Re: [BLUG] I don't think Linux will ever be ready for the Desktop

I'm going to go against the flow here and suggest something other than everyone's beloved Ubuntu and Debian.  I've used Linux since 1994, starting with Slackware.  I tend to favor Redhat for servers.  I use Mandriva on the desktop.  I like Mandriva, so much so that I pay for it every year, because it just works, right out of the box, on almost everything I throw it at.  With Debian and Ubuntu and their derivatives (I had to consciously make myself not type "ilk") , on the other hand, I've never had them correctly install, even *ONCE*, on anything I own without going through a whole lot of grief (and cussing)...and I don't own any weird hardware.  Suse sucks just as bad for me in that regard.  My feeling is that I don't have to pound on Windows to get it to install, I don't have to pound on OSX to get it to install (so long as I'm using hardware blessed by His Holiness The Pope Saint Steve the First and touched by His Mighty Hand), so I expect no less from a Linux distribution.  Yes, I can write drivers and compile kernels, and have done all that.  But that doesn't mean I want to, and especially not on every install.

As far as Linux taking over on the desktop, no, I don't think its going to happen.  Its been "This is the year that Linux takes over on the desktop!" for at least 14 years now.  I could write a 10 volume epic on why I think this is, starting with too much fracturing, egos, and infighting within the Linux community.  This is the group of people that for the first 5 years of its existence the biggest focus within the community was do we pronounce it lie-nucks, lee-nucks or lin-ucks.

Having said that, though, I will say there is one thing that could happen that could radically change that possibility over a very short period of time.  If Adobe would release a version of CS5 Master Collection that ran natively on Linux, that could be the first nail in Windows' coffin.  If you look at any poll on the most wanted commercial application for Linux, what ever the current version of Photoshop and Premier is when the poll is taken is the winner every time.  That could be a serious game changer.

On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 9:17 PM, Joe Auty <joe@netmusician.org> wrote:

I know this is sort of troll-like, but I do mean this in a constructive way. I've wanted Linux to be ready for the Desktop, but I just don't think it will ever get there. At what point does it make sense to just focus on using Linux on servers and give up on using it as a Desktop OS?