Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Fri 7th Dec 2007 06:34 UTC
"Many people are looking to Ubuntu to be something that it is not: A mass market ready operating system designed to work with the same level of compatibility as Microsoft Windows. Where people get confused is in believing that if Ubuntu, king of the Linux distros, is not able to take the marketplace by storm, then something must be broken with desktop Linux. In this article, I'll explain what it will take to dethrone the mighty Ubuntu and gain a market share so large that it will eclipse anything seen by Ubuntu to date." More here.
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Member since:
2005-10-12
I think the major thing to consider is administration, and for this Mandriva or PCLinux is far and away better. Never have understood Ubuntu mania. What you want is a simple recipe: if its your personal stuff, go to Gnome Control Center. If its system stuff, go to Mandriva control center. This is very easy to teach, and people can get the distinction at once, its quite intuitive. The problem with Debian or Ubuntu for ordinary users is the lack of a clustered system admin centre.
Yes with Debian you get continuous updates. But for most end users the price is too high.
I don't see any reason in features or functionality why Mandriva or PCL are not as suitable for end users as OSX or Windows. Its just a question of learning. They are not perfect, but they are as good as the alternatives and in some ways a lot more integrated because of the ability to get all the software you need from the repositories.
We keep hearing about integration either in the sense of common look and feel or hardware/software coming from the same source. But in fact, integration between system and applications, as in all software included or available for instant installation in exactly the same fashion, that's probably far more important to the end user.
Its just time. We are in the lower slope area of the S curve. But one day, it will take off, and when it does....