[ Thanks to Patrick
Mullen for this link. ]
The DukeOfURL introduces opinion pieces to its editorial mix
with this pair of columns about Linux, the desktop, and mainstream
acceptance. The first The first says that members of the Linux
community who argued that the Linux desktop is dead played into
Microsoft’s hands and threaten to repeat the mistakes of OS/2. The
second maintains that Linux has all the apps it needs, and that
user education is the key.
“Not too long ago a controversy ripped though the Linux
community, causing widespread flame wars and demoralization
throughout the open source community. The controversy continues to
rage to this day and will forever more continue to rage, simply
because the Linux community has just about collectively shot itself
in the foot. This controversy was over the death of Linux on the
desktop. All of this started when Eazel closed its doors and
development of Nautilus came to a grinding halt (at least for the
moment anyway).It was presumed that Nautilus would be the impetus to put Linux
on the desktop, bringing forth development of the much-needed
applications that would make Linux successful. From Eazel would
spring many applications such as office suites and communication
tools. Eazel was to be the proof that Linux could go mainstream
competing against Microsoft. Many cried out the day that Eazel
died, crying out that the dream of Linux on the desktop was
dead.That was how we shot ourselves in the foot. It wasn’t Microsoft
that claimed Linux on the desktop was dead. They certainly want
everyone to believe it, however; the server market is where they
need to be. Why waste time fighting something that has only a 2%
share in the desktop market? Why not fight the server market where
Linux is approaching almost 30% of market share? In any case, it
was a loud segment of the Linux community that cried out and
declared Linux dead. Kevin Reichard of Linux Planet was one of the
first to declare this as fact in his editorial, Editor’s Note: RIP:
Linux on the Desktop. I have great respect for this man (whom I
have never met or even corresponded with) and his opinions. I
seldom disagree with him on his insight into various matters in the
Linux community. However, in this case I think he is wrong, as are
the many others that posted similar sentiments. In one fell swoop
we gave the greatest PR machine on the planet the fodder it was
looking for: “Even the Linux community says it is so.”
“These days, computing is more than just a pastime,
it’s peoples’ livelihood. Never before have I seen so much pain in
the eyes of users about “another Windows upgrade” that won’t fix
their problems, and so much excitement about this new up and coming
operating system. Which operating system is this? Why, Linux, of
course. This supposedly washed-up operating system seems to be
getting more and more mainstream, even though I’m being told it
isn’t.The reason most people aren’t picking it up isn’t because it’s
hard, or it’s scary, but simply because they don’t think Linux can
do what they need to do. I commonly hear “there’s no office suite”
or “the desktops need to mature” or “I need a proxy server,” and
the quotes go on and on and on. Day in and day out I hear these
exact same phrases, and often times, users are very enlightened and
often end up saying, “Linux can do that?”The truth is, Linux has an office suite (Applixware, Star
Office, KOffice, AbiSuite), Linux has mature desktops (KDE 2.1 —
most users have used KDE 1.1.2, I’ve found) and Linux has all the
servers you could ever need, including that proxy server I found a
user looking for (Squid). No one just knows it. The truth is, the
more people are educated on exactly what Linux does, the more
people might give it a try.”