Thursday, July 12, 2007

Widespread Ubuntu or Linux acceptance depends on these 6 factors

A Lively 7-12-2007

I have been using Linux personally and professionally for over 12 years. Maybe you have just dipped into Linux with Ubuntu or some other flavor of Linux for the first time. Or maybe you are a Vista or XP user and want to try that Linux thing for yourself. Or your a seasoned Linux user probably administering a network somewhere and thrilling your supervisors with your in depth knowledge of a complex Linux cluster. Regardless, this is what it takes to makes Linux acceptable, well actually Ubuntu for this story because it's the top flavor right now and this is subject to change next month. More accepted means more of a market share and finally bring Linux to the masses. We need to do a Google or a Firefox with Linux, meaning an underdog rising up to claim it's place. Here's how.


(1) Eye Candy- The more eye candy Linux has, the better. Eye Candy is what made Microsoft, and to them its more important than functionality and stability it seems. Hopefully Ubuntu can continue to make it's releases as ascetically pleasing as possible as well as other Linux flavors.

(2) Gaming- OK, this is a real sore spot between hardcore Linux users and XP or Mac users. It's simple so read this out loud. Gaming makes a system more flexible and fun. Linux is a server not a desktop, so strip out all the server code and make it a desktop system. Then, a Linux company with deep pockets works with a gaming company to exclusively develop a few killer games that work only on Linux. Remember Halo for the XBOX? I know the hardcore Linux users always say Linux is not a gaming system, but gaming brings tons of development into the Linux arena. I am not talking about simple games, I am talking about awesome and complicated games not under some sort of lame emulation. With so many game platforms out there running today I don't see why this is so difficult for Linux. Currently Defcon is about the only cool game for Linux without emulation. Emulation is slow and stupid for games.

(3) Driver and related development creation and support- This is the Achilles heel of Linux. Why? Because depending on your hardware you may spend a day trying to get your video drivers going. This is unacceptable. The general public is not patient or willing to do this. Here is an example. For an experiment I let my 16 year old cousin, who is very game savvy and XP skilled for his age, load Ubuntu and goof around with it on a spare PC I had. He loaded it just fine, only needing help with the partition area. Once it was loaded he spent time with the simple games available like Sudoku, then checked out Open Office and Firefox. Then I loaded up all the cool new 3-D effect's for him which was a pain because I had to load ATI drivers for the video. If you like to load Linux over and over, be sure to have an ATI card because you will usually see the famous White cube of death as soon as 3-d stuff is enabled. I know Linux and what to do to get my ATI Radeon going correctly so my Cousin got to enjoy the 3-d stuff which he thought was awesome. Then he went to my other PC, fired up Windows XP and played Supreme Commander for over 3 hours. Now I can actually hear the hardcore Linux users yelling "Linux is not a gaming system" as I write this. My point is this. Most people have 1, maybe 2 PC's in the home. That means everyone in the family may be using the same PC for everything. Why is it so hard for someone or some company to develop a DirectX competing software for Linux? Who can do this? ATI/AMD and NVIDIA can do this. Will they? Probably not. Maybe Google can do it. They seem to be doing everything else.

(4) Adobe, Adobe, Adobe- If Adobe ports all their major products to Linux, exactly like they did from Apple to Windows years ago, Linux will be so popular Microsoft will be a word to describe
Erectile Dysfunction for a badly endowed male. Maybe Pfizer can buy the name and make a new drug. Adobe flagship products running under Linux is CRITICAL for success.

(5) Apple is truly a Phoenix- Apple is a great company and has cool products. Expensive but cool products. Love it or hate it, it has it's place. This is a company that was in the toilet just some years ago and actually got millions from Microsoft when it was in trouble. These companies were bitter enemies. So what's this got to do with Linux you ask? Well its a lesson for the big Linux players out there and anyone who wants to break the grip of consumers only having certain choices. OSX was a COMPLETE departure from the older MAC OS. Based on a flavor of UNIX, it radically changed the entire company's direction. Adobe and other major players followed. Then ITUNES, IPOD and now the IPHONE. Seems to me that with the right direction and capital, plus cooperation within certain companies and anything is possible.

(6) Linux people not being so snooty- I read alot of online blogs, webistes and such dedicated to Linux and constantly see uber Linux users cutting down newbies and driving them back to Microsoft or Apple land. Listen to me all you think you know it all types. On one hand you are complaining about how you hate Microsoft, then you say how great Linux is and how it does everything but make love to you, then you berate newer users when they post questions about Linux that you think are stupid or simple. Not everyone spends the entire day writing Pearl scripts for fun or trying to recompile kernels. HELP THESE PEOPLE! They are trying something new! You were there once too when you began using computers. Explain to them where to get help, new user groups or what to use to replace Microsoft products in Linux. This will get more people into it. Explain dual booting so they can try both but please do something besides making them feel bad for trying to figure out Linux. It is NOT a simple system for the casual user.

These 6 topics are CRITICAL for Ubuntu, or any other Linux company to really succeed and gain respectful market share. Maybe with all the stuff Google is doing (who I think should just buy SUN, Novell and Silicon Graphics and develop a kickass Software/Hardware system *kidding*) Ubuntu, Adobe, ATI, NVIDIA, Intel, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive, can team up to create compatibility under Linux. I know, I know it's a long shot, but look what happened with Apple?

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