"Unlike the myths that are behind the prevention of Linux adoption, this piece will closely examine the indisputable obstacles and what will have to be done to overcome each of them. In the past, many desktop Linux users have opted to simply point to the hardware industry or Microsoft as the root cause of a lack of mainstream adoption. In reality, there are actually core issues extending beyond hardware - and competition from the proprietary markets - that simply must be dealt with head on. With that said, hardware compatibility and competition from closed-source vendors are valid issues, just not solid core excuses for the lack of mainstream interest. Here are the real hurdles."
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Member since:2005-07-06
Well, I'm using the GIMP, Inkscape, Openoffice.org, VLC and some other open source software given away for free, only GIMP used to have a dependency on GTK+ for Windows, which, however, was available for download from the same website for years. That's now history with the GIMP 2.4 installer for Windows.
I've done most of my shopping online for the last year or so of pretty much every small item you usually buy (not food, of course), mostly books and DVDs, though. I've become very comfortable with shopping online, it's easy, you can return what you buy if you find out it's not what it's supposed to be and you usually get discounts for online shopping.
It's a problem for Linux / *BSD / Solaris / maybe even Mac OS X users.
Thing is, you can't make the companies write drivers and utilities for every OS that has more than a hundred thousand users and if I were a software business, it would probably look like a loss of time and money.
It's similar with license problems with MP3s, DVD and Blu-ray playback, etc. Cyberlink made a DVD version of their player, I think, so now it's one issue down. Unfortunately, VLC has always worked better for me than any DVD player for Windows, so if I get a Cyberlink DVD player, it'll be just to support its development.
Member since:
2006-01-27
Dependency hell hasn't been an issue for some time now in many Linux distributions.
Glad to hear it. That was one of the primary reasons I didn't get more involved with Linux earlier on, the difficulty in installing and configuring new software and drivers.
I was reminded of the issue a while back, when actually installing a Windows Open Source / Freeware program, some Linux app that had been ported to Windows. The program required some library or "framework" that wasn't included with the installation files and had to be downloaded from a different website and installed as a completely separate operation. I thought, "Oh no, this is Linux circa 1995 all over again."
You can usually order commercial software online and have it delivered.
Absolutely. When seriously shopping for anything I utilize online retailers for superior service, lower prices, and better selection. But how many people seriously shop for software? Most of my purchases are from the bargain bins at Hastings or wherever. Not being able to physically browse through a decent selection would really take much of the 'fun' out of the computer hobby.
The device support it mostly a device vendor issue, really. Many of them are just not willing to pay a few more developers to get their devices working on Linux like they do on Windows.
Regardless of who's at fault, it's still Linux's problem.