Regarding UserLinux, let's stop slagging Red Hat!

[Marcus Brubaker]

On Tue, 2003-11-11 at 20:18, lloyd-fEEwcc3XMu8jODpR/OX0VQ at public.gmane.org wrote:
> > Some people say this because they think that pushing home users to Linux
> > too soon will be bad for Linux: one bad experience and they'll never be
> > back. They are holding Linux back to help it (in their opinion).
> I have not seen any solid arguments why Linux is not ready for the
> desktop. Even if there was, us consumers have a short memory and are very
> responsive to marketing and cost.

> > > Isn't that why Red Hat is saying it?  Or is there some commercial angle
> > that I'm not seeing?  Some reason why they don't want Linux to succeed
> > on the desktop?
> 
> I do not believe that is why RH is saying that.  There a couple likely
> reasons:
> * justify to their shareholders there immediate change in biz plan
> * prepare their market place and shareholders for further alignment with
> those statements
> 


Another point is that I think Red Hat got a bit burned on the desktop
market.  People may not realize it but they've put a *lot* of money into
the desktop and they've only been able to make money in the
enterprise/server arena.  For the last years Red Hat has paid dozens of
full-time engineers to work on GNOME and other desktop/user related
items such as linuxconf and has seen little return from it.

Beyond that I think people are honestly making a tempest in teacup about
the comment.  The infamous quote:

"I would say that for the consumer market place, Windows probably
continues to be the right product line," he said. "I would argue that
from the device-driver standpoint and perhaps some of the other
traditional functionality, for that classic consumer purchaser, it is my
view that (Linux) technology needs to mature a little bit more."

Basically, he thinks the brand-new whiz-bang hardware support is
lacking.  Can you really fault him much on that?  Sure, Linux supports
all the legacy hardware and more, but if you go out and by a webcam at
random, what are the odds of it working out of the box?  Hell, I just
recently bought a new LCD monitor and while it wasn't hard to setup I
don't imagine that a regular home user could've done it on their own.  A
*monitor* people.

I agree that there is a segment of the consumer desktop for which Linux
may not be the best option, namely those who are constantly after the
latest and greatest gadgets.  Anyone use an iPod on Linux?  Does it work
without significant fiddling?  What about the brand-new ATI video card
with full 3d acceleration?

My hunch (and source of disagreement with Red Hat) is that the gadget
group represents only a moderate minority of consumer desktops.  As has
been evidenced here and elsewhere, your regular mom/dad/grandparent/etc
non-geek type who wants nothing more than to email, browse the web,
write letters and chat will not only be successful with Linux but will
probably be better suited by a good Linux box.

Of course, it's the same chicken and egg problem that Linux has been
fighting from day one.  If no consumers use Linux, no one supports
consumer products on Linux and if no one supports consumer products on
Linux then no consumers use Linux.  We seem to be overcoming the
problem, in that more and more device manufactures are thinking about
Linux support prior to release, but we're not 100% there yet.

On a tangential note, I think that ultimately the best solution to this
problem will come with from the enterprise desktop, which is what Red
Hat is still targeting.  Enterprise desktop brings a lot of dollars.  If
you're a hardware manufacturer who doesn't support Linux, you have no
chance at enterprise Linux desktops.  In that sense, I think that this
market is the back door to the consumer desktop for Linux.  Not only do
you get a large group of consumers exposed to Linux through their work
environment you also get the dollars which drive hardware support which
is needed for the consumer desktop.

Honestly, I can't be upset at Red Hat (or more precisely, their CEO) for
thinking it.  I can only be slightly annoyed at them for actually saying
it to the press.  The last thing we need is Gates going "See, even Linux
people say Linux is bad on the desktop."

-- 
Marcus Brubaker <marcus.brubaker-H217xnMUJC0sA/PxXw9srA at public.gmane.org>

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