[bk]

Background: Former OS X user, switched to Ubuntu/Win7 dual boot, spending almost all time in Ubuntu.

Quick thoughts:

Linux on the desktop should be rebranded as Linux on the laptop. I haven't used a desktop for at least 6 years. This relates directly to what my main impression is: For power users, using Linux feels superior in almost every regard, except hardware support.

This is bitter-sweet, because installing/purging apps effortlessly from repositories, keeping a system up to date, and having good usability is fantastic, but the paper cuts are there - brightness adjustment doesn't work, skype video failed suddenly, can't configure touchpad fully (disable tapping, use side-scrolling, etc.). Battery life is noticeably inferior to Win/OS X.

Also, buying PC hardware is a nightmare - way too many models, with terrible nomenclature. Models with entirely different processors, etc. have almost the same name, etc.

I dream of a "Linux Apple" - a company that sells a small but smart range of laptops (even at a premium) with a selection of hardware that guarantees that a major linux distro will run on it without paper cuts. Companies like System76 fail - their machines are too heavy and the battery life sucks (same for others, not singling them out).

[Hexstream]

"I dream of a 'Linux Apple' - a company that sells a small but smart range of laptops (even at a premium) with a selection of hardware that guarantees that a major linux distro will run on it without paper cuts."

You mean like this?

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=...

If it comes with Ubuntu preinstalled it "probably" guarantees hardware compatibility.

[rsheridan6]

I bought one of those in 2007 when they were new, and it was not exactly smooth sailing. It most certainly was not a 'Linux Apple.' Nothing short of alchemic transmutation is going to make a Dell into any kind of Apple.

[stinkytaco]

Certainly laptops are where the market is. I relabeled it below as "Linux on anything that might otherwise run Windows". I think that covers what people are generally talking about when they say "Linux on the Desktop".

[jasonlbaptiste]

I dream of this company once a week after using Ubuntu. System76 has a noble effort going on, but it just isn't elegant.

[berlinbrown]

That is a good point.