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Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit Leaves Desktop Linux Behind
Linux.com's Joe Barr has an interesting commentary about the recent Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit and the astounding lack of attention for desktop Linux. Now, a great deal of the monetary support driving Linux these days comes from companies with a vested interest in "big iron" but hopefully this won't completely eclipse the rest of the community. "Before I learned that the press was not welcome in any of the working-meetings at the summit on days 2 and 3, I saw and heard rumblings of discontent from more than one ordinary Linux desktop user. One example: a top-ten list of inhibitors to Linux adoption, created by a committee of foundation members, contained nothing at all relating to desktop usage. Nothing. Everything on the list was about back-room usage. Servers. Big iron."
For me, the year of Linux was 2006. That was the year that I came out of my office into my living room where my wife was having a "Moms Club" play date for the kids. As I poured myself a cup of coffee, I heard three of the stay at home moms discussing the move to Linux for their home computers. One had already moved, one was currently trying it out, and the third had heard of Linux but had not tried it. When stay at home moms are discussing Linux, it has obviously reached its "Year".
Growth curve?
What growth curve?
Top Operating System Share Trend [By Versions]
Top Operating System Share Trend
I've played pool tables with a more visible slope than this particular measure of the trend line for Linux - and since these are web based stats, I am going to assume that the numbers for Vista for real.
- - a fair representation of Vista's strength in the consumer market.
20% by the end of in April. 50% probably no later than late summer or early fall. The Back-To-School sale.
In the W3Schools OS Platform Statistics it took OSX and Linux five years to edge up from 4% to 8% of the market - and these stats track the pro, the web developer.
Calling yourselves "The Linux Foundation" suggests a degree of breadth and openness that this group clearly does not demonstrate. I don't have a problem with corporations holding meetings to determine what they might undertake collectively, but then call it what it is, the "Corporate Linux Users Foundation" or something like that. It's nice that they pay Linus's salary, I guess, but do you really think Novell or RedHat or IBM would tell him to take a hike if he offered to work at one of those places instead?
I wonder what kind of access you get for an individual affiliate membership of $25? Somehow I doubt they'd pay much attention to me compared to those Platinum sponsors at $500K. Reading the Bylaws tells me only that as an affiliate member I can't vote for members of the Board, vote to dissolve the Foundation, etc. Other than that, whatever privileges Affiliates get is determined by the Board. I didn't see a list of those privileges, but I can't claim to have scoured the site.
And, doesn't Adobe have a few interests on the desktop?