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back to article Desktop Linux: the final frontier

Depending on who you talk to, 40 to 75 per cent of the world’s web servers are Linux-based. That is some serious market penetration. But even in organisations running Linux on their servers the operating system is on just 20 per cent of desktops. Despite its success in the back office, Linux has not yet made such an impact on …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    “If it is there, people will use it,”

    Not neccessarily.

    I remember the netbook boom of 2-3 years ago.

    People bought the likes of the Acer Aspire One, then came to the likes of me wanting Windows on it.

    I politely declined, as I didn't have a USB CD drive at the time, and hadn't yet experimented with USB boot drives. Also, the fact that XP onwards really does need to have a licence bought.

    But it just showed that people had Linux but wanted to use Windows. Despite the £50 or so Windows tax saving.

    And this is coming from a Linux fanboy. When I eventually bought an AAO150, I liked the Linpus desktop (despite the detractors). I liked the speed of boot, the general lack of resource hogging of the OS, and the fact that most of what you want to do was on the desktop nearly immediately.

    Though I have to say, I did later put XP on it, but that was more just for the sheer heck of it (as I did also put OSX on it too).

    People were just used to their Windows clunkiness, and way of doing things (ie. in Windows download a piece of malware / yet another IE toolbar and you can double click execute the installer there and then. In linux, the install process is slightly more involved).

    On the prettier half's laptop, we did use Ubuntu for ages because Vista was mostly broken and unusable.

    However, I have noticed that since putting 7 on it (and an extra GB of RAM), it is the Windows partition that now gets most hits on the boot menu.

    So yes, if it is there, people will try to use it. But some are too entrenched in their Windows linear way of thinking. Hopefully the next generation of tablet based consumer machines will help abstract away from the Windows desktop way of life.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Linux is defacto server operating system then why not it come to desktop

      I do see a lot of potential in Linux to replace windows as preferred operating system they just need right design and implementation just like Apple did with there IPhone. Linux is defacto Server operating system and has earned a lot of credibility with everybody which will help him to do better.

      Javin

      http://javarevisited.blogspot.com/2011/03/10-find-command-in-unix-examples-basic.html

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  2. petur
    FAIL

    Canonical

    Aren't those the guys who screwed up by forcing this Unity crap down the throat of their users?

    They certainly lost me as user....

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    1. James Hughes 1
      Reply Icon

      I've been using Unity...

      Since the official release.

      So, far, and against all my expectations, I'm getting on OK. There are a few clunky bits that need work - network shares are awkward to get to for example, you need to get to a standard apps menu more easily, rather than remember apps names, and I keep going to bottom of screen to the non-existent task bar. But, on the whole, it's pretty good for the purposes I put it to.

      Worth persisting with I think, and it can only get better. I hope.

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    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Grenade

      Unity. What a pity...

      Yes, they are those guys --- and it will put back the cause of "Linux on the desktop" by several years.

      A great shame.

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  4. Victor Ludorum
    Boffin

    It never ceases to amaze me, but

    When someone buys a PC, laptop etc, they expect it to have Windows, because that's what they're used to. All it generally gets used for is browsing, email, letters and maybe spreadsheets. And sometimes a game.

    And yet, we will happily change our telly, car, mobile phone etc, because the new one has better features. And there's a new or changed UI to get the hang of. But because it's not a 'computer' people are happy to put up with it.

    Public perception has to improve. Until the major manufacturers start shifting boxes, laptops etc to HIGH STREET RETAILERS (so that Joe Public can plat with it instore before purchase) preloaded with Ubuntu/Mint/whatever-distro-you-worship, people will still look for Windows (or Mac if that's the way you roll). Dell even tried shifting boxes and Minis with Linux. They seem to have stopped selling them in the UK unless you specifically ask your Account Manager.

    Disclosure: I have run Ubuntu as my main OS since January, with Win7 and XP in VMs for those rare occasions I can't do something in Ubuntu/OpenOffice etc. Like play certain games...

    V.

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    1. AndrueC Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Down

      Public perception is fine

      Why should public perception have to change? It's a tool. As long as it does what they want they couldn't care less. Nor should they have to care what's under the hood. I don't much care what's under my car's bonnet as long as it gets me from A to B.

      That's what's held Linux back on the desktop as much as anything else. Geeks trying to sell it to the public on the basis of technology. I have news for you - the public don't give a toss about computing technology. As for "Ubuntu/Mint/whatever-distro-you-worship" that just adds 'cliquey' to the list and probably alienates the small minority of the public who are vaguely curious about it.

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      1. Duster
        Reply Icon
        Paris Hilton

        Public perception

        Point well made. Another fact is that many users don't want "flexibility." They just want _A_ way of doing things that accomplishes their goals. When someone like that encounters linux with all its distinct desktops, they can feel overwhelmed with the available choices. Showing the better half how to do things I learned long ago to leave out the "...or you can ..." parts.

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    2. Zippy the Pinhead
      Reply Icon

      @ Victor

      Well there is a learning curve and there is all that purchased software... People hesitate to jump

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Lost potential

    I would gladly trade performance for a netbook with a 10+ hour battery life running on Arm. Sadly, even though several were announced I have not seen an actual shipping product. Maybe HP's Compaq Airlife 100 will be the first from a major manufacturer.

    As for people choosing to install Windows instead, that's just inertia kicking in.

    People don't ask for Win mobile to be installed when they buy a phone/tablet with android/ios on it do they? I never thought I'd say this but it's mostly a marketing problem. A product marketed as a laptop alternative makes people think of, well, laptops. Since the vast majority have used laptops with windows that's what they expect. Small, 10" netbooks with 10+ hours of battery life are better marketed as mobile devices instead, with all the mobile device goodies people expect ('app stores' etc).

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    1. Field Commander A9
      Reply Icon

      get you fatcs straight

      win mo can't be installed on an android phone without extensive modifying

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Exactly

        Neither can windows be installed on an Arm netbook. Which is kinda the point.. Also, I'm not Rafa, didn't mention any fackts.

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    2. Number6
      Reply Icon

      Battery Life

      My AA1 with 9-cell battery and Linux Mint claims a 10hr battery life. I suspect it's closer to 8 but that's still good.

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  6. Pointer2null

    The reason 98% of the worlds pc use Windows is Linux!

    Seriously though, Linux still is not as smooth and polished a user experience as Windows and for the average user it's not the best option. (I use both at work, but only Windows at home)

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    1. James Hughes 1
      Reply Icon

      For me, the other way round

      Have to use windows at work, but use Linux at home, and compared to the other half's Vista desktop, I'm a very happy bunny indeed - even with Unity, which is quite polished considering its age.

      Also, my aged parents use Ubuntu on a Acer Revo and have no problems at all.

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      1. Aaron Em
        Reply Icon

        "compared to the other half's Vista desktop"

        Would you also argue that a Lada is a perfectly fine car because it's more efficient and easier to operate than a Stanley Steamer?

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        1. Lars Silver badge
          Reply Icon
          Pint

          @Aaron Em

          How did you come to that impression.

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        2. Number6
          Reply Icon

          Lada

          Have you ever driven a Lada? I have, and while it's nothing special, it was a fairly solid performer. It was cheap too, only £300. I towed a trailer with it and it was very smooth and comfortable. It was eventually left in a rusting heap in the car park of the local garage, having been part-exchanged for something newer (and more expensive).

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      2. Zippy the Pinhead
        Reply Icon
        Unhappy

        @ James

        I work with people everyday who still have never heard of Linux.

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    2. TeeCee Gold badge
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Up

      @Pointer2null

      Cue downvoters there.

      I'm in the opposite position, Windows only on the desktop at work and both at home. I have to agree with your analysis though. The distros have come on leaps and bounds since I started with it, but it still lacks that end-user-suitable polish.

      ONe of my favourites: When the little context-sensitive help widget, invoked via the question mark on a KDE window, pops up saying there is no help and offering you the opportunity to contribute to the community by writing help text for what you're trying to find help on. I find that one even more risible than the "hit 'Start' to shutdown" of Windows.

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    3. Schultz
      Reply Icon

      Smooth Linux

      Linux is quite smooth nowadays, but I had to replace the pre-installed rubbish with Linux Mint to enjoy my 1st generation netbook.

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      1. Number6
        Reply Icon

        Mint

        Yes, my netbook ended up in Mint condition, as did all my other Linux machines except the server, and that's only because I can't be arsed to rebuild that.

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    4. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Linux

      Windows is more polished?

      "Seriously though, Linux still is not as smooth and polished a user experience as Windows [...]"

      Where I work some of the more senior support people are moving away from Windows (and Windows 7 at that) because they're sick of fighting with Windows. I've been quietly extolling the virtues by having networking that works, printing that works and machines that run quickly and people have noticed.

      It's going to take a while for Linux to become seriously mainstream, not least because the corporate IT have chosen a voip solution that only works on Windows. Oh yes, and for some reason they seem to think running a server distro on a laptop is a good idea. And yet, in spite of the obstacles, Linux desktop usage is growing because it is more polished, not less.

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  7. vegister

    pointy haired bosses

    the reason for choosing big name brands is that is what the salesman/consultant (with his own agenda) tells mr pointy haired boss what to do.

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  8. Barry Tabrah

    Why Linux is not popular for home users

    It doesn't look like Windows, it doesn't run Microsoft Office, and it doesn't run iTunes.

    Remember that I'm talking about your average home user. They are using Windows at work. They've used Windows for years. It's friendly. It's familiar. It's what they know.

    You can't just chuck the Microsoft Office disk into a Linux machine and be using it 5 minutes later.

    You can't download iTunes from the Apple website on Linux.

    Basically if the end user can't do something on their own within 5 minutes then they're going to go running back to Comet to replace it with something that can. And they're certainly not going to go crawling around web forums in order to learn how.

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    1. AndrueC Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Up

      And nor should they have to.

      >And they're certainly not going to go crawling around web forums in order to learn how.

      And nor should they have to because it's a monumental waste of their time. When I bought my car I didn't have to spend hours calling garages to get it modified nor download specialist instructions. I just sat inside it, and drove off.

      That's what so many Linux fans still don't understand. Computing is only fun to a small %ge of the population. And here's a shocker - even those who thought it was fun once tend to grow out of that eventually. It becomes just an obstacle to what you really want to do.

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      1. Aaron Em
        Reply Icon

        God bless you, sir!

        Someone talking sensibly about Linux on the desktop? In *my* Reg comments thread? It's likelier than you think!

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      2. kirovs
        Reply Icon
        FAIL

        You are missing the point

        No, you took a lot of lessons to drive that car, remember?

        It just depends on how you started- why do you need iTunes, when there is Ubuntu One?

        So, yes, you could start your Linux comp and have everything you need and most of what you want.

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        1. Anonymous Coward
          Reply Icon
          Anonymous Coward

          @Kirvos...

          Way to prove the point... I use Fedora, so no Ubuntu One for me. Also whichever way you look at it, Ubuntu One isn't iTunes, I don't use iTunes but that is what people who use iTunes want.

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  9. Anonymous Coward
    Linux

    Linux

    Linux is excellent but, as others have mentioned, inertia will prevent most people from straying too far from Windows. This is the same reason why people put Windows on a perfectly good Mac machine.

    When people are forced to use Linux on their office machines, things might change, but until then - when the overwhelming majority of people get most of their computer experience at work - windows will dominate the "computer."

    It is interesting, again as others point out, that a significant percentage of die-hard Windows on the Desktop people are happy to use Android / iOS on their phones and tablets.....

    Just as importantly, despite what some may think, there is more to Linux than Ubuntu. Its not even the best distro any more - since about 9.10 / 10.4 is has been pretty pants.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Gates Halo

      Inertia or Functionality?

      Name one thing you can do on Linux desktop which you can't do on Windows.

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      1. Vic
        Reply Icon

        Re: Inertia or Functionality?

        > Name one thing you can do on Linux desktop which you can't do on Windows.

        Middle-click paste.

        Vic.

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        1. Field Commander A9
          Reply Icon

          There're many uses for Middle-click in Windows that doesn't exist in Linux

          Like opening another tab, close a exsting tab, free scorlling etc.

          So this is not a function problem, it's just preference.

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        2. AndrueC Silver badge
          Reply Icon
          Thumb Down

          Hmmm.

          > Middle-click paste.

          http://www.ghacks.net/2006/09/11/copy-paste-with-middle-mouse-button/

          Posted in 2006. Oh and I can do it with my aging Logitech mouse. I push the scroll-wheel down and whatever is in the clipboard is pasted. Or is it something more complicated than that?

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          1. kirovs
            Reply Icon

            Nope

            Not part of the OS. Does not qualify. Also in Linux it is a different clipboard from ctrl-V- you have easy access to 2 instead of one.

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        3. kirovs
          Reply Icon

          Ditto

          Eat your hard out MS boy

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      2. Tom Sparrow
        Reply Icon
        Stop

        rewrite/improve it?

        (no, I've never done that before you ask)

        Download it legally for free.

        Run it on a clapped out old PC.

        Give it to my kids without worrying they might break it.

        Those are the obvious things, I'm sure there are others, but you only asked for 1.

        Conversely, there's nothing I can't do on Linux that I care about, so why pay for windows?

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        1. Field Commander A9
          Reply Icon

          counters

          "Download it legally for free."

          don't kid yourself pal.

          "Run it on a clapped out old PC"

          ever heard of something call Windows for Legancy PC?

          "Give it to my kids without worrying they might break it."

          suppose you don't run Linux as root, then Windows only does it better if you don't run it as Administrator.

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          1. Anonymous Coward
            Reply Icon
            Stop

            @Field Commander A9

            "don't kid yourself pal."

            What is being kidded here? You really can download Linux desktop software for free. Seriously.

            (does this surprise you?)

            "ever heard of something call Windows for Legancy PC?"

            Nope. But if you mean Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs then you have to be joking. Are you trying to compare that to a linux distro running on the same machine? Srlsly?

            "suppose you don't run Linux as root, then Windows only does it better if you don't run it as Administrator."

            I double dare you to make sense here.

            Linux has SUDO which wipes the floor with windows UAC

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          2. Gilbert Wham
            Reply Icon
            WTF?

            Horseshite

            "Download it legally for free."

            don't kid yourself pal.

            What? Linux IS downloadable for free. All over the bloody place. WTF are you on about?

            "Run it on a clapped out old PC"

            ever heard of something call Windows for Legancy (sic) PC?

            No, I hadn't, but upon googling it, it's hardly a fully-fledged OS now is it? I can think of at least three distros I'd rather use (you can get ones that will cheerfully run on a 486/dx266)

            No, I haven't as

            "Give it to my kids without worrying they might break it."

            suppose you don't run Linux as root, then Windows only does it better if you don't run it as Administrator.

            That's the *whole point*; Windows is hardly ever run as anything but Admin for home users, cos it's too much of a pain in the arse for them to use like that.

            If your argument was, 'You can't run high-end games on it' then I might kind of agree (there's no reason it COULDN'T, it's more to do with a dearth of money for development, as the market is admittedly tiny). Or, '[specific software 'X'] doesn't work on it'. Again, fair enough, but your counters to the above arguments make very little sense.

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      3. Neil C Smith
        Reply Icon
        Linux

        RE: Inertia or Functionality?

        Not pay for software that doesn't work properly.

        We get lots of our own stuff that doesn't work properly, for free! :-)

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      4. M Gale
        Reply Icon

        apt-get dist-upgrade

        Or the pretty graphical version "click the button that says upgrade".

        I don't see any option in Windows XP or Vista that lets you upgrade to 7, outside of paying Microsoft a lot of money.

        Don't forget that UAC is a poor rip off of the sudo/gksu/kdesu commands.

        Oh and.. boot from a CD to grab files from a b0rked OS install. BartPE does not count, as it is illegal.

        While we're at it, I still have yet to see a Windows firewall with the functionality of iptables. Geeky and technical, yes. There are graphical front-ends though, and Windows still is hopeless compared.

        Oh, you also can't run Compiz in Windows.

        Also, plugging a wifi adapter in without fucking about with drivers.

        Also, connecting to a wireless network without having to right-click "troubleshoot problems" to kick the thing into life every other time you try to get online.

        That enough things? I'm sure various people can think of more things that various Linux distros do, that you can't do in Windows.

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        1. Mark 65
          Reply Icon

          @M Gale

          "Also, plugging a wifi adapter in without fucking about with drivers.

          Also, connecting to a wireless network without having to right-click "troubleshoot problems" to kick the thing into life every other time you try to get online."

          I'd leave Linux and wireless internet out of the argument if I were you - Ubuntu is renowned for working as a LiveCD then not working with the wireless connection once installed. Normally fixed by downloading a .fw file but it's not an area I'd be boasting about.

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          1. M Gale
            Reply Icon

            @Mark 65

            "I'd leave Linux and wireless internet out of the argument if I were you.."

            Two or three years ago I would have. These days a lot more wireless adapters will work with the various toy unixes. Quite a few of them say so on the packaging and if you can get one of those, it does tend to work straight out of the box with not so much as a "please insert driver CD" in sight.

            As opposed to Windows 7 which with the same adapter, continually refuses to chat with DNS properly when connecting to a new network unless the adapter is reset first. Edimax model EW-7711UAn, just in case you're wondering.

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      5. bertino
        Reply Icon
        Pint

        Browse grumble.

        Without any problems

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      6. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Inertia or Functionality?

        > Name one thing you can do on Linux desktop which you can't do on Windows.

        Run multiple desktops.

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        1. Aaron Em
          Reply Icon

          "Run multiple desktops" oh ho!

          It's called 'Virtual Dimension'. It's free to download from Sourceforge, which is not exactly a barrier to the sort of person who uses multiple desktops. It doesn't suck.

          Try again!

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          1. kirovs
            Reply Icon

            Nope

            Not part of the OS, does not qualify.

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