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Clearly, if Linux is unable to reproduce a third of Firefox's end user uptake over a much longer time-frame, there are deficiencies with the direction the GNU/Linux/X/Gnome/KDE system has taken.

Nonsense. Firefox is a drop-in replacement for IE: 1. Remove IE (yeah right :P), 2. Install Firefox, 3. Work as before. Linux is a completely different world. "So it doesn't have C: and D:... can it use my hard disk then?"... The direction taken by GNU/Linux/X/Gnome/KDE is wonderful.

Besides, Linux is not a monoculture. The kernel, sure. But the entire system has distributions. My Gentoo is a lot different than the millions of Ubuntu desktops there are.

It seems to me that someone needs to read this: http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

I think the majority of your rant comes from a few common issues that Windows users have when making the switch over to Linux. Reading this may be beneficial:

http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

There really seems to be no question of "Do these people want to be converted?"

Seconded. In a related discussion I found reference to Linux is NOT Windows, which has good points for people considering Linux as a Windows alternative.

I'm one of those "power users". Started using DOS 6.2+Win 3.1 in 1993, and tried to learn as much as possible [to get Doom II running properly], that is: Norton Commander, QEMM, autoexec.bat/config.sys alternative configurations, etc.. And I didn't have Internet until 1999, the same year I installed Linux for the first time. SuSE 6.3 IIRC. After installing, the resolution was crap, the 3Com Ethernet card didn't work (HW+DNS auto-configured even in Win 98, f'gads sake), and even my friend, the administrator of 3+ company Linux servers, gave up getting sound working after a few hours.

So I re-installed Win 98, and kept going. Then I installed Debian. And Mandrake, FreeBSD, Fedora, CSL, and Ubuntu, before I realized the main problems: Consistency (1 program = 1 unique config format, 1 unique set of shortcuts, 1 semi-unique input format, 1 unique output format) and blocking bugs I didn't have the time or energy to fix myself.

If you got all the time in the world, or learn only one tool per task (vim/Emacs/pico, mutt/Pine), and you can develop whatever doesn't exist or work, Linux is perfect.

This is not a troll, it's a rant. To prove it, here's how to do something about it (if you really want to): Be willing to move away from truly arcane ways, enable smooth transition for users, and secure the beginners by default. Firefox and Google are both great examples to follow.

All that glitters is not gold. OneAndOneIs2 has an entry about this in his blog: http://geekblog.oneandoneis2.org/. Quote: 'Point 8 of the EULA, IMHO, says it all: "The software is licensed, not sold."'

It's hard to actually work out where the "face" is on the new, high-quality images - they show a lot more area and they're not taken at the same angle. I put a post on my blog with just the part of the image that shows the face, you might find it useful for comparisons.

"All the Linux community wants is to create a really good, fully-featured, free operating system. If that results in Linux becoming a hugely popular OS, then that's great. If that results in Linux having the most intuitive, user-friendly interface ever created, then that's great. If that results in Linux becoming the basis of a multi-billion dollar industry, then that's great.

It's great, but it's not the point. The point is to make Linux the best OS that the community is capable of making. Not for other people: For itself. The oh-so-common threats of "Linux will never take over the desktop unless it does such-and-such" are simply irrelevant: The Linux community isn't trying to take over the desktop. They really don't care if it gets good enough to make it onto your desktop, so long as it stays good enough to remain on theirs. The highly-vocal MS-haters, pro-Linux zealots, and money-making FOSS purveyors might be loud, but they're still minorities."

http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

I feel the same way! I'm sure many of you here have read the Linux is not Windows manifesto, but it's appropriate to mention in this situation. I don't like people fooling themselves into thinking that Linux will take over the world and morph into the be-all, end-all solution for everyone. Linux and its associated programs simply aren't built for the same people that want to plug in [insert hardware device here] and have it work without a little bit of research beforehand.

Kowtowing to the "iPod generation" may result in a simpler experience for some end users. However, I fear that too much reliance on closed-source proprietary software will lead to gaps in the community base of open source software once these products go belly-up. I like the fact that Linux isn't

Lotus simply suffers from an extremely poorly designed UI. That depends on the way you look at it... Have you read Linux is Not Windows ? There is a great part about UI design.

I prefer I'll CLI ;o)

And Microsoft and Dell and the rest of them "read" their minds and continue to give it to them. Nice and simple...

Who said anything about it being technically superior? As far as I'm concerned, only you did.

And weren't you just saying how cool you thought Kororaa is? Kororaa is Linux too, you know. So, you want Kororaa but you don't want anything to do with Kororaa?

"This distro gave me everything I needed to enjoy XGL. I didn't have to rebuild X, mesa, and a slew of other shit in order to try it."

SuSE would've done the same. And it would've installed the nVidia driver for you.

"Linux will lose out to MOSX because of this shit."

Linux will never lose to OSX. Did you even read my previous posts? Linux != Windows.

STOP! I know you want to reply, but before you do, consider this:
THIS HARDLY EVEN AFFECTS KORORAA AT ALL! All the Kororaa devs will have to do now is HAVE THE INSTALLER ASK YOU if you want to install the nVidia drivers.

Now aren't you glad you yelled and screamed at me so much? It won't affect you or your precious distro, except that now you'll have to click a checkbox saying you want to install the nVidia drivers. Whoop de frickin' do.

from LNW:

"Linux wants users who want Linux. And that doesn't mean just the name. It means everything: The free, open-source software; the ability to tinker with your software; the position of being in the driver's seat, in total control.

That's what Linux is. That's what it's all about. People migrate to Linux because they're sick of viruses, sick of BSODs, sick of spyware. That's understandable. But those people don't want Linux. They really just want Windows without the flaws. They don't really want Linux. So why should Linux want them?"

Linux != Windows

We don't care about numbers. YOU care about numbers. We care about Linux - if you choose not to use it, that's fine with us.

Hi! I've been using Linux for a few days, and it's mostly great. But, it's a shame that [something or other] doesn't work like it does on Windows. Why don't all the developers completely rewrite all the software so it acts more like Windows? I'm sure Linux would get lots more users if they did!

That's what I said yesterday, funnily enough...

...rather than actually competing on an equal footing.

Actually, I don't think that's what Linux wants to do at all.

So... Just like very other update to a mature platform, then ?

You probably meant "broken", not "mature". The proportion of problems that get fixed to the problems that don't is still too small to call it a "reliable" pplatform anyway. You won't believe how amny times some of my less computer-knowledgable friends or clients are afraid to apply a Windows Update patch because they (rightfully) fear that it will break more things than it might fix. (You could believe, if you stopped blindly ignoring every argument against your favorite defective OS.) To such worries I answer by teliing them it's better to upgrade anyway, and rather often, they prove me wrong.

Really ? What's the standard API for a "unix" GUI application ? How about using audio devices ? Which API should I use to make sure my hardware driver compiles on Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris and OS X without modifications or special cases ?

You can choose any of QT, GTK+, WXWidgets, Motif, and more. All of them will work, so pick whichever one you like best for whatever reason. For audio, you could use either ALSA or OpenAL for precise control, or Xine or GStreamer if you need multimedia features. Again, all will work. For drivers, I do not have enough knowledge to tell you (not that you want to hear me), but there's a good chance the situation is similar there too.

And is basically useless (not to mention largely ignored) for anything except trivial command line applications. Heck, it's not at all uncommon to find trivial open source "unix" applications that only work on x86 Linux machines with particular versions of glibc. Most "cross platform" unix source code doesn't compile on a wide range of platforms because of "standards", it does so because of the amount of work done by things like autoconf and make.

It's better to have a low-leve API that does little but does it so well that it won't need to be obsoleted by a fix 2 years from now. That way, one can (and has, more than once) build a reliable API on top of it for more complex operations. That's why the above-mentioned GUI and audio APIs are so stable as well. Autoconf and make are an automated system to adjust a generic package to the specifics of a system that is potentially different from the one next to it. These differences are not an inherent flaw. They stem from something called "choice", which I'm afraid you may not be able to grasp.

Jeez. One of the biggest hurdles to wider commercial adoption of Linux is the sheer volume of different APIs (many of which all do essentially the same thing), and you're here trying to say there's no such problem at all ?

This is not because having alternative APIs, which all work together, is bad. It's because most IT businesses think in Windows-terms - vendor lock-in and no choice whatsoever. "Unix" systems, as you call them, are not a replacement for Widnows, but an alternative, and consequently do certain things differently. Try this page for a better explanation.

Windows APIs replace and eventually obsolete each other. Linux (and Unix) APIs coexist. You can keep using the old one despite the others that coexist on that system. The guy next door might like the other one better, and use that despite the one you use is right there. You know, choice.

So... Just like every other commercial vendor ?

Microsoft has a long history of perturbing open standardts into proprietary ones to achoeve vednor lock-in. Some other vednors doing the same practise does not excuse Microsoft.

Heck, Vista will still support Win16 on 32-bit x86, an API that's around twenty years old.

Have you ever considered that this could be a problem? Sometimes in order to evolve, something has to change and drop support for obsolete technology. (There goes one more argument for having alternative APIs: if one does evolve and break some very old version of itself, it won't break too much.

Linux is Not Windows

It basically says that, instead of making 2D windows go 3D, we should throw away the whole concept of "windows" and switch to multiple 3D layers instead

It basically says that, instead of making 2D windows go 3D, we should throw away the whole concept of "windows" and switch to multiple 3D layers instead

Blog post on the subject

Essentially, they could bring a "Spotlight"-like functionality to Linux, tie it into the package manger, and leverage their partnership with Sun to get a really easy-to-maintain desktop. . .

Note that I specifically said "in part." I am not arguing that Windows created the PC revolution, only that it played an important role. Do you really disagree, or do you just love blowing things out of proportion?

Yeah, I enjoy the dramatics ;-)

Not everyone has a dedicated tech support person. See the other reply to your post for an example of someone who has had difficulty adopting Linux.

Now, that guy is a prime example. He's come from Windows and therefore he expects a replacement for Windows - things don't work how he expects so he gives up in frustration. It's not anyone's fault particularly but he needs to learn about his new operating system before he can use it. Oh, and "easy to figure out" is not the same thing as "easy to use".

He (and other folks in the same boat) may find this article of interest.

Apparently OO doesn't provide grammatical advice. As your sentence made no sense, I have no refutation. However, I agree with you that the problem stems from "Power Users": those who have developed a working knowledge of Linux and cannot understand the difficulties faced by novices.

Yeah, sorry about that - it was a badly-written sentence. I was making the point that "power users" think "I know all about computers so this Linux thing should be a snap!". Of course, they only really know a bit about Windows so when faced with a problem they can't solve because things don't work like Windows, they complain "stupid OS doesn't work properly! This isn't ready for the desktop!" and go back to Windows.

Of course, as you say, with a dedicated tech support person (and don't we all end up doing that for friends/family?) then it doesn't really matter what the OS is - in my experience your average lay-person can barely use ANY OS with equal degrees of incompetence so it's easier to convert these folks to (insert fave Linux distro here) because they don't have to unlearn the Microsoft way first.

You should really read this. It describes your common problem as a Windows power user with Linux.

Linux is not Windows. They have 2 completly different design goals.

Linux is not Windows

I agree. Try reading this article, it might help. It uses a motorcycle/car metaphor to explain why Linux will never need to replace Windows.

"IF the geeks want the non-Geeks in their world."
You're welcome to enter our world, but we don't necessarily WANT you to come in. What we want is for everyone to consider the fact that there IS a world outside of MS, and that you don't have to be stuck with Windows if you don't like it.

If you think our goal is to make you switch to Linux, I've got news for you, pal - we make Linux for US, not for you. If you like what we do with it, great. If not, you have three choices - either change it yourself (dive right in, that's what open-source is made for), convince someone else to change it (and if you haven't figured out yet, "it'll make people switch from Windows" isn't very convincing), or don't use it.

Linux is not Windows