ZDNet: WinXP: an OS for Linux lovers

“The day that we’ve all feared is soon to arrive:
Microsoft has finally made an operating system that Linux users
will love: Windows XP.

… On a related note, I predict that XP will send flocks of
people over to look at the viability of Linux. (Windows user aren’t
stupid, they’re just a little too complacent.) Unfortunately, most
of that flock will shrug and return to Windows because Linux is
simply not ready for prime time (at least not the consumer version
of prime time), even now. Some will stay, not so much because of
Linux itself but rather because they’ve found a non-Microsoft
operating system to satisfy their vitriol and one that can also run
Windows and several of its applications via an emulator without
slowing down to a crawl. That’s not a good thing for Linux.

Don’t get me wrong. I like Win4Lin and VMWare (and I have a
strong desire to see Wine bear fruit). It’s just that
emulators–virtual environments, call them what you will–are not
good for Linux. They tend to generate their own aura of complacency
as well as impeding the development of Linux-specific complementary
applications. Why would anyone develop an MS Word-like app for
Linux when you can use MS-Word under Win4Lin? (And if you think
Linux doesn’t need an MS-Word-like application, ask Apple why it
needed one for the Macintosh.)”

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