What Linux Needs to Stay Competitive
For some time, Windows Vista’s perceived failure has given Linux a free ride. It has been nice, but it will not remain. From the looks of things, Windows 7 will be a solid release for Microsoft, possibly even one of the best. With this competition, what does Linux need to stay competitive?
- More Pre-Install Deals For so long, Linux has spread through people installing it on random computers. Although this has gotten fairly easy, there are still so many problems. First, it is practically impossible to support all of the harware out there. Second, most people just don’t install their own OSs – they buy new computers with the OS pre-installed. For both these reasons and more, Linux needs more computers shipping with it pre-installed.
- Better Netbook Distros Some people are saying that Windows 7 will crush Linux on netbooks, which might be true, except that the difference in quality between the original Eee PC Linux distro and the kind of stuff you will be seeing by the time Windows 7 has been released will be huge. That said, it is important to improve Linux distributions for netbooks so that Linux continues to dominate netbooks.
- Better Out-of-the-Box Experience When I got my M1530 from Dell with Ubuntu, most stuff worked great, but a few things still needed some tweaking to get working. That tweaking should be done before I got the machine. The user should open the PC and have it work.
- Better Windows Compatibility No matter if it means improving OpenOffice, improving WINE, or promoting Windows virtual machines, compatibility with Windows and Mac OS X has to be perfect. Without this, many people will be unable to switch to Linux or have initial unfavorable impressions, which may shape their views on Linux.
- Make Companies Offering Linux Comfortable to Promote It Unfortunately, Dell has hidden Ubuntu away for the most part and almost pretended it does not exist, despite offering it on some of their PCs. I cannot claim to know the exact reasons why, but companies like Canonical need to find out and solve any problems that can be solved, so that Linux can get some good promotion through hardware companies.
November 6th, 2008 at 10:43 am
I agree with you specially on #4, I do not care about tossing windows away, I worry about my thousands of dollars invested on software for windows (photoshop, video editing, games, etc)
whenever i say to some one “why don’t you try linux?”, the first question once I finish explaining what is linux, is would I be able to run my existing software?
November 6th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Do more research.
1) All three vendors do linux on product. Hard to find Dell product. Enter ‘Dell Linux’ in Google. You are two mouse clicks away from their product selection page.Couldn’t be easier unless a Dell rep handed you a product slick. HP has been selling Linux longer than anyone else in their workstation line of systems. All 3 vendors provide linux preinstalled of selected models of product They are the big three with some 90% of the market. So the market angle is specious.
‘First, it is practically impossible to support all of the harware out there….’ This too is a red herring. First of all none of the vendors support all the hardware out there anyway. The big three do not place linx on their entire product lines anyway, they select the most compatible hardware to use with Linux. Second that is not necessarily the problem of Linux as it is the OEM peripheral mfrs not want to provide support with drivers. Don’t flog the horse when it is the cart that is broken.
2) Probably true. But my complaint right now is all we have seen of W7 is screen pops. Nobody had gotten their hand on W7 internals outside of the MS circle. That is the same round of releases we had with Vista and what a disaster that turned out to be. It looks like MS is pushing the Aero experience even on W7. That dictates a high end graphics card. Few of the Nettops are proviisoned with those kind of graphic chips on concerns about power. So if W7 either dictates Aero or that is the only way you get the pleasing experience that might just preclude its use on NetTops.
Better Linux for MID’s sure. But that’s coming already. Ubuntu has a MID version already. Suse I believe is already working a version as well. And there is of course Android. It would be a killer app for a NetTop or mide. Add OOfice and stir lightly and there is your all in one data/comm/game system.
3) True, but you are griping at the wrong company. Dell is the integrator so they should have done a better job. Or you should have gone to a Linux oriented retailer who does such integration and they do exist by the way.
4) You need to get specific. I have not problem with participating in AD, using Windows shares, or offering them or using windows defined print resources.
5) See my point in (1) above. There are many things on Dell’s website that are hard to find. That’s by design. They want you on their website as long as possible. Its supermarket marketing strategy. If you know how to use Google its a couple of mouse clicks away.
I can come to only two conclusions. Either you are a Linux newbie who has used it for a while, like what they see but are frustrated they can’t get to the power because its not ‘easy’ like Windows. The other is less gregarious, you are just lazy.
November 6th, 2008 at 11:45 am
“compatibility with Windows and Mac OS X has to be perfect.”
In fact that is not a Linux fault. It’s hard to mantain compatibility with $omeone who’s trying to avoid it.
November 6th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
JohnMc – OK. First of all, I don’t care who you want to put the blame on. It needs to be fixed.
1) You said the three major OEMs sell Linux, but you only mentioned two. Also, I am really just talking about consumer non-netbook Linux, thus Dell is the only company that offers Linux, excluding netbooks and enterprise machines. I am perfectly aware Dell sells computers with Ubuntu – I own one. I would like to see more OEMs offering Linux.
3) Once again, I don’t care who you blame it on, it needs to be fixed.
4) OK, name all the common Windows programs? Do they all either work perfectly under WINE or have 100% compatible alternatives? No, not really.
5) First, I think Dell wants you to buy computers, not be so annoyed with trying to find something that you go to HP. Second, to use Google, you have to know what you are looking for. Is the average WIndows user just going to suddenly Google “Dell Linux,” when they have never heard of Linux?