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Desktop Linux Edges Into The Mainstream (TechWeb)

This TechWeb article says Linux on the desktop is coming, but slowly. "No one is predicting a Linux landslide. While the Apache Web server forged a beachhead for Linux, the desktop fight will be an uphill battle. The key to the desktop was pointed out by a very unlikely source, Oracle's Larry Ellison: Applications. But to attract app makers, you need users in number. And to attract users, you need ease of installation, ease of device configuration, and intuitive, full-featured desktop user controls. It's all coming, but slowly."

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Desktop Linux Edges Into The Mainstream (TechWeb)

Posted Apr 8, 2003 18:16 UTC (Tue) by gadeiros (guest, #3929) [Link] (1 responses)

"But to attract app makers, you need users in number."

This, in fact, is only true for commercial products.

But the open source comminity produces a lot of good apps without a big user base.
KStars, just to name one which is not so obvious (and because there is a new article on the dot (http://dot.kde.org/1049766880/) about it.
It's an app, which probably a lot of people would (and will) like a lot.

Yet, the developper most likely didn't have other people (users) in mind when starting this project.

Even Linus didn't have other people in mind, when he started with Linux.

They did it, because THEY wanted to have/use it.

This is a big advantage of the open source comminity, and IMHO some people (in the commercial software world) will be very much astonished how fast this will go now, with KDE and Gnome desktops being where they are.

Regards,
Harald Henkel

Desktop Linux Edges Into The Mainstream (TechWeb)

Posted Apr 9, 2003 16:27 UTC (Wed) by bach37 (guest, #7255) [Link]

Heck yeah. Look at how far Gnome and KDE have come in just one year. It's amazing. Just think about one more year's progress after this great jump.

I'm showing all of my friends and family how great Linux really is. The recent distro releases are amazing (RH, MDK, others) and have a very clean and impressive desktop, not to mention the fonts.

Also, Linux has something that Microsoft will never beat- the price. :)

For poor college students the choice of $200 Windows XP + $200 an Office XP version vs. Linux and open office: well, it's a no brainer.

-Scott
(just my thoughts)


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