As pointed out by a Desktop Linux article, Windows is in a bad position. On one side, the Mac is eating its market share and, on the opposite side, Linux is gaining traction and starting to take market share too. While this is, of course, great news for Linux, the Mac’s increasing market share is something for Linux distros to pay close attention to.

Right now a lot is done to promote Linux to Windows users, but very little attention is put into encouraging Mac users to make the switch (to Linux.) Although this made sense in the past when the Mac had a very small market share, Mac users can no longer be ignored for two reasons:

First, although it may be a long time until Windows disappears, in the next few years the Mac will almost certainly become a major competitor (if it has not already.) Suppose the Mac reaches 20% - 25% market share in a couple of years (which seems possible.) There is 20% - 25% of computer users Linux is not directly targeting.

Second, the portion of computer users who are already using the Mac are an important group of users to capture in terms of promoting Linux. Most Mac users are much more tech-savvy than Windows users without being hardcore geeks. Plus, it seems like all the tech reporters use Macs. These people, tech reporter or not, are likely to spread their OS of choice to many more people. True there are people like this already using Linux or still using Windows, but that is not an excuse to ignore a bunch more of them.

For these two reasons, it is important that Linux distros target not just Windows users, but Mac users too.

Ever since Dell announced it would start selling Ubuntu computers, Linux people have been urging everyone to support Dell and buy a Dell Ubuntu PC whenever they need a new computer. Most recently, a Linux Journal article concluded “not only should readers of Linux Journal try to buy systems from Dell and other companies that are offering ready-configured GNU/Linux systems, but we should encourage others to do the same.” To be fair, the conclusion is “buy systems from Dell and other companies,” not just Dell, but still I cannot fully agree.

I am not trying to say that what Dell is doing is bad in any way, but it is just not up to the standards of smaller vendors such as System 76 and ZaReason. Dell hides their Linux systems so well that it can be hard to find them even if you are looking for them. The chances of someone not already familiar with Linux finding the page are very low. Plus, even if you do find the page, you’re first presented with a page that essentially directs new users back to Windows.

I suppose I can understand Dell’s concern. People expecting Windows and getting something else could be a tech support nightmare. Because I understand why Dell does what they do, I am not suggesting you not buy from Dell, but it seems like the spotlight should be put on smaller companies truly promoting Linux, not the huge giant that is still a little scarred of Linux.

The original plan was that the upcoming release of Ubuntu, Hardy Heron, would have a completely new theme. As many people know, in the end it was decided that the new theme would be delayed until the next release. At first, this decision disappointed me, as I am sure it disappointed many others. More recently, however, I downloaded the latest development version and got a chance to explore the theme changes that have been made. Based on what I saw and what I am seeing on my current desktop, I am no longer disappointed about the delay of the new theme for two reasons.

First, the theme for Hardy Heron, if not radically different from Gutsy Gibbon, is very nice. The desktop background in particular is just amazing. The Coding Studio has some screen shots, but they really don’t do justice to this amazing background. (I also like that the same background without the heron is available for anyone who thinks the heron is too distracting.) Additionally, the orange highlights on the menus seem to bring the theme from brown to orange, which should make a lot of people happy. (I liked brown, but I like orange even better.)

The second reason for my disappointment going away has to do with what I hope the new theme could be when it finally comes. With an extended period of time to create the new theme, I am hoping that it will be more than just a new look on the same user interface. I think Ubuntu’s new theme, even if it means missing Intrepid Ibex, should go beyond what people expect. At a minimum use a dock or something that has not yet been done by major distributions. Even better, hold a competition for the best GIMP/Photoshop mockup and invite unrealistic ideas. Then take one of those “unrealistic” ideas and make it real.

Ubuntu does not need to be tied to the standard look of GNOME, KDE, Windows, or OS X. When the new theme finally becomes a reality, it should be something not seen before. It should make people want Ubuntu on their desktops.

Brilliant Brainstorms will be a weekly-ish summary of some of the best brainstorms from the Ubuntu Brainstorm site. In the beginning it may not always come exactly once a week or on the same day, but, if it becomes popular, it should become more regular.

With the increasing popularity of free web mail, more and more people are bound to be looking for a way to get their web mail on their computer. If you look at my tutorial on using GMail with Evolution, you can tell just how difficult it would be for a new user to figure out how to get their web mail on their PC. If GMail, Yahoo Mail, Live Mail, etc. were an option in Evolution (the GNOME default email program,) it would make it so much easier for new users.

The idea behind Ubuntu Brainstorm is to get ideas and suggestions from Ubuntu users, but in order to expect feedback from users, developers must show how they are using that feedback. Both of these ideas provide methods for users to see what is going on behind the scenes, without having to look at the source code :-).

Although the example files could be much worse, they could also be much better. Showing off impressive formatting in office files and high-quality videos promoting Ubuntu (there are plenty user made Ubuntu ads) could make a good impression on a new user.

Although the reliability of SMART seems to be in question, as far as I am concerned, any chance of warning a user before a crash should not be ignored.

This is almost more of a bug-fix than an idea, but currently when you put in a disk that was not removed properly you get a big scary error message that directs you to execute a command in the terminal. Come on. Windows users often don’t bother to unmount their drives at all, they just pull.

Everex is bringing the CloudBook to Japan with one interesting addition - a touchscreen (and bluetooth,) according to Engadget and Impress. While this version does run XP, I see this as a minor thing. If you look at the history of the CloudBook hardware, it was originally running Windows. I suspect that when the touchscreen CloudBook is brought to other countries, it will more than likely run Linux again.

Adding a touchscreen will give the CloudBook a significant differentiating factor between it and the Eee PC. Although I am not convinced the touchscreen will offset the increased price (personally I do not see the appeal of a touchscreen on a UMPC), it will at least be interesting to see a real competitor to the Eee PC that stands a chance.

Just like with the Eee PC, ever since the gPC started the low-cost Linux desktop market (yeah, yeah I am sure there is some cheap Linux PC that came before it), many, many companies have rushed to essentially copy the design and call it their own. This is understandable in the case of the Eee PC, since it has done so well, but it makes a lot less sense in the case of the gPC, since the gPC and all the copies so far have basically failed. I can even understand some early rip-offs thinking they could do better, but after every product in the market flops, you would think the flow of these cheap Linux PCs would stop, but it has not. Shuttle just set a launch date of mid-April for their “KPC.” (Even the name is a rip-off.)

While I am saying that companies should stop copying a tried and failed idea, I am not saying that no one should try to enter this cheap Linux PC market. Just don’t do the same thing as everyone else. To figure out how to make a better cheap Linux PC, look at the Eee PC. One major factor, at least in my opinion, in the Eee PC’s success is that it has appeal to both geeks and regular people. On the other hand, the gPC has almost no appeal to a geek (why would they want another underpowered computer even if it were free?)

There are plenty of ways to increase the geek appeal of a cheap Linux PC, you just have to think of it as a little more than your average Dell PC. As one commenter named Robert Pogson pointed out in a comment on “Will Asus’s UMPC Success Carry into Linux Desktops?,” Asus could make their new cheap Linux desktop PC a “base station for the eee (backup, software repository, home files, printing…).” Or how about an inexpensive media center/home server computer? All of this could be done.

The cheap Linux desktop PC market is not hopeless, it just needs some products that are not copies of failed ideas.

Since Asus said they planned to sell Eee PCs with Windows pre-installed, a lot of people, including Asus themselves, have tried to predict which version of the Eee PC, the one with Linux or the one with Windows, will do the best. It is an interesting question, particularly since Linux has not traditionally done well with the non-geeky, mostly uninformed group of people who will really be deciding how well each version does, since they are the majority of people. While you might expect that the past will simply repeat itself and Windows will triumph again, Linux has never been given a chance before in the way it is being given a chance now, so the situation is different.

Put yourself in the shoes of an uninformed person looking at two models of Eee PCs. They both look the same (after all, what does GB or RAM mean?), but one says Windows and the other says Linux. Since you don’t really understand what Linux is and you may only have a vague idea what Windows is, what do you do? Ask the sales person. (Or scroll down and read the product details in the case of an online store.)

Typically, this would be where Linux gets unfairly put down by the Microsoft marketing giant. In most circumstances, the sales person would basically tell you that Windows is better (although not always) and that would be the end of it. To prevent this from happening, however, I propose Asus create a small set of bullet point benefits for each that the sales people can explain to potential buyers or that can be posted on retail websites. For example:

Windows:

• Most people are familiar with Windows, so unless you are already a Mac or Linux user, you will know how to operate the Eee PC as soon as you take it out of the box.
• All of your existing programs will work on your new Eee PC.

Linux:

• The interface is customized specifically for the Eee PC.
• Linux will run faster than Windows in most cases.
• No anti-virus software is needed as there are no viruses for Linux.
• Although things may not work exactly as you expect them to, most common tasks can be done as easily on Linux as on Windows.

With a set of fairly unbiased and easy to understand points like this, everyone could make an informed decision on which Eee PC to buy. Personally (and I expect many people will agree), if people make an informed decision to choose Windows, I have no problem with that.

Instead of buying OLPCs or Classmate PCs, one community in Brazil is looking at their own solution to bring technology into their schools (using Linux of course). Their solution is a touchscreen desktop computer, according to CNet. At around $550 and lacking the mobility of the OLPC, it is not, however, clear if this new solution is really better.

The only real advantage this solution has over the OLPC (or similar inexpensive UMPCs) is the screen, which is both bigger and a touch screen. On the other hand, the OLPC is much cheaper and is very mobile, so children can take it home and use it there, allowing a student to continue to learn, explore, and figure out how the technology works. Given the benefits and disadvantages of each, which one is the best?

First of all, in some situations the touchscreen solution may not be an option at all, due to the price. If you have over a million kids to provide with a computer, spending $350 more per kid is a big deal.

Even if the touchscreen solution is an option, is it really the best option? At first the touchscreen seems like a real advantage, but what can a touchscreen do that a regular mouse and keyboard cannot (other than look cool?) (It appears there is also a keyboard, so typing is not an issue.)

Overall, allowing students to continue their learning and exploration at home at their own pace seems to be more important than providing a touchscreen at school and saving $350 just makes UMPCs like the OLPC even more attractive.

To be fair, the CNet article does make it clear that the people behind the touchscreen idea do not think this would work anywhere and there is also the advantage that most of the money goes into the Brazilian economy. Still, I am a little skeptical of this idea.

Apparently in all the coverage of Windows on the Eee PC, one Asus announcement was almost missed: the EP20, Asus’s entrance into the cheap Linux desktop market, according to Eeextra. Although the (very few) details about it that are known do not seem to indicate there’s much here to get excited about, one thing does make it note-worthy.

So far, despite all the companies who’ve tried, no one has created a successful inexpensive desktop computer running Linux. The same is true of the Linux UMPC market, with the exception of Asus’s incredibly successful Eee PC. So what makes the EP20 notable is simply that it is Asus’s first attempt at the inexpensive Linux desktop market.

As I said, there is no indication that the EP20 itself is anything more than another variation on the same design for a cheap Linux PC that so many others have tried. However, at the same time, I am not sure I would have been able to tell that the Eee PC was any better than the CloudBook, or any other Linux UMPC.  Of course, Asus was first into the UMPC market,  which is an advantage that it will not have in the desktop market.

The real question with the EP20 is will Asus succeed again as they did with the Eee PC, or will the EP20 go nowhere and die, as so many similar cheap Linux PCs have?

Brilliant Brainstorms will be a weekly-ish summary of some of the best brainstorms from the Ubuntu Brainstorm site. In the beginning it may not always come exactly once a week or on the same day, but, if it becomes popular, it should become more regular.

There are many automated tasks that people have their computers doing all the time such as downloading a big file, doing a backup, installing updates, and other similar tasks.  But when a task like this starts while you are working on something, especially on older computers, it can bog down the computer and make it hard for you to do anything. If this idea were implemented, these sorts of tasks would take place while the screensaver was running, so your work would never be interrupted.

If you have ever been to a Linux support forum, you have seen the numerous threads asking “why does my <name of hardware> not work?” This idea would make it so that users would be told up front before installation that some of their hardware would not work, or that it would all work, which is much better than having them waste their time installing Linux, only to find it does not work. At least if they are told up front that their hardware is incompatible they will not come away thinking Linux does not work at all.

While guides for people interested in getting involved in open-source projects exist, they are usually not as newbie-friendly as they should be and often link to multiple long tutorials, leaving the possible volunteer confused as to what they should do. Improving a new developer’s experience could dramatically increase the number of people willing to help out with Ubuntu. This would be particularly helpful for non-professional programmers, such as high school and collage students who have taken courses, but never programmed professionally.