Again, Linux is not an OS

[ Thanks to Daniel Memenode for this link. ]

"In another article, "10 Things I Hate About Linux" at least two reasons named have to do with there being too many choices, namely, the user having to choose between all the good available distros and the application vendor having to choose between those same distros for full support.

"I agree these are issues if you look at Linux as a whole, or rather, all Linux operating systems, as a single thing. If you do that then this favorite "single" operating system of yours has a terrible case of multiple personality disorder and has had it from the beginning. This multiplicity is probably the one thing people most complain about when talking about why Linux hasn't had as much success on the desktop as some had hoped. Yet Linux advocates would readily say that it's also its biggest strength. I no longer am such a Linux advocate. I agree that an operating system which doesn't have a coherent identity is ill poised for winning in the market. This multiplicity is also the major source of all the complexity that people find to be superfluous.

"But don't get me wrong. I am not siding with Tony Mobily's call for one desktop environment or any other kind of panning down of choice. Instead I'm calling for a different approach.

"This brings me back to something I wrote earlier this year: Linux is not an OS."

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