Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 11th Mar 2008 16:07 UTC, submitted by moleskine
"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:
2007-06-24
I think that's the whole point of consistency. Ubuntu and Red Hat are very similar, but they're also very different. You can't configure things in the same places in both of them, even if to an average user they appear to be the same. If someone learns enough to fix a few of the problems they have in one, they may not be able to fix it in the other due to that specific configuration being different. Sure, it's easy for someone who may be very technical with Linux, but it's just not going to cut it for mainstream users.
You may disagree, but I think the only evidence one needs to look at is the numbers. You may say that over 14 years, the Linux usage rate has increased dramatically, but in reality you're still looking about a few percent total. If Linux were a bit more standardized and consistent, without hundreds of distributions and configurations, you'd see much higher adoption of the OS for desktop users, as well as anyone who has little experience with Linux in general.