Maybe most ordinary folks prefer to live with the spyware, and have a usable computer... Why do I say this? Because I have just been through the experience of trying to convert my own desktop to Linux. I failed.
Now I am a heavy Linux user on the server side. I have 20+ years of experience in software development, and a master degree in CS. My girlfriend convinced me that I should stop using Windows on my laptop PC, and I decided it was worth a try. But I failed, I'm sorry to say. And this convinced me that the Linux desktop dream is still some years off. Unfortunately.
All the main components are there: A nice OS, decent graphical environments, good web, mail and office applications. (In my case, Fedora 3/KDE/Firefox/Thunderbird/OOo). But when it comes down to all the nitty gritty details, my Linux desktop had so many quirks and oddities that I found it would take significantly longer to fix them than to reinstall w2k.
The worst examples:
- It took me a full day of work to get the WiFi/WEP connection up (finally had to download and build latest unreleased orinoco drivers)
- ACPI: The monitor backlight wasn't getting shut of, the harddisk didn't spin down on timeout. After shutting the laptop lid, the machine hibernated, but when I opened the lid I had to press the power switch to get out of hibernation, and then to OS immediately halted!
- Getting the GPRS modem on my cellphone connected over IR seemd to much of a task to even start...
All in all I had a basically usable computer with way too many annoying quirks. Plus it was noticeably slower than before. It was a useful learning experience, but absolutly not something I would recommend to the average windows user.
The problematic areas are mostly hardware related, which is why I guess it will be a while before they are solved. It's the old "Too few users -> no vendor support" vicious circle...
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Now I am a heavy Linux user on the server side. I have 20+ years of experience in software development, and a master degree in CS. My girlfriend convinced me that I should stop using Windows on my laptop PC, and I decided it was worth a try. But I failed, I'm sorry to say. And this convinced me that the Linux desktop dream is still some years off. Unfortunately.
All the main components are there: A nice OS, decent graphical environments, good web, mail and office applications. (In my case, Fedora 3/KDE/Firefox/Thunderbird/OOo). But when it comes down to all the nitty gritty details, my Linux desktop had so many quirks and oddities that I found it would take significantly longer to fix them than to reinstall w2k.
The worst examples:
- It took me a full day of work to get the WiFi/WEP connection up (finally had to download and build latest unreleased orinoco drivers)
- ACPI: The monitor backlight wasn't getting shut of, the harddisk didn't spin down on timeout. After shutting the laptop lid, the machine hibernated, but when I opened the lid I had to press the power switch to get out of hibernation, and then to OS immediately halted!
- Getting the GPRS modem on my cellphone connected over IR seemd to much of a task to even start...
All in all I had a basically usable computer with way too many annoying quirks. Plus it was noticeably slower than before. It was a useful learning experience, but absolutly not something I would recommend to the average windows user.
The problematic areas are mostly hardware related, which is why I guess it will be a while before they are solved. It's the old "Too few users -> no vendor support" vicious circle...