Linked by Thom "Slakje" Holwerda on Fri 25th Jul 2003 19:42 UTC
To me, it's a miracle how every tiny article on OSNews.com, or any other tech-site, ends up in people shouting all sorts of nonsense at each other like "Linux is gonna bring back Elvis", "Windows shot president Kennedy", "Linux kept the cold war cold" or "Bill Gates wants to buy the moon and charge people for looking at it". Do these people really know what they are saying, or are they just going with the Open-Source flow? Update: Rebuttal article here.
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I currently use Libranet 2.8 / Sid (Debian Unstable). I agree with some of the problems you mention with Linux, but I strongly disagree with your solutions.
"lousy hardware support"
This is mainly a product of low market share. As more people use Linux, hardware support will improve. Linux distros could certainly improve things by using "standard" kernels or at least making sure their custom kernels don't affect drivers. This will also get easier as the underlying pieces of Linux mature and change less. The Linux Standard Base should also help out here ... eventually.
"distributions suddenly have to be paid for"
"some distributions suddenly get discontinued"
These are realities of using any software that is not dominant (read monopoly). I doubt SUSE or RedHat are going anywhere so you are probably safe with them. Also, Debian (or Debian based distros) is another "safe" choice here.
"the crappy way software is installed"
This is one of the worst Linux problems, IMHO. Though Debian's system (apt) is really good for doing Windows Update type stuff, it is heavily dependent on the public repositories. This will never work for commercial proprietary software (such as games). Linux NEEDS a way of easily installing applications across distributions (both from CDs and over the net). Projects like autopackage may (or may not) be the answer to this.
"twelve different applications for one task"
This is a problem, but I think the distros are starting to address it. Some distros (RedHat starting with v8.0, Ximian XD2) have started choosing "best of breed" applications for individual tasks.
I think the idea of creating one standard desktop Linux distro is HORRIBLE. Currently both Gnome and KDE are improving BECAUSE of the competition, not in spite of it. Certain parts of distributions do need to be standardized for the purpose of making application installation easier (see LSB). Also, the major desktops are learning to play nicely together ala freedesktop.org. We aren't there yet, but things are improving.
So, in summary... Is Linux ready for the Desktop (of the average PC user)? NO. Is Windows better than Linux on the desktop now (again average PC user)? YES Given this, the kneejerk reaction is to standardize Linux. However, if taken too far (one desktop) we are pretty much throwing out Linux's advantages so that it can compete with Windows.