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Desktop Linux: The dream is dead

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Josh:


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.
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More at source

ljbirns:
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,
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I disagree.  About 5 years a go I had an old desktop compute whose HD had died.  I put a new HD in and installed Ubuntu because of the buzz for Linux.  I wanted to learn and the best way was to install and play with it.  I found it much more difficult than Windows. Installing programs was I found particularly difficult.  I am fairly computer literate
( back in the late 70's I could program in TI Basic for our companies TI 990 ) but Ubuntu was just too much trouble for me, and I suspect, for the average user.

Eóin:
5 years is a long long time in Linux land. Things really have improved.

Gwen7:
linux primarily failed at desktop success because it refused to knuckle under and accept being loaded with DRM enforcement software? and the public would rather live with DRM than force the media giants to rethink their strategies?

that's about the conclusion you might expect from a *pc* focussed website like pcworld/uk. :-))

i think the general public's indifference about which os it's using combined with the inertia of sticking with what you already know best has more to do with it. otherwise there wouldn't be half so many win xp holdouts.

ljbirns:
5 years is a long long time in Linux land. Things really have improved.
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You mean I should try again ?  I still have the old computer.

i think the general public's indifference about which os it's using combined with the inertia of sticking with what you already know best has more to do with it. otherwise there wouldn't be half so many win xp holdouts.

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The general public doesn't care what OS they are using as long as what they are using is easy for them to use and does what they want done.
My guess is the XP holdouts are more about cost of changing to Win 7 ( not Vista since Vista was universally panned )  since XP  does what they want and need.
So until ttheir XP system dies they will stick with it.

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