the source code and open source development tools I can, I needed to get the debian repo and source soon.

5. Not getting people involved in the development of projects whether they program or not. they can contribute to the documentation and testing of existing code.

6. Kick ubuntu in the rear to start writing better code that also follows the linux tradition.

Balkanization of the Kernel and lack of interest/opportunity

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - April 30, 2010 @ 7:44pm

for the next generation of developers, I would say are the greatest threats.

We will see some big patent fights if linux-based panel computers/e-book readers take off in the consumer market and become a real challenge to the iPod and the like from the big proprietary companies.

It is unlikely this will happen, though.

Time destroys everything

Tommy (not verified) - April 30, 2010 @ 11:58pm

Assuming we get past 2012, perhaps a trillion years from now there will be no universe and no linux. I don't think there is anything we can do to stop that.

But if heaven is eternal, and if computers exist there, and if I have one, it just might be running linux forever.

@biggles1000

Ben Dibell (not verified) - May 1, 2010 @ 4:45am

Biggles1000: GRUB is not the only functional bootloader. I personally use EXTLINUX. I love the full color backgrounds, and I find it easier to configure. Give it a shot sometime.

To be honest I don't care if it's called 'Linux',...

Alisdair Laird (not verified) - May 1, 2010 @ 6:14pm

...'Minix', 'Haiku', or 'MyCobbledTogetherOS', as long as its 'free' as in freedom (not beer). I don't care if Linux ever pushes MS off the shelf as everybody's favourite OS, in fact I'd rather it didn't.

What matters to me is that there is always something going on that means the money boys (and girls), don't ever think they own the show; don't ever get to force everyone to pay and pay and pay for the same half-baked crap with no way out that doesn't threaten fines and imprisonment.

There will always be people who just go with the crowd, because its easy---you don't have to think, and that's okay, up to a point. But there should always be a counter-culture going on that reminds people, and gives them the option, that things can be done differently and even better; that I can sit down if I choose to and do what I want with someone elses's work and set my efforts free for other people to do with what they want...

Linux matters for what it represents and gives. It matters as a matter of principle and what it offers to us for its own sake---freedom.

What you do with that freedom is up to you.

My vision of the greatest threat to Linux...

artisan002 (not verified) - May 2, 2010 @ 2:23am

#1. Scavenging/cannibalization of Linux for the benefit of the proprietary... I've lost track of how many supposedly closed apps and recent operating systems owe their existences to the open source work of the Linux community. And the development has not managed to benefit Linux in any substantial way. This threatens to bog down Linux while letting other developers eventually leapfrog their benefactors. Eventually, this could lead to Linux being marginalized by it's own benevolence.

#2. Over-diversification... Linux in all it's breeds has been lovely to watch. But, with it being re-purposed to so many duties, it's hard for the outsider to keep up with what's appropriate for him/her. While this helps Linux proliferate, it doesn't really help it THRIVE. Jack of all trades, master of only some. If there were something about Linux that would threaten itself, it would have to be this multiple personality aspect it takes on.

#3. Incomplete standardization... Certainly, the lack of support from the commercial computer entertainment community has hurt Linux, though not fatally. But, the broad mix of code that makes up varying distros and window managers makes it difficult to work with, and makes it not worth the effort. Case in point: moving critical files because one distro vendor has a differing philosophy to do with one particular detail. Writing for Linux already requires a different mentality than Mac or Windows. But, this kind of diversity sacrifices standardization, which necessitates greatly increased programming or very selective support. Accordingly, an already small market share either becomes more work than the payoff or an even smaller market share.

#4. Perpetual work in progress... Is there a common Linux calculator app out there that can subtract by percentages (as in type in the number you're subracting, hit the percent sign and go)? No. But, Windows worked that out a long time ago. Now, I am well aware that Linux development is a labour of love. However, most apps lack certain fine details of completion. And when bringing it up, the answer always amounts to "we're working on it." But, even in the free software/GNU world, there are some things that ought to be finished by now. So, what this seems to really amount to is waning interest. Some programmer or team started on something, it's mostly done and they lack the staying power to simply finish it. Now, this is to be somewhat expected, when dealing with a free operating system. But, it's not what most people are willing to tolerate. Accordingly, most people won't go for Linux. And, free or not, it's certainly not what people need. They need full functionality, period.

No Threat -- Only Obstacles for Growth

Arick McNiel (not verified) - May 2, 2010 @ 3:25pm

Bottom line: There is not threat to the existance of Linux. It will always have a following. Therefore, the only legitimate threat would be the community becoming stale and users moving AWAY from linux.

The issue of many of the comments here is that they have confused obstacles with threat. Consequently, most of the comments I read were dealing with limiting factors in growth.

On the topic of growth, many good comments have been made. With little thought and choosing what is on the top of my head, I view the following as significant obstacles:

a. No Marketer. Linux needs an organization ot market it and get it on the radar. To make business cases for the adoption of linux.

b. Like it or not, we need a single distro as the flag ship of Linux. Yes, there will always be distros. Red Hat lost that opportunity. Ubuntu is now best positioned for that. Regardless, the ONE standard needs to be what is pushed for all desktop, commercial computers. It needs a standard LOOK AND FEEL. The Masses of Sheep don't like "different", as they feel they don't understand it.

c. Linux needs to get on the shelf in the computer stores and show what it can do! It needs to be a CHOICE at PURCHASE time. While technically, it should be cheaper (and is when considering upgrades), we have seen where M$ will give its product away practically to extinguish the competition.... A protracted "price war" might not win over a LONG period of time, but the fact is it isn't a "long war" for the consumer. They purchase WHAT they know. Unless you make the imediate purchase choice happen in Linux favor, you've lost the battle already.

Well, enough. Perhaps I'll write an essay some day... then again... perhaps I won't. :)

Bottom Line: I am a Linux user, I evangelize Linux, and I will not go back to Windows. I'd love to see it take off and have a considerable market share, but it won't happen with any real speed given current conditions.

Regards

Who cares!

Notmiown (not verified) - May 3, 2010 @ 8:14am

If Linux is destroyed I'll switch to BSD.

games

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - May 4, 2010 @ 2:40pm

games games games games games games games, what make millions of people use windows instead linux? games and some unique apps.

destryoing of jobs

Anonymous uR Penguin (not verified) - May 5, 2010 @ 11:27am

there is a bit of truth in it when somebody says open source destroys jobs..so if i do not buy mikroschrottz office fe and use open source only the poor people at mikroschrottz don t get money..so the people that are working there are gonna be fired because of decreasing sells.
a logic thing so...but if they weren t that greed in the past people would say hey i give you 20 euros to have a nice office suite that fits my need..but at those prices the commercial bitches are just too ugly and so the money not worth..the industry killed himself and now they say a penguin is the murder..

apple.

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - May 6, 2010 @ 8:58pm

iSteve iJobs and his iCrap iPatents TM.

Non-support from OEMs

James7 - May 9, 2010 @ 1:13am

When an OEM gets behind Linux, we have PCs that do their magic and work, just as an OEM version of Windows would work.

We need more OEMs to step up and be counted. They are the ones who keep Windows 'just working out of the box', and they should be the ones to make Linux do the same.

This is the only way Linux will get rid of its reputation (undeserved) among those out there who know something but not everything about this great OS!

Money and all the trouble that walks through the door with it.

Jake Roberts (not verified) - May 16, 2010 @ 1:24pm

The title pretty well sums it up. Look at the tight rope Canonical is walking. They need to make money and please the user base and are having a hard time doing both. Suppose Canonical alienates half of its 12 million reported users but gains a few paying customers. It's a win for Canonical but a loss for loyal users. I think this situation is highlighted by Mark Shuttleworth's departure. Maybe he doesn't want to alienate his base so he steps aside and hires somebody who doesn't mind running it like a business. From my point of view the power of Linux has always been the ability to present better solutions. Playing "money games" like licensing codecs validates M$ and Apple's arguments against FOSS. Look at what SCO, or Novell or even Apple has become because of money. If people would just focus on doing what they believe in the work will reflect it and the money will follow.

my 2 cents

EriktheUnready (not verified) - May 24, 2010 @ 7:04pm

Background: I used to work for an OEM mfg as technical mngr.

1. M$ - give cutbacks (backahands whatever)
2. There is upsell potential with windows (antivirus etc)
3. Sales get commision on selling windows, office etc (why would they offer anything free?)
4. You get told about M$ 's wonderful support - (which is not free for OEM customers - they get referred to the OEM for support btw...)

Also walk into any department store & ask the salesperson.... what do you get? "Linux doesn't work with everything, it is rubbish"

or

"there are other operating systems?"