Linked by Michael Fraser on Sat 29th Mar 2003 03:21 UTC
When I first started playing with Linux (RedHat Distribution -- Version 5.2 Deluxe), it was a present from a father's friend in Boston. As I recall that is the only version of RedHat I ever got to work correctly without any major problems (like "Kernel Segmentation Error" or something to that effect).
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There's three things A Desktop OS (TM) needs to compete:
1) Hardware support (also autodetection)
2) Software (gotta have the applications, and it needs to be easy to install 'em)
3) Consistent, intuitive experience
Support is also nice.
When reviews declare linux to be "not ready," they really complain about these three things. The particular reviewer's rather new USB-something-or-other didn't get autodetected, it was hard to install application foo, and the different ui toolkits or frontends didn't interpolate, and things seemed "broken" or maybe just a bit "unpolished."
That's basically the three things every Linux distro review says about the distro, and follows up with "getting better, but not as good as Windows."
Hardware support is basically there with certain distros like Xandros, and most desktop distros would do well to implement a Knoppix-like hardware autodetection scheme. 3d graphics cards can be problematic, and 3d in general is a Big Pain (TM), for developers and gamers alike.
The software will be there in about a year. Once GNOME 2.4 rolls around, and big name apps like Evolution have migrated, and GNOME has integrated OOo, you can expect Linux desktops to have the 90% of applications that almost everyone needs and just lack the last 10% of applications contracted out specifically by companies for special use.
Finally, GNOME 2.4 and KDE 3.2 will have the ui consistency that is currently lacking. They will play well with eachother, but will be mature enough to stand on their own. I think, however, they will need to wait for the next major version changes after that to really be a positive experience that stands out, rather than mimics.