Desktop Linux: The Dream Is Dead

[Michael Lauzon]

Don't blame me for the title, it's taken directly from the article.
I'll post a link to the full article after the brief excerpt.  Do you
agree or disagree with his conclusions?

"It kills me to say this: The dream of Linux as a major desktop OS is
now pretty much dead.

"Despite phenomenal security and stability--and amazing strides in
usability, performance, and compatibility--Linux simply isn’t catching
on with desktop users. And if there ever was a chance for desktop
Linux to succeed, that ship has long since sunk.

"Over the past few years, modern Linux distributions such as Ubuntu
have utterly transformed the open-source desktop user experience into
something sleek and simple, while arguably surpassing Windows and Mac
OS in both security and stability. Meanwhile, the public failure of
Windows Vista and the rise of the netbook gave Linux some openings to
capture a meaningful slice of the market. But those opportunities have
been squandered and lost, and Linux desktop market share remains
stagnant at around 1 percent.

"I should emphasize that I'm not by any means talking about the demise
of Linux itself. New projections from the Linux Foundation credibly
show that demand for Linux on servers will outstrip demand for all
other options over the next few years. And, as I'll discuss at length
in this article, Linux has already established itself as a dominant
operating system on mobile and embedded devices ranging from tablets
and phones to TVs and printers.

"But for anyone who has longed for a future in which free, open-source
Linux distributions would rival premium commercial operating systems
from Microsoft and Apple on desktop PCs, now might be a good time to
set more-realistic expectations. Though I personally wish that the
opposite were true, the year of the Linux desktop will never come."


http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/207999/desktop_linux_the_dream_is_dead.html

-- 
Sincerely,

Michael Lauzon
--
The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://gtalug.org/
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