The Future of Portable Linux Distros

i_want_you_to_throw_ sends in a Tech Radar piece about the various portable Linux distributions, focusing on operating systems like Android, Chrome OS, and Ubuntu Netbook Remix. The article compares the distributions designed for similar purposes and discusses where they will likely go in the future. "As UNR is built on Ubuntu, it's highly likely that we'll see almost as many UNR respins as we have for the parent distribution. We've already seen one example in Jolicloud, and we'd put money on many community distributions, such as Linux Mint or Crunchbang offering a UNR overhaul alongside their standard desktop installations. It's also likely that Canonical will be able to forge stronger relationships with companies like Dell, which is already shipping a specific version of UNR on its Mini 9 platform. As Windows XP is phased out and the cost of bundling Windows 7 rises, manufacturers will be looking for a cheap and easily maintainable netbook OS, and UNR fits the bill admirably."

Comments

Re:Diversity

[hairyfeet]

Doomed you say? As a retailer I can say BS unless Linux punt kicks the SCoN! (Source Code or Nothing!) brigade like a 30 yard field return. There are currently 35% of the devices sold in my local Walmart which are "supported" if you count support as 3 pages worth of CLI gibberish that if you get wrong (what idiot thought not having autocomplete and spellcheck was a good idea?) will seriously bork it. More like 20% when you remove the CLI junk. Quick, without looking at forums, can you tell me which ones work?

You can't do it. You can't, I can't and the kid working the electronics counter sure as hell can't. When I sell a Windows box all I have to tell a customer is "See this WinFlag? If it says 'certified for Windows 7' you are good" and right now I don't think there are two devices in the whole store that don't come with XP/Vista/ Windows 7 drivers, which means I can sell anything made in the past 9 years and not worry about my customers playing paperweight roulette. Geeks will trawl forums, and put in miles of CLI "fixes", average users? Won't even touch control panel in Windows because it is "too powerful" and they are "afraid of breaking it". Cue the snobs saying they should learn CLI or DIAF. And don't even get me started on "update foo broke my hardware" which seems to be pretty much SOP in Linux, so even IF I sell them a working box and IF they manage to avoid the paperweight roulette minefield they end up getting boned come first update or distro upgrade, which at six months is just fucking nuts.

So I'm sorry, but there is a reason we don't sell Linux at retail and it isn't some MSFT conspiracy, or Ballmer backing up a money truck, it is that your OS is built BY geeks and FOR geeks and a good 99.999995% of the population are NOT geeks. After market support for Linux will break you, I know as I have tried selling it in the past, the last Ubuntu 9.04. Support for consumer level hardware sucks, there is NO way to tell what works and what doesn't at retail, and please don't give me "If they would just give us all their driver code we would put it in the kernel" as that is BS. One they don't want to play your GPL games, and two, by the time it trickles down from testing to RC to mainline the device isn't sold at retail anymore so it is completely pointless. SCoN! equals fail for consumer level devices, as only corps that have invested in server or enterprise support bother with releasing code, and that is nothing at all like retail.

So hold onto your dream pal, but I'm afraid it is nothing but a dream. More likely the OEMs will have a fit and MSFT will remove the "can't change wallpaper" BS from 7 Starter, and then you will see Starter take over where XP left off. Until I can say "You see this little penguin? Look for the penguin on the box and you're good" which means drivers, be they proprietary or FLOSS, on CDs, it is gonna equal fail at retail. I can't with a straight face tell customers they get to spend the rest of their lives researching like a fricking college entrance exam just to buy devices. It just ain't happening. After I sell a Windows box the only time it crosses my desk is when they want to upgrade the hardware. A Linux box is lucky to be gone a week before they run into a "gotcha" that I am supposed to fix. I would love to sell Linux, but it just isn't ready for the masses yet. It is too geeky, requires too much research, you have to drop to CLI waaaay too often, in short it is by geeks and for geeks and selling to geeks is a losing proposition as they don't buy retail. In short NO SALE.