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OSDL To Start Pushing on Desktop Linux

Posted by Hemos on from the beyond-the-backroom dept.

Psyke writes "The Australian Financial Review is reporting that 'IBM, Red Hat and a consortium of computer makers backed by the likes of Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Intel will push to move the Linux operating system out of the back office from next year.' and 'Meanwhile, the OSDL, which has largely worked on improving Linux's ability to run large servers, said it would work on improving Linux's performance on ordinary desktop computers.'" The article itself is a little off- those companies are working *through* the OSDL of which they are members - along with a number of additional companies as well.

3 of 383 comments (clear)

  1. That day is far, far off... by NineNine · · Score: 0, Troll

    You're saying that today you expect to see Linux on the desktop sooner than you thought a year ago? That doesn't really make any sense a few days following Redhat's little announcement. Of course, I believe that Betamax is going to make a comeback any day now. Now, if I just click my heels together three times...

  2. Re:Support and pre-installed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Troll

    LOL. Laughing my ass off.

    Linux is nowhere near being ready for mass market desktops. First it needs a couple of revs of KDE or Gnome, it needs apps, and for my money a version of or replacement for KDevelop that doesn't suck.

    I have to use a Linux desktop and I absolutely hate it ... and in other ways I think Linux is a great idea and I am sympathetic to the aims of the movement. Until Linux can win people like me over, it has zero chance with people less computer literate and with more work to do.

  3. Re:Support and pre-installed by JuggleGeek · · Score: 0, Troll
    Linux also needs to be able to do the things that John_Average_User expects to do with his computer, without John spending a year figuring out how.

    Last time I tried linux, I got through the install OK, and then found that in order to get anything done, I needed to edit a bunch of config files, using an editor that seemed to be trying to emulate Edlin. That convinced me that linux wasn't ready for prime time.

    Maybe things have changed - I haven't tried since. But if a self taught geek like myself sees linux as being too much trouble to be worth using, it's not going to be popular as a desktop with either home users or businesses. Most people (not geeks - JQPublic) want to be able to do email, surf the net, write a letter, run a spreadsheet, and maybe play a few games. If being able to do those on a linux system means a large learning curve, they'll just say "Linux sucks" and go back to MS or Apple, where things have been designed to be easy.

    I ended up blowing away linux because the linux computer wasn't worth messing with. I basically couldn't get anything done with it except to learn more about linux. In order to ask questions, I had to go online with my MS system, ask the questions, then go to the linux computer to try things out. That sucks. And the stupid line-editor was a horrible idea back when it was invented, much less in the year 2000.

    I've got a spare machine sitting around. I'll try again if you guys convince me that the computer will actually handle the basics without a major headache. In 2000, linux couldn't do that.