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Microsoft May Be Targeting the Ubuntu Desktop
mjasay writes "Microsoft is advertising for a new director of open source strategy, but this one has a specific purpose: fight the Linux desktop. 'The Windows Competitive Strategy team is looking for a strong team member to lead Microsoft's global desktop competitive strategy as it relates to open source competitors.' For a variety of reasons, this move is almost certainly targeted at Ubuntu Linux's desktop success. With the Mac, not Linux, apparently eating into Microsoft's Windows market share, what is it about desktop Linux, and specifically Ubuntu, that has Microsoft spooked?"
Reader christian.einfeldt notes Microsoft's acknowledgment of the FOSS threat to their business model within SEC filings, and suggests that this job posting could instead be about maintaining Internet Explorer's market share lead against Firefox.
east my asshole!
what is it about desktop Linux
Maybe it's that mighty 2% market share. After TWENTY FIVE years of effort. Microsoft must be terrified at that sort of "rapid" growth.
2009 is going to be the year of linux on the desktop! THIS time I mean it! Not like the other TWENTY FIVE times.
Linux's "scratch an itch" GNU foundations almost by definition make it unsuitable for mass desktop deployment. You don't choose a philosophy that deems goal X irrelevant and then expect the ultimate implementation of that philosophy to be the achievement of X. (On the contrary, many admins and programmers are also the geeks who develop Linux, so Linux is successful here.)
But to my main point: why the disproportionate number of women and black men on all the Ubuntu merchandising pages? This sort of stupid appeal to political correctness died off in the early '90s (unless you're the BBC), and everyone who isn't in chronic denial knows that most Linux users are non-black men. It all adds to the horribly culty image of Linux as some cooperative dream rather than a tool to get a job done. I'm no WASP, but I am Spanish, and if I saw 50% Mexicans on the Ubuntu site to try to make me feel "welcome" (or, worse, to make liberals feel like they're giving me a helping hand) I'd be entirely put off. As it is, I look at the site and think, "How would I feel as a woman/black man?" and I'm put off downloading Ubuntu.
Advice for not looking like your page needs an "ebony and ivory" backing track:
1. Don't put a single token black man on every page;
2. Don't try to balance the ratio of women and men if it's blatant that your market isn't anywhere near 50/50;
3. Moreover, if you want to represent two typical users, don't choose one woman and one black man - it's obvious what you're doing;
4. If you're going to build this facade of "oh everyone from every background uses our product", at least don't fuck up entirely with images such as this one [canonical.com] where the truth comes out in the guy trying to cop a desperate kiss of the woman. This man is the only one to actually represent the typical Linux fanboy, and he demonstrates what is - in the same politically correct world that requires (1) and (2) - sexual harassment.
Oh, and just to anticipate it:
5. Don't reply to this post with, "Oh, I didn't notice the people's gender/race. I'm sorry that you're so put off by people's gender/race! You must be sexist/racist." It requires 5 minutes in any sort of marketing position to know that anyone involved in such a photoshoot will notice the colour and gender of participants - if juat to make the very sort of patronising faux pas that makes Ubuntu look like it's stuck in the '80s.
Let Microsoft go after Ubuntu. Because Ubuntu is slow, buggy, and not a good desktop.
Ubuntu is not the best GNU/Linux distribution. For starters, their quality assurance could be much better, and it is not economical in resource usage. Moreover, it was infected with the "Red Hat" disease of patching everything, introducing more, difficult to track and patch, bugs.
Worse yet, Ubuntu uses by default the GNOME Desktop. It's my personal preference, but I can't stand GNOME, period. It is so aggravating I can't even use it. A GNU/Linux desktop using GNOME is like using a Ferrari car only in first shift. Its vast potential is completely underused.
Therefore, my guess is that Ubuntu is in fact a low-hanging fruit. Let Microsoft go after Ubuntu; meanwhile... KDE will eat their lunch. 4.2 is just the harbinger of things to come and it's that terrific. Period.
-- Look to the Rose that blows about us--"Lo, Laughing," she says, "into the World I blow..."
I submit that Microsoft need not worry that much and here are my reasons:
Joe Six Pack tells Linux Programmers: " I need to double click to install my app. Programmers response: No! Just type "apt-get install ". Six Pack's idea is shot down!
Whatever happened to "The customer is always right!"
Joe Six Pack tells Linux Programmers: Where can I get help on this application?
Programmers: RTFM! Or connect to #linuxhelp on irc.freenode.com. When Joe Six Pack gets there, he's asked to RTFM.
It's as simple as that folks!
Right now, my MythTV setup is spewing errosrs like hell...telling me that ivtv0 cannot record fast enough. Ity also says that "Mythtv mpeg buffers afe full...". This makes MythTV exit after about 8 minutes of playing cable TV. I have been asked to RTFM so many times that I am going to simply reformat and install.
Microsoft worry? I do not think so.
That's great and all. I think Ubuntu is great if you are a novice user that just wants to surf the web etc. But for more advanced users the linux desktop still doesn't cut it. Way too much hassle IMO.
This will bring awareness to Ubuntu, and bring people to it. I think this will have the reverse effect of what they want.
A lot of the problem is that people just don't know they have any options... or what to do about it if they did. Windows is helped by ignorance... so by them trying to convince people to stay away from Linux, people will check out what Microsoft is trying to dissuade them from.
They could cause what they are trying to prevent... so great news!
Most people aren't thought about after they're gone. "I wonder where Rob got the plutonium" is better than most get.