I'm a fan of linux and will respond to you from a professional point of view (as I am a Linux developper in a company).
Confusing distros
This is normal and the Open Source community will see it as an advantage but they doesn't see that it is a great challenge for the end user. I get lige 10 questions a day about which distro to use.
Poor documentation
Yes the documentation isn't really there. The documentation that exists is for developpers/scripters/sysadmins/.... not for the user who wants to change the name of a file he created.
Software, Software, Software
Here I can't accord you the point. This is not a distro/Linux fans/... problem, it is an enterprises problem. There isn't companies who targets the Linux market beacuase : the share isn't great and the development for the differences between the linux distros is overwhelming. Also changing the way things turn is done in a blink of the eyes without further notice.
Little support (if not openly hostile)
Here I must completely disagree. Because the help is present. Ask a question in the net and you'll find yourself with tons of responses. I've never posted a question because I had always found the responses through the older questions posted.
Ways of doing things that are confusing to a Windows user
This is also a problem from the companies. Even if a company works on the Linux part, it doesn't do it correctly because it is always on the lowest importance. Take the example of VMWare, their installer is a great piece of software, but just lacks a GUI to install.
Still too much reliance on the command line interface
Yes that's a great problem too. Nothing to add.
For me a GNU/Linux system isn't a good choice for an average user. Now the solutions ?
To get it to a better level, a new way of thinking of the OSS must be made. OSS is different from do things partly. If you want users adopt GNU/Linux, the software must be made like pros.
A better way, is a to make a consorsium that declares the minimum things in a Linux desktop (libraries, kernel version...) and then decide about a standard protocol (not saying the X11) in the desktop GUIs because developping a GUI application is always subject to the KDE/Gnome/LXDE/... problems.
I won't be giving the perfect solution, but these are some lines to think about.
Slashdot Mirror
Confusing distros
This is normal and the Open Source community will see it as an advantage but they doesn't see that it is a great challenge for the end user. I get lige 10 questions a day about which distro to use.
Poor documentation
Yes the documentation isn't really there. The documentation that exists is for developpers/scripters/sysadmins/.... not for the user who wants to change the name of a file he created.
Software, Software, Software
Here I can't accord you the point. This is not a distro/Linux fans/... problem, it is an enterprises problem. There isn't companies who targets the Linux market beacuase : the share isn't great and the development for the differences between the linux distros is overwhelming. Also changing the way things turn is done in a blink of the eyes without further notice.
Little support (if not openly hostile)
Here I must completely disagree. Because the help is present. Ask a question in the net and you'll find yourself with tons of responses. I've never posted a question because I had always found the responses through the older questions posted.
Ways of doing things that are confusing to a Windows user
This is also a problem from the companies. Even if a company works on the Linux part, it doesn't do it correctly because it is always on the lowest importance. Take the example of VMWare, their installer is a great piece of software, but just lacks a GUI to install.
Still too much reliance on the command line interface
Yes that's a great problem too. Nothing to add. For me a GNU/Linux system isn't a good choice for an average user. Now the solutions ? To get it to a better level, a new way of thinking of the OSS must be made. OSS is different from do things partly. If you want users adopt GNU/Linux, the software must be made like pros. A better way, is a to make a consorsium that declares the minimum things in a Linux desktop (libraries, kernel version ...) and then decide about a standard protocol (not saying the X11) in the desktop GUIs because developping a GUI application is always subject to the KDE/Gnome/LXDE/... problems.
I won't be giving the perfect solution, but these are some lines to think about.