Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   Anonymous
   Unregistered

   https://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/has-microsoft-opened-the-door-to-the-linux-desktop/11282?tag=main;top-stories

   Has Microsoft opened the door to the Linux desktop?

   Summary: Microsoft has alienated its hardware partners and will soon be rolling out a version of Windows that many people already dislike. Will the Linux desktop finally get its shot for the big-time?

   Thanks Microsoft! You ve given the Linux desktop another chance to make it big.

   Microsoft has been going out of its way to tick off its partners.

   First, Windows 8 has an interface, Metro, that only a mother could love. Metro will require Windows users to re-learn everything they know about how to use Windows. Then, Microsoft announced Surface, a vaporware tablet that leaves all its partners’ Windows 8 tablet plans in disarray. , Finally, adding insult to injury, Microsoft stabbed its smartphone partners in the back by announcing Windows Phone 8, which made all currently shipping Windows phones obsolete. So, if you’re in the PC business do you really want to work with Microsoft or is it finally time to look for a partner that really wants to work with you rather than use you?

   Shuttleworth was, however, not talking just about the North American and European Union market, but the world market. It’s in China and India where Canonical, with its partner Dell have found that people really will buy PCs without Windows.

   Think about it. Chrome OS is just the popular Chrome Web browser running on Linux. If you know how to use a Web browser you can use a Chromebook. Unlike Windows 8’s Metro there is no learning curve what-so-ever.

   Posted 12 years ago #
2. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   Purely FWIW... :)

   I'm disabled, so mostly home bound -- I can easily get out but it's tiring, so 90+% of my time is spent at home. As such I've had zero need of a tablet, but my oldest son was very generous & bought me one to play with. It runs Android ICS, & using it I think provides some insight into the potential *nix market in general -- here's my very objective thoughts on the matter...

   *nix on a desktop is cool, but, it's a geeks' OS, that for non-geeks can have all sorts of niceties layered on. If it's properly set up I can give my wife or most anyone else a *nix PC/laptop that they can immediately use, but it's a sort of package deal -- what they get is what they get... I can't expect them to add apps/games, nor keep it up to date themselves. There have been attempts to take *nix beyond that -- the closest IMO was the old Linspire effort with Walmart -- but today it's still IMO something that requires 1) someone(s) to act as your IT dept., & 2) a willingness to go without the seemingly endless supply of new apps & games you have access to on other platforms.

   [You can of course learn to deal with *nix, become a bit of a nerd yourself, but that's not been the case with the PC/laptop market when it's grown large enough to include everybody, not just the more tech inclined that are the earliest adopters.]

   Now the Android OS is built on *nix & it takes care of those 2 problems -- you don't need someone to hold your hand much less your own IT dept., & there are plenty of apps & games to keep you busy trying new stuff out. On the downside lots of the software you'd expect to use is still missing, & everything is buggy enough that if Microsoft was behind it you'd hear no end to the screaming. The chief complaint I've read [& BTW agree with] is that Android is Too open, it's too easy for anyone to change it to suit their needs, so in effect there are all these mini-versions of Android out there being used -- it's hard enough for a developer to write a bug free app for one OS, nevermind several versions running on all sorts of hardware.

   Ironically it would seem that to more seriously take on Windows [or Apple], would require becoming more like Microsoft & Apple. More top-down control, more rules, less freedom, less innovation -- just what many *nix folks despise about MS & Apple to begin with. It could happen, but it would take a company like Google or perhaps a country like China taking a more authoritarian stand, setting firm, more-or-less absolute boundaries.

   Posted 12 years ago #

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