Maybe there will be a year of the Linux Desktop after all

Posted March 31st, 2009 by kaikokan

We have all seen this great article:

http://blog.linuxtoday.com/blog/2009/03/53-pages-10-mon.html

Where a 2 page article in the NY times is referenced. This security article doesn't refer to windows as being the security risk. And the NY times reporter responds to the inquiry by saying this is a organized systematic espionage article. Which has nothing to do with Linux. No it has nothing to do with Linux, that's why it's completely insane. If it were about Linux it would be about a systematic failure in espionage.

that's not all

Then next to that we have windows virus problem number gazillion running around the internet.

Forget what I said

Forget everything I ever said about Linux on the desktop, this may be an indication the demise of the windows desktop will be here soon. So maybe we are not going to have to wait to long for Linux to grow and be the biggest Desktop OS.

Fear

Now it's just going to take the general public to notice the following, as the criminals and criminal government organizations get better at their stealing of money and information. The people will start noticing they can't use their desktops (safely) anymore. But they'll also notice they can still use their linux based mobile devices without fear.

motivation

And what is the best motivation you can give people, yes fear!
These security leaks are bad and awful, but maybe there's something good about it. There may be light on the end of this dark windows tunnel. Here we have again a good motivation we can give to the bosses, yet another risk, it's not only downtime and loss of information. It's also loss of confidentiality, this can ruin your business.
Or it can ruin your country.

It's time

It's time to step up and inform the Leaders in the organizations of the world of the risks they take, once more they notice what's on stake.
If these newspapers would just do their job, it would help a lot. But I think the message should be brought the Open Source way. If enough small voices can build entire operating systems, enough small voices can also build the truth in the mind of the decision makers.

If you have a voice than use it wherever you can, and convince someone. We want our information protected.

the year of Linux

Anonymous 2 years 45 weeks 1 hour 26 min ago

I started using Linux about a yr ago.I have found it very easy to work with and very full featured. It has been my privilege to help convert 11 house holds over to Linux in the pat yr. that works out to about 26 users, including children and almost as many machines. There have been things that have had to be overcome that is for sure. But every time we go looking, we find an answer that is as good or better than using Windows. I am no Linux power user and I had never looked at a Linux system till 14 months ago. Linux is ready for the average user. We have home net works that are set up wireless, and Ethernet. Both easy to set up. In one home they tried to set up vista as the print server but never could figure it out. So they set the printer on the Linux machine and have been able to by accident,find and network the printer with the other (Vista) machines. The head of this household once worked for Micro Soft as a tech rep.. Balance all this out with an increase in system speed just in not having to run anti virus,the lower cost of hardware compared to Mac,well it is hard to find a better XP replacement whether it is and older but still capable machine,a modern home computer or a replacement OS to restore functionality to a current Vista machine. With every Micro Soft failure the interest gets more intense and in greater #s. I have had 3 calls this week,people interested in exploring Linux. With all that is in the News I think this will continue Mike in Tucson

It's not the year of the Linux desktop ...

Anonymous 2 years 45 weeks 2 hours 13 min ago

... but the Age of Linux that has arrived. From the mobile to the desktop to the server, the rising tide of Open Source is changing the software landscape forever.

"There won't be a year of

Anonymous 2 years 45 weeks 8 hours 16 min ago

"There won't be a year of Linux desktop until that desktop works as well as Windows desktop does."

That's easy to achieve: All you need to do is run an early version of KDE or Gnome, and have a daily cron job to run a script that makes small changes to a few randomly-selected files ans then sleeps for a random interval before forcing a reboot.

I suppose you might need some kind of fork bomb to cause the machine to slow to a crawl from time to time, but there's plenty of software out there to do that.

Objectivity please

Anonymous 2 years 45 weeks 9 hours 13 min ago

I really like Linux, but I think many Linux devotees are being a little naive here. If Linux were the most widely-used OS, where do you think malware authors would be concentrating their efforts?

Don't let your hatred for Microsoft blind you. There's already enough jingoism in the Linux community. Let's see a little objectivity.

LINUX IS SAFE BY DESIGN !!!

Anonymous 2 years 44 weeks 6 days 20 hours ago

period.

Much more work needed.

Anonymous 2 years 45 weeks 11 hours 35 min ago

Yeah right. There won't be a year of Linux desktop until that desktop works as well as Windows desktop does. Linux also needs better APIs for developing software, better development tools,better fonts with better font rendering.

And no more commandline magic. While it can be there for advanced users, but normal desktop user should never ever need to type anything to the commandline. So more GUI tools for configuring the system.

Linux needs away to install software from the web. Just browse to the homepage of your favorite ftp client and download installer for Linux. That what we need. Or distros should have always latest version available when released. Not necessary all the libraries must most common desktop software. If,say, pidgin releases a new version it should available in the repositories without need to wait a new distro release.

APIs for developing software should be stable,tools should be stable. They should not change every other month. Once you're developing software using Glade,and you think your software is ready you'll notice that "well glade seems to depracated...well I just redesign my GUI to support this new stuff which will propaply be depracated tommorrow." At the moment it feels that Mono is the best shot for developing desktop software for Linux.

Default theme of the distros desktop should be really designed to look nice and professional. Microsoft really do spend some time and money hiring designers.

Politics allowing.

Linux is still too much of a

Anonymous 2 years 45 weeks 14 hours 3 min ago

Linux is still too much of a hassle to use. I've been using it on my work laptop (since they wouldn't buy me a Mac) form months now and although I like it, I can't recommend it to anyone who doesn't want to fuss with it to get things to work. Until some distro can manage to just work, like Mac OS X, it'll never grow at a very fast pace. Linux Mint (what I'm using) is close, but there are still a million little deal breakers. I kind of like fidgeting with my computer and solving problems. When I got Citrix to print on my Linux partition, I actually shouted joyously. But for average Joe, it's still a pain. I mean, as much as Linux users say that repositories are a better way to get software than the way Windows and OS X do it, the usability of something like Synaptic is sorely lacking. You search for a package and you get like a million confusing entries. which of these am I supposed to install to get the program I want? To truly be the year of the linux desktop, Linux needs to be as easy as Mac OS X. I mean, in 5 years of using a Mac how many times have i had to go search for how to do something? Never. In 8 months of using Linux? Constantly.

Shrill?

Anonymous 2 years 45 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago

There do seem to be a lot of stories like these kicking around. Along with fervent denials by Microsoft supporters trying desperately to make out nothing is happening.

The Future OS WILL be LINUX!!! :D

Anonymous 2 years 45 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago

Linux IS the future of Operating Systems, there is no doubt in my mind about that! Mac OS X will continue to use BSD as its base and Microsoft
will abandon Windows for a Linux-like OS that will try to compete with
the others. Mark my words, this WILL happen!!!

Markus McLaughlin
linuxglobe.wordpress.com
Hudson, MA, USA