[eplawless]

I run a Windows install natively, as it's far more reliable than any desktop Linux distribution I have ever used. I then run Ubuntu 9.10 in a virtual machine on one of my monitors or in Unity mode or what have you. This works very well for me; when Ubuntu inevitably breaks, it's trivial to revert to a working snapshot, and it doesn't take down the majority of what I'm doing.

Linux still has a long way to go improving usability and user experience, as well as improving the generally poor quality of Linux desktop software.

I really like Linux. I use it daily, and I would like it to succeed. I hope that the things I've mentioned are improved to bring it up to par with newer versions of OS X and Windows.

[sid0]

That's pretty much how I use Linux on my Windows 7 notebook, except I only need to use it once a week or so. I really don't have the time to bother with all the hardware issues I remember facing back in the day, when I did have time to tinker around.

I see Linux's future being in a VM rather than on the desktop. I think more and more "power users" will eventually switch to using virtualized Linux on Windows or Mac, to get the power of Linux without any of the hassle.

[qjz]

Maybe the future of all desktop OSes is to run in a VM. I run Windows in a VM to sandbox it and ease rolling back if the system gets unstable or crufty. I run Linux natively, but like to check out new distros or test upgrades in a VM. It's incredibly easy to install a modern OS in a VM, especially because of the stable virtualized environment. I won't start a flame war about what makes the best host OS, but it certainly doesn't need to be a full-fledged desktop OS. It would be great to keep my own personal desktop VM on an encrypted thumbdrive and walk up to any machine, plug it in, and run it.