Linux on desktop computers will begin taking off in mainstream markets in the next 12 to 18 months, Novell President Ron Hovsepian has predicted. Linux has been widely used on networked computers called servers, but it has comparatively little success on personal computers, beyond technically savvy users. Many companies have argued the open-source operating system is on the verge of breaking out in PCs and have been proven wrong. But Hovsepian sees some changes that he believes make the market ripe.
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Member since:2005-07-06
Wine is btw. working quite fine, though the installation process could be made easier.
True, and there are some iffy behaviour; for example, with printing, but like I said, it works well; the problem is, however, my mother/father share one computer, so if there is going to be a migration, it'll have to occur when both can move.
I haven't come accross many IE only sites, if a site doesn't work with Firefox, I assume they are unimportant, and I don't visit it again.
As for mono; I think that Novell is holding out, hoping that when .NET does take off (when ever it actually does), Novell is hoping that they can grab onto the tail end of it, and see some of those '.net native applications' being made available on Linux in the way of Mono.
With that being said, however, migration of applications from Windows to UNIX isn't as hard as some people try to make out; hell, Mainsoft has made a scoop of profits off selling a product that is directly derived from Microsoft Windows source code - so the tools are there, its the software companies who are choosing not to port.
Want to change their minds; support hardware companies that provide good support (Nvidia) in the way of binary drivers, and simply lobby companies through mass movement to get the likes of Adobe to port their products over.
I mean, if a bunch of political hot heads can get together to put together an anti-Kerry or anti-Bush lobby group, I'm sure a group of geeks and enthusiasts can get together to create some noise which the ISV's can't avoid.
Edited 2006-04-11 06:03
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2005-10-02
Member since:
2005-10-02
Well, my father is running Gentoo (with my brother as maintainer of the system, when I'm not around).
Linux is perfectly ready for mainstream use. The issues mainstream users cannot fix on Linux are identical to the issues they cannot fix on Windows.
Wine is btw. working quite fine, though the installation process could be made easier.
But apart from running IE to access one particular FF-unfriendly site, I don't use Wine much.
I consider mono to be much more important.