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Re: Linux Won't Succeed On The Desktop (Read 35755 times)
Rad
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Re: Linux Won't Succeed On The Desktop
Reply #15 - Jan 15th, 2008 at 5:31pm
 
Test.

We lose posts here?

When?

How many?

Great thread.
 
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Pleonasm
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Re: Linux Won't Succeed On The Desktop
Reply #16 - Jan 16th, 2008 at 10:49am
 
As MrMagoo noted on Jan 2, 2008, “I think we are missing what used to be the first few pages of this thread”.

Rad, can’t you retrieve the missing posts in this thread from a backup?  Maybe just print to a PDF the posts in this thread before Oct 28, 2007, and attach that document so that the information is not lost?  This is disheartening, especially to see much of the thoughtful commentary of MrMagoo disappear from the discussion here.

Sad
 

ple • o • nasm n. “The use of more words than are required to express an idea”
 
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Rad
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Re: Linux Won't Succeed On The Desktop
Reply #17 - Jan 24th, 2008 at 11:13pm
 
Sorry to hear about the missing posts. That suks. I am unable to locate in the back-up. Hopefully new forum will not have these problems.

Nobody accidentally hit the "split" link/function, right? I have done that myself a few times, cuz the links are fairly close together. That would put the other posts in a seperate thread. Maybe look/search for keywords you used there.

Do you as moderators have access to the "split" function? .. (right next to the "Modify" link.)
 
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MrMagoo
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Re: Linux Won't Succeed On The Desktop
Reply #18 - Jan 25th, 2008 at 1:52am
 
I have split and splice, but I haven't been able to locate the rest of the thread.
 
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MrMagoo
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Re: Linux Won't Succeed On The Desktop
Reply #19 - Jan 31st, 2008 at 1:56pm
 
Another article about the growth of Linux on the desktop:

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/69229,hardware-vendors-will-follow-the-money-to-op...

The trend from throughout this thread continues - Linux's share of the desktop market is miniscule, but the trend is toward rapid growth (percentage wise) rather than failure. The author expects sales of the Eee PC alone to double the current number of Linux installations on the desktop. 

Of course some might argue that the Eee PC is a UMPC rather than a desktop, and I tend to agree, but that just means that Linux has a HUGE share of the UMPC market.  2 of the 3 most popular UMPC's run Linux.  Familiarity with Linux on a UMPC will likely increase the interest of users in Linux on a desktop, so the figures aren't completly unrelated.

Again, Linux isn't taking over the world anything soon, but failure really isn't in the projections.
 
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Re: Linux Won't Succeed On The Desktop
Reply #20 - Apr 24th, 2008 at 9:35am
 
A recent article in InformationWeek reports the following…

Quote:
Red Hat said it has dropped plans, disclosed last year, to develop a version of the Linux operating system for consumer PCs -- in part because of Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)'s dominance over the market.

"The desktop market suffers from having one dominant vendor, and some people still perceive that today's Linux desktops simply don't provide a practical alternative," Red Hat officials said in a blog post Wednesday.

"Building a sustainable business around the Linux desktop is tough, and history is littered with example efforts that have either failed outright, are stalled, or are run as charities," they said.

Linux commands only about 1.2% of the desktop market in the United States, according to research group Gartner.
Source:  Red Hat Drops Plans For Consumer Desktop Linux

Clearly, the abandonment of Linux on the desktop by Red Hat isn’t a “vote of confidence” in the future of the operating system among consumers.
 

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MrMagoo
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Re: Linux Won't Succeed On The Desktop
Reply #21 - Apr 24th, 2008 at 2:00pm
 
Red Hat's development model would make it difficult to charge for a desktop version of Linux.  With Fedora floating out there for free and CentOS offering the exact RH OS without fees, RH has been depending on its large business customers that make good use of the professional support RH supplies with their license fees. 

Similar desktop support would be difficult and expensive due to the challenges of supporting an end-user vs. supporting a large company's Linux admin team.  So, it may not be as much of a remark on their predictions for the success of Linux on the desktop so much as their ability to make money off the desktop market.
 
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MrMagoo
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Re: Linux Won't Succeed On The Desktop
Reply #22 - Jun 9th, 2008 at 6:23pm
 
http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/09/1945258&from=rss

Now, it seems we have to define 'Desktop'.  Because Linux is clearly beginning to succeed in the UltraMobilePC catagory.  By desktop, did you simply mean "consumer level non-server PCs"?  Or did you mean the actual desktop tower computers sitting on people's desks?

There's no ignoring that Linux is making large headway on devices many consumers are interested in - iPhone, Eee PC, the up and coming Android mobile phone platform, etc.  So, to me, the question is if Linux will make it onto actual 'sit-under-the-desk' desktops, or if that even matters given the market trend toward mobile devices. Either way, I see evidence Microsoft is scared, so that says something.
 
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Re: Linux Won't Succeed On The Desktop
Reply #23 - Jun 10th, 2008 at 7:40am
 
The hope that the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative would advance Linux on the desktop is fading, both because the initiative itself is encountering significant problems and because the hardware will now support Windows.

Quote:
With Microsoft on board, tens of thousands of educational software applications designed to run on Windows can now be used on the XO, making it more useful in schools and acceptable to government ministries. "This will have a huge impact on the psychology of OLPC. It brings us more into the mainstream of people's minds," says Nicholas Negroponte, OLPC's founder and chairman. …

While the alliance improves the XO's chances for mass acceptance, it also drew the ire of long-time OLPC supporters who saw the machine as a counterweight in the developing world to Microsoft's dominance of computer operating systems. Walter Bender, the longtime president of OLPC who resigned last month, says Linux, the open-source operating system now on the XO, is a better choice because it is constantly being improved, whereas Windows XP, first introduced in 2001, is no longer being updated by Microsoft. Also, he says, "I believe that the culture of freedom and self-determinism that comes part-and-parcel with free and open-source systems is synergistic with the culture of learning that OLPC is trying to espouse."
Source:  Microsoft Joins One Laptop per Child
 

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Re: Linux Won't Succeed On The Desktop
Reply #24 - Jun 10th, 2008 at 1:54pm
 
And despite that, more and more Linux computers show up in the consumer market every day...  What is your thoughts on the emerging mobile market?
 
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Re: Linux Won't Succeed On The Desktop
Reply #25 - Jun 12th, 2008 at 6:55am
 
The ‘disappointment’ of OLPC as a mechanism to advance Linux on the desktop is insightful.  Apparently, the issue is not a concern with Linux per se, but with the fact that “educational software applications {are} designed to run on Windows.”  That is a difficult chasm to cross.  If mobile applications are primarily written for Linux, then the situation may be reversed in that realm – and, maybe mobile will be the consumer driven force that propels Linux forward.

What else is ‘on the horizon’ that might also serve to enhance the presence of Linux?
 

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