|
The real problem with desktop Linux is that people don't care. They use Windows because they have to. They use Windows because everything works with it and everything comes with it preinstalled. Everything works with Windows because people make sure that their things work on Windows because that's what everyone uses. I don't think anyone interested in "hackability" feels like it's analogous to having "drain cleaner poured on your face". There may be ways to make cool scripting more accessible, but there's nothing particularly contrived about it IMO. The bottom line is that people don't care that much about computers. If Windows lets them do everything they want to do, then there's no problem. And all most people want to do is use Facebook, Excel, the proprietary program needed for their profession, and email. All of these work fine on Windows and everyone knows how to get to them from the Windows interface. They know the ins and outs of Excel and for most Excel jockeys, OO Calc isn't going to cut it, because they have to relearn some shortcuts, button locations, etc. to use Calc, but they already know how to use Excel and can hit the ground running, so they prefer Excel. Same with almost all other software. So the real reason the Linux desktop isn't going anywhere is because nobody cares. If you want Linux desktops to proliferate, you have to give people a reason to care; something new and specific that a normal person would think is cool and buy-worthy. For most people, technical arguments like "The TCP/IP stack is great!", "iptables is great!", or whatever, they don't care about that. |