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Why Linux Doesn't Spread - the Curse of Being Free
Vlad Dolezal tips us to a philosophical take on why Linux hasn't grown to challenge Windows as the most popular operating system. According to the author, the reason is simple; Linux is free, and humans tend not to equate free things with being valuable.
"Here's what Compy McNewb sees. He can get both OS's for free. But one of them is worth over three hundred dollars, while the other one is worth nothing. 'That's not true!' I hear you scream. 'Linux is worth a lot! It's just being offered for free!' I know it's not true that Linux is worth less than Windows. It's far more valuable to the end user in terms of getting things done. But that's not what Average Joe Computer Newbie sees. He sees a free product versus a three-hundred-dollar product he can get free. It's all about the perception!"
I then had to go off and search how to add MP3 support, multimedia streaming and DVD playback. 3/4 hour later of enable this repository, apt-get this and a fair bit of sudo this and that and it's all done. OK, got MP3 support in Rythmbox and VLC is doing a tremendous job of playing DVDs. Firefox seems to be OK although Realplayer streaming on the BBC News website only works in standalone player.
or:
it's way too fuckin' hard to use. Period. Non geeks don't wanna mess with all this shit just to browse websites and create documents. So how much linux is "worth" (to them) is obvious; Not a damn cent.
"If you want to know what happens to you when you die, go look at some dead stuff."
If pain is equivalent to intrinsic value I'd be rich after setting up my Linux box.
Linux hasn't spread because it's still a pain in the ass.
Care about electronic freedom? Consider donating to the EFF!
That is a very Insightful and Informative post. You won't get modded up for it, this being /., but it's one of the most sensible posts I've read here in a long time.
-- Cheers!
[quote]
You should actually try using Linux.
You'll be amazed how trouble free updating ALL of your installed software is.
It'd give you a bit more credibility here as well.
[/quote]
I run Ubuntu 7.1 and SLED 10 and yeah I would be amazed as while windows sucks for updating apps so does linux, from undocumented changes to file formats and backwards compatibility issues introduced in supposed patches to just plain breaking apps or losing my setting there has always been a very large percentage of linux apps that are run by cowboys that are doing there dev work for fun so don't bother "documenting" changes or fully testing them. If you have not come across any of these issues i think you should actually try using a few more apps, it might even give you a bit more credibility.
* It's what I'm used to.
Oh dear, MS trolls becoming a bit desperate? Is this really the best you can do, Windows is better because I am used to it? You can get used to practically anything. Basically you are saying,"I am to lazy to change". Well good luck to you then, wonder how you deal with the changes with each new windows version however.
* I have a lot invested in Windows software that isn't available natively on Linux. (Yes, some of it could run under Wine)
So your locked in, good for you. You have become completly dependent on MS for your software need. Good luck getting MS to listen to you after admitting this, they got you by the short and curlies, another customer they know has no choice but follow their rule. You WILL install Vista, because you have given yourselve no choice.
* Graphics drivers. I installed Fedora about a year ago and installing their graphics drivers felt like I was hacking my own computer. Maybe that's part of the fun of Linux (heck, of course it is!), but for a wide base of consumers it's also part of the fear.
Yeah god forbid you control your own computer. This driver thing always comes up, despite the fact that various linux distro's I have run over the years never had problems and windows always requires me to find the right drivers myself, going to the point of having to hack ATI's radeon drivers to work under W2003. Now that was "hacking" not just configuration.
* Installing software. There's so many distro's of linux and seemingly packages built for individual flavors, installing new software "feels" risky, and running into package conflicts is a bit nasty. Do I trust the people who seem to build and redistribute packages on random websites? I don't know. There's a bit of a difference between commercial vendors and some guy with a popular FTP repository. I also downloaded and compiled some apps myself because I couldn't find packages for certain things for the version of Fedora I was using. Are regular consumers expected to do this?
Oh geez, now I know you are trolling. Various linux distro's ALL come with systems for easily installing software. Wether it is apt-get or emerge, installing software on linux is far far easier then it is in windows. No, my friend you are just re-hashing stuff you heard somewhere. You clearly got no idea what the hell you are talking about. A guy with a popular FTP? WTF? If I check the mirror list for various linux distro's then it is universities and ISP's that do the hosting. My own most frequently used mirrors are run by the dutch univerty of twenty and tiscali.
* Accessing my Windows files was a bit of a PITA. I had to install an NTFS driver manually, which meant editing some conf files to auto-mount partitions. Again, that ought to have been automatic to make switching OS's easier. Maybe it's included in more recent distros?
Ah, so MS has locked your data on their filesystem and now it is the task of others to get you out of this hole. This is exactly the reason NTFS drivers are so hard to make, because MS WANTS your data to be only readable if you paid them.
* Back to the nVidia graphics drivers: I quickly discovered that something like gEdit was very simple to use, much like Notepad. Then I tried editing some conf files from the shell. With vi. Enough said.
Yes indeed enough said, you are an idiot. gEdit is a GUI program, so why would you expect it to work in a shell, does notepad work under the dos shell? Why not simply edit the conf files with gEdit? It ain't that hard, again, you simply seem to be re-hashing something you hard earlier without ever grasping what it actually means. You could even edit the conf files with notepad if you wanted. For that matter you don't even have to use the shell to start editing the files anyway, you can use a file browser to get to them, or the open dialog in your editor.
* I had a nice soundcard (Creative Audigy 2), and when I installed Linux some of it's advanced features were n
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I think the parents gobbledygook is probably a reason its not spreading. Joe Dumbass wants to install applications from a CD or .exe file.
He doesn't want repos and debs and rpm aliens.
I'm sorry to point this out to you, when everyone else is doing the same thing, but his point is simply that the software people need to do their jobs does not exist on Linux. It doesn't for web developers, it doesn't for me, it doesn't for anyone I know except for the woman who writes server code on and for Linux.
I have an eeepc. For this reason, I've had an experience with a pre-installed linux machine that offered decent functionality.
It had Windows FLP on it within two months. Here are the various reasons why:
Google Talk - Google Talk is a wonderful application. Just because I can use Pidgin's jabber protocol to communicate over GTalk's networks doesn't mean I like the fact that the client is slow, awkward, and may never have working file transfer. (File Transfer is nice)
SDL - SDL is presented as the end-all solution for porting game-y windows applications to linux. Here's the problem: It's incredibly slow and inefficient. It's riddled with bugs and unsolveable feature snafus that relate to their "lowest common denominator" approach to platform support. If SDL excites you, you should try DirectX. SDL brings even the strongest system to its knees.
Wine - is a nightmare. I would really rather have native software.
KDE - is ugly. Look at applications like kopete- it's like every message box is kword. Xandros for eeepc ships with a lean mean version of kde that is based on an older release. It's passable because it does not use konqueror, but xandros file manager. It's still ugly as hell.
GNOME - is REALLY REALLY slow. I mean, jesus. I can't believe linux people can cite Vista's performance issues with a straight face.
Drivers - are fine, if your hardware is mostly in the range of 1-4 years old. The eee did not have driver or codec issues. It was well stocked.
Firefox - Why do I need 512 mb of ram to run a web browser. It's still not very fast, either. This must be the most wasteful application I've ever run- it's just awful. With Windows, I can run IE7 when I need browser-specific AJAX crap and Opera for most of my browsing. Fast web browsers are more than just a dream.
OpenOffice.org - Since I live in reality, I need to use MSOOXML documents to get work done. By putting Windows on my machine, I was able to use Openoffice.org, Novell Edition. It's just excellent. Sun's Star Office is too much of a war machine and not enough of a product.
Windows FLP - Once I got my hands on a copy of this, Linux was gone. A full XP interface using about 64 mb of ram with an 800 mb install? This needs to be made available to the public. So far, this windows system does everything the default Xandros does, but better, faster (wifi connections, sleep/wake behavior, applications, media, everything...)
Linux is still like a low-end free alternative. It's great-- for cloud computing. Sometimes I am just not connected, though. I tried very hard to make Linux work on my little lappy, but I just couldn't stand the nightmare of trying to find crappy, alpha-beta alternatives to anything I need. I either need to use bleeding edge, unstable software for its competitive features, or old, non-competitive but stable software. Windows is both feature rich and stable.