So, you are not sure what makes a Linux distribution a good desktop Linux but you know it when you see it, right? Perhaps but perhaps not. So, what does it take to be a good desktop Linux distribution?
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Member since:The apps are there, they are just the unknown (or scary) variants of other well marketed apps.
Its not the apps its the thievery quite frankly.
If people did not regularily steal or leach copies of these apps off their companies sucking down a liscense etc... People would be quite amazed at the idea of a free desktop where apps like the gimp and OpenOffice or others roam free of charge.
But that is not the case.
There is such a huge culture of theft in the PC world that people do not care if they can get an app free because they get the commercial stuff free of charge from friends or family or download sources.
The warez culture has so jaded the population that free has little or no meaning or value to the consumers out there in the world.
If everyone actually had to pay for Office then there would be a great value placed on a truly free alternative.
The culture of "Hey buddy I can get you a copy of Office, Dreamweaver and Photoshop with no problem ... why are you paying money for it?" wore on me and my ideals and became one of the reasons I sought to use free software.
While not as feature-rich many times as the commercial alternatives I actually prefer the interface and find Abiword, gnumeric and the gimp as examples more comfortable to use than the pay-alternatives.
Free has no value though in a world where theft has essentially made all these apps "free" for the using.
Warez kiddies in a sense are one of the biggest detriment to free software adoption.
Member since:
The apps are there, they are just the unknown (or scary) variants of other well marketed apps.
Some opensource apps are even better I think (in quality, usage etc.) just because of the people use app A with it's proprietary fileformat, codec, or whatever that is forcing others to use it also, it's all very cleaver tactics. (there are companies actually begging to switch their desktops to unix or linux, but pissing their pants it might not be 110% MS office compatible in case they have to exchange files with a buisness partner that runs windows)
It's not about readyness, It's not the Apps, it's not this that or such and so.
It's about what is being pushed and what is known/trusted by the majority of the users.