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The Failures Of Desktop Linux
PDAJames writes "Maybe Linux isn't quite ready for the desktop after all. After an earlier, very positive evaluation of SuSE Linux Desktop, ZDNet UK has carried out a more in-depth review, running the system in a production environment for two weeks, and found it wanting. A key problem area was interacting with the corporate Windows network. When will this stuff finally be ironed out?"
Forgive me for being so terribly blunt here, but if there major problem is compatibility with Windows networks then get rid of windows networks!
I can't do it! I want to use linux for my e-mail and web surfing at home but don't know how to configure my modem. I am sure there will be millions like me. Unless connecting to internet from linux is as easy as doing it from windows, linux won't grow. If linux has to grow on desktop, this is one area they need to make immediate progress on. Also, many ISPs dont support linux. (eg Netzero). Who would want to use an OS that can't get to www these days easily?
New year Resolution: Don't change sig this year
Put the default installation in front of your grandma. If she can't download and install software, it is too complex. This means no command line BS. Double-clicking an icon should run an installation wizard.
Even the CS majors at my university(who have always used windows) have trouble using Linux, what does that tell you about ease of use?
But it will never have to work the other way around. If you had a Linux network would you want to migrate to Windows? That's what I thought.
If/when changes can be made to the kernel through the gui without requiring a manual recompilation of the kernel, that would be a good start. Any Jackass MCSE can install a Novell client in Windows, which installs IPX/SPX at the same time. Try getting the same Jackass MCSE to configure and re-compile the kernel to support IPX, (or install a module). It's just a major pain in the ass. Sure, some of us can do this without much second thought, but really, for 99% of end users, this is like rocket science.
If such things were done behind-the-scenes, that would be a good start.
"Would it kill you to put down the toilet seat?" -- Maya Angelou
The killer application for desktops is e-mail, and it requires Internet connectivity.
We are talking "mainstream market", not the market for geeks and nerds. The mainstream market is mainly consumers who like the canned, confined, look-and-feel of an AOL client. It does not allow the typical geek to do much, if any, hacking. However, the AOL client is great for the clueless consumer who wants to check e-mail, get today's weather report, find a nice restaurant, etc. You know. Things for people who actually have a life.
80%, 90% it does not matter because both are BullShit(RTM). You are forgetting that M$ crap is versioned an that the different versions don't play nice with each other. The most generous of M$ penetration studies from 2 years ago gave M$ a healthy 90% of web clients, but only 40% of those machines were running a single Microsoft OS, Windows2000. The rest had lower percentages. Making all that crap work together is extreemly laborious and not at all garunteed. In fact it's almost certian that many things won't work in a mixed Microsoft shop at any time. Printer methods vary, they have different fonts on each and clients for one don't work on all. This simple analysis does not take into account the pain and suffering of poor security, spyware, silly macro viruses and databases that periodically corrupt themselves and trash user information that require paranoid daily whole data "backups".
When will Linux take over? When it interoperates with everything, so that people can get used to using it. Then, you can slowly migrate systems as needed, instead of going all out with one system, then having to re-train all your workers, and iron out all the bugs at once.
Nonsense. Microsoft will never play nice and gradual migration is impossible. In order to move away from Microshaft, you have to freeze it on the client side, eliminate it from the server side and move on as fast as you can. The retraining issue exists everytime Microsoft "upgrades", though functionality has not greatly improved since winoze 3.1. If you dick around with M$, you will never see the end of "bugs". Blaming others for your bugs is a core M$ value. Places like Largo Florida have little to complain about. Neither do I, outside of outrageous FUD and the continued rape of 80% of computer users.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Maybe I should insert a laugh track for all the humor-impaired Americans?
Well it's an american based website you twit, why don't you get off your un-american high horse, and calm down with a nice tall glass of STFU juice?
Only an American would say something that stupid.