Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Wed 25th Oct 2006 08:41 UTC
A few months ago we ran a poll about the most important non-free Linux apps. We had over 8,000 votes in that poll and we consider the results pretty interesting. Interesting enough to push Linux's market share if a distro capitalized on them?
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Member since:2005-09-10
I think you should ask yourself whether or not it is really worth it to switch to a free Linux distro in your case. If you really want to run Linux, maybe you whould try for instance Xandros or SuSE instead and get a smoother Windows-like experience and get support by a help desk.
And just for the record, GIMP, Audacity, and OOo are all available for Windows as well. No need to switch.
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2005-07-02
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Member since:
2006-10-25
Well... I have had to FORCE myself to stay with Linux. I've tried it several times.
My reason for going to linux?
I can't afford Photoshop, SONAR, MS Office. So with Linux I use the GIMP, Audacity, and OOo.
However, I STILL can't get my WiFi card working... Flash still behaves terribly. A lot of media found on teh net simply doesn't work. Thankfully I stumbled accross Automatix which helped.. but didn't solve my most basic problems.
Here's the deal. Are Linux distros Operating Systems or members only clubs? If they are not OS's then why are we discussing them on this page? If it they are OS's then wouldn't it be best if a user could actually use them to operate their system easily? Isn't this the whole point of an OS? I mean if I wanted to do every thing by hand I'd go back to MSDOS which NEVER crashed once... and likely doesn't suffer from too many viruses either.
Linux is special and powerful because it lets users do whatever they want... .or does it?
Basically the thing that holds Linux up right now is it lets EXPERTS do whatever they want.. users are left to scour the net trying to find some "written for experts" explanation of a problem that ALL users must overcome to get simply usability out of their distros.
Doesn't it seem absolutely stupid that we (I'm including my self now after the blood sweat and tears of three months) demand all new users pull their hair out for months so they can be part of the club?
Imagine if there was a new automobile maker, they gave you a free car but you could only drive it off road (because comercial cars drive on paved surfaces). The car was stable and safe... and those who used it couldn't imagine why anyone wouldn't want one. Many users did manage to get the car to work on paved surfaces but the process was close to a "trade secret".
The guy with a family who needs to get to work would never choose this car because he wants the car to take him to work. He isn't looking for another job of making the car do what any other car does, he just wants to use the thing.
Linux will truly impact the "market" if while experts can fidle with it to their heart's content, new users can actually use it for their daily lives without having to become experts.