RE: Linux on the desktop

Here are my two cents: the problem is the lack of standards.

I have some influence in decision making regarding operating systems. A big
number of my clients would be pretty happy if I installed Linux in their
boxes and I would be even happier since maintenance would be much easier to
do with Linux. But...

I know what your answer will be since I've posted this almost everywhere and
I always get the same response (maybe this is only a serious problem in
Spain, who knows...) The problem lies mainly in Internet Explorer, but you
can generalise it to *lack of standards*.

I can see some eyebrows rising, but the point is this:

Who is defining the standards? The ISO? Really? Aren't the standards the
.doc, .xls, etc. formats? Isn't the standard handling ActiveX, ASP, and
don't know how many other Microsoft internet business applications methods?
Every time I've tried to switch to Linux I've seen myself unable to *use*
the internet properly. I already said that in some other post, but if the
W3C or whoever else wants to convince Microsoft to do things according to
their so-called standards I wish them good luck. All I know is I can surf
the whole internet with IE but I can't with Mozilla (or any other Linux
browser). End of the story.

While I'm unable to buy my bus tickets without Internet Explorer, or read
the latest price lists from my providers (which WILL NOT load into
OpenOffice.org, I try it every time a new OO.org version is released), no
one will convince me to use Linux. (I don't need to be convinced by the way,
I'm praying for the day I can use it and forget about Windows).

My suggestion to the community would be very clear: crack those closed
formats as rapidly as you can and crack them COMPLETELY, so there's no way
to produce an Excel or Word document that won't load into OO.org and there's
no way to produce a web app that Mozilla won't be able to handle. THEN we
decision makers and IT managers will be able to guarantee our customers that
they won't have ONE SINGLE issue with the formats thing or a web application
in particular. 

Because the fact is you can certainly guarantee that today when you put
Windows in your customers' computers and ONLY then.

There are so many apps that can fulfil the needs of that Joe Sixpack you're
talking about that I don't really believe it's the lack of applications what
stops Joe Sixpacks of the world switching. People -like me- advising regular
users just have to make sure their customers' hard disks are filled with
that they need. My father (I also give free tech supp to my family :-)) will
never ever install anything in his computer (he wouldn't know how to, and he
doesn't want to either). He wants it running, period. But he will scream at
me if I tell him he can't use that particular web app because there's no way
to install IE on his computer, or that .xls file full of macros and
Excel-only features that his provider sent him will not load into OO.org.

He couldn't care less about the name or even the look of the OS (he didn't
even mention the new XP look). The desktop metaphor is simply ubiquitous and
the use of 'windows, menus and pointers' standard isn't something he'll miss
by using Linux (because it's there, obviously).

What's the influence people like me can have on other people's computing
habits? I believe it's HUGE. Give me that de-facto standards 100% compliance
and I'll put Linux in some 200 boxes this very week, from family PCs to
lawyers, dentists, engineers and secretaries. That's the range of customers
I handle and I'm pretty sure not even a 5% would complain if I took Windows
away from them.

Pablo

PS: I do think there's plenty of improvement to do regarding word
processors, but that's another story.


> -----Mensaje original-----
> De: annoyances-bounces-DzJonyRHso41Ayx8vbq1stBPR1lH4CV8@public.gmane.org [mailto:annoyances-bounces@dee-
> annleblanc.com] En nombre de Daniel C. von Asmuth
> Enviado el: lunes, 08 de diciembre de 2003 13:32
> Para: [email protected]
> Asunto: [Annoyances] Linux on the desktop
> 
> Why is Linux so slow to conquer the desktop?
> 
> The major obstacle seems to be the lack of applications.
> 
> Why are there so few applications for Linux?
> 
> Well, that's no true. If you search freshmeat and sourceforge you will
> find an ever growing number of software projects. The question should
> read "why are there so few commercial applications?".
> 
> The size of the market is smaller than for the Competition, but this is
> not the whole answer.
> 
> When you consider the failure of Linux desktop software like WordPerfect,
> ApplixWare and Kylix, an important reason would be the Gift Culture of the
> Linux crowd. They will go for anything that comes free of charge if they
> can. There is no Photoshop for Linux, because Gimp is good enough. There
> is an Oracle, but MySql is good enough for most users. TextMaker is a nice
> word processor, but the majority favours OpenOffice. (giving Sun a hard
> time to sell StarOffice).
> 
> A viable commercial Linux application will need some unique feature. There
> are examples, like Mathematica, SPSS, and BitKeeper, but these are outside
> Joe Sixpack's budget.
> 
> 
> Happy Holidays,
> 
> 
> 
> Daniel
> 
> 
> 
> --
> 			MONOPOLIE
> 	een vergissing van Windows in uw nadeel
> 	alle programma's zijn gestopt en niet opgeslagen gegevens verloren
> 	gooi Mijn Computer direkt in de Prullenbak
> 	ga niet langs Start; u ontvangt geen Eur 20.000
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