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Desktop Linux Survey Results Published
An anonymous reader writes "The Open Source Development Labs has published preliminary results from its desktop Linux survey, which had 3,300 responses. The month-long online survey focused on determining the key issues driving Linux on the desktop, as well as the major barriers to Linux desktop adoption. 'What was most surprising to us was probably the top two reasons given for deploying Linux on the desktop,' OSDL's Principal Analyst Dave Rosenberg said. 'It's not TCO (total cost of ownership), or security, or lack of license fees. It was 'employees requesting Linux (user demand)' and because 'my competitors have successfully deployed Linux,' he added."
If this software were availed, it'd significantly boost the status of Linux getting looked at seriously on the desktop. I would not want to spend any money on the so called tax software again.
1) Put a pile of Linux CDs in a display in a store that has a "Grand Opening". ... Loss!
2) Invite news media to the opening.
3) Pay group of people to go charging into the store to fight over the Linux CDs.
4) Profi... oh wait. They're free. And you have to pay those people. Soooo
What about games? THe only reason I'm staying with WinXP is to play the latest games due to DirectX/Open GL support and the always updated driver base. Seriously, why is the entertainment aspect always left out? For fucks sake, gaming is a multi-billion dollar industry. I would THINK it would be a huge factor for home PC users.
Life is not for the lazy.
This is a kind of 'me too' post.
I set up my computer as dual boot between WinXP and Mandrake more than a year ago, in hopes of migrating. But I'm still doing about 100% of my work in WinXP. (I have moved to Firefox, Thunderbird, OOo, etc-- but under WinXP).
The stumbling block is that I use a Canon i9900 printer in large format photorealistic mode, and a Wacom graphics tablet in Paint Shop Pro, for a very small percentage of my work, and there are no Linux equivalents. So I'm stuck with one toe in the Windows world. I can move more than 97% of my work to Linux at any time, but I'll have to go to WinXP to print the 11x17" photos and to do some of the photo touch-ups. I spend perhaps 4 hours a month on these activities-- it really is a small but important part of my work.
And it turns out that while I am prepared for the disruptions in habits that would go with a total conversion to Linux, I dread the thought of all the broken habit patterns that would result if I try to straddle both OSs. I don't want to surprise myself by trying to use Linux shortcuts in Windows-- that is the worst kind of interruption; it would definitely make it harder to stay in the creative sweet spot.
I expect that I'm not the only guy around who feels stuck in a slow migration pattern. I expect that there are lots of individuals and small businesses who continue to use Windows because less than 2% of their work requires templates, or macros or something like that which they can't duplicate in Linux (yet)-- and that, combined with realistic concerns about unsupported straddling of both systems, is sufficient to keep them in Windows.
Don't forget the bloat in applications as well. Is OpenOffice 2.0 named that because of the relative size of the tarball compared to 1.2 or because of the relative startup time for the application compared to 1.2? ;) The average Linux disto has used a lot more than the average Windows with equivalent software (Office suite and development suite) for some time for me. Heck, my Windows box with those plus WoW is smaller than this Linux box with just the distribution stuff.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison