Appealing to the larger, less geeky audience is a difficult task. Linux is trying to penetrate the desktop, and the most noticeable success was convincing Dell to offer pre-installed Ubuntu.
The second key to success would be to make mass deployment easier. Windows has always had the tools for complicated, enterprise-wide deployments; Linux wasn’t paying as much attention. And it’s not just about package management, it’s more about centralized configuration and monitoring. That’s what Canonical is trying to do with Landscape.
Landscape isn’t Webmin for a simple reason: It manages more boxes. So instead of having to login to each one’s Webmin interface, changes can be propagated easily across multiple Ubuntu desktops.
I think the third step to tip Linux would be distributed package management. I love how software is easier to install on Ubuntu as opposed to OSX and Windows. But there comes a time where third-party developers and ISVs just have to publish they’re software without having to use ten different package formats, then run through each distro’s maintainers. Little’s been in this area, but it’s a step forward.
Some claimed 2007 could be the year of the Linux desktop. Feel free to comment on that.
Comments (2)
Cononical seems to be our last hope, doesn’t it?
I don’t think there’s a “last hope”. Canonical are driving the desktop adoption now, just like RedHat was doing before.
I think it’s not as easy to kill a free OS, it would always find a niche, and there would always be a crazy-enough group that would develop it.