The True Challenges of Desktop Linux

olau writes "Hot on the heels on the opinion piece on how Mac OS X killed Linux on the desktop is a more levelheaded analysis by another GNOME old-timer Christian Schaller who doesn't think Mac OS X killed anything. In fact, in spite of the hype surrounding Mac OS X, it seems to barely have made a dent in the overall market, he argues. Instead he points to a much longer list of thorny issues that Linux historically has faced as a contender to Microsoft's double-monopoly on the OS and the Office suite."

Comments

POTUS

[Anonymous Coward]

Alright Jimmy, can I call you Jimmy? Great. OK then Jimmy, here's what you have to do.

Go into your kitchen, and set your oven to exactly 450 degrees, turn on all of the back burners of your stove and go to your garage. You will find a shovel, you may or may not recognize it, thats ok. Take the shovel and head over to your neighbors yard. Dig a hole to the specifications of 3 feet wide, 6 feet long, and 2 feet deep. Now search your pockets, you will find a single match and a needle. Prick your finger and place a single drop on the head of the match, stick the match into the ground head up. Now the preparations are complete for the summoning. You will kneel at the west side of the hole, at the foot of the hole, draw a circle. You will then place your pricked hand in the circle, look down at the ground, and chant .

I shall you tell with plain declaration
Where, how, and what is my generation
Omogeni is my Father
And Magnesia is my Mother
And Azot truly is my Sister
And Kibrick forsooth is my Brother
The Serpent of Arabia is my name
The which is leader of all this game

Then he will rise from your portal, do NOT make a single sound, nor should you move even your head to look at him, lest you be consumed. After some time, He will begin to question you, only then may you move only your head to slightly nod yes or no. If he is satisfied with your answers, all will be made known to thee.

Re:I have one.

[hairyfeet]

You DO realize you just gave the "shit sandwich" excuse, yes? And you wonder why nobody is taking your product? The shit sandwich excuse is when someone says "hey want a free sandwich?" and when you say yes hands you a POS between two slices of bread and says "here you go!".

To use a /. car analogy your excuse is like someone going to a car lot and you say "Hey I'll give you a free car, just give me your address!" and they wake up in the morning to find a bunch of raw steel and a picture of a car with a note that says "What do you want me to do ALL the work? build it yourself!"

The majority of the planet? NOT CS grads with low level programming experience under their belts. They can no more fix the half baked code you drop in their lap than you could make that raw steel into a Caddy, and for the vast majority the cost of paying you to actually make your product not be half baked would cost them more than the competition costs, hence why they don't take your code.

After all if that "free car" I give you is an 85 Citation with the sides rusted out, the motor blown and transmission seized, and the interior gutted, have I actually done you ANY favors at all?