Why is the penguin is crawling?
10 September 2008
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10 Comments
From the OS platform statistics at w3schools, we can see that as of August, 2008 only 3.9 percent belongs to Linux. Whereas, Vista’s users are 12.5 percent. Vista manages to pull off 5.2 percent increase in last 8 months compared to Linux’s meager 0.3 percent. So, why is the penguin is crawling?
- People are afraid of the penguin. Many people think that Linux would not be able to satisfy all their computing needs. Or they simply do not want to get their hands dirty. Here are two great articles which helps to bust Linux myths (here and here).
- Major players in the business neglect Linux. Companies like Adobe, Google do not favor Linux as much as they favor Windows or Mac. Google runs its server on Linux, but when they release their first web-browser, guess WHAT? Its for Windows, Linux users will have to wait. Adobe products are not native to Linux (can run under wine though). Why can not they port it for Linux?
- Microsoft’s strategy of compensating OS with high end hardware seems to be working. So, what you can not run Vista on your current hardware? Go and get yourself a new advanced (highly priced) hardware. Hardware manufacturers are happy as long as they sell their products.
- There is plethora of Linux distributions alive. Everyone is making their own distribution. Instead of making their own distribution, they should work to improve few major distributions. How many times we have heard that although Ubuntu is Debian based distribution but it contributes very less to Debian.
- Companies selling computers these days mostly sell MS’s OS as the primary OS. New users have very less option to choose their OS. I bought my laptop with Vista because I had no options available for the configuration I wanted. Although I do not use it but the money went MS’s safe.
- People already using Linux are happy as their own community, not spreading Linux. A new Linux user asking a newbie question in the forums are often bullied by more experienced users. In most case they do not care to answer.
As a Linux lover, I would appeal to all Linux user to spread and encourage Linux. What are you thoughts? Drop a comment.
ya dude…u have some very valid points there…i have to say except the forum for ubuntu (those tht i have tried)…i totally agree wid u, ppl tend to ignore newbies…this is the main factor y the popularity of linux is decreasing. As it is linux requires a slight technical knowledge, so many ppl r dropped here…and those who r brave enough to try linux (newbies) dont get the appropriate support which i think is necessary bcoz once u get a basic idea linux isnt tht hard also…and since they dont get any help they loose interest and switch back to their original OS.
Games. You still have to have a windows box to play most games.
Games is an issue not as big issue with wine and cedega. Many games comes for native linux these days (but only a few). Games- i would say buy a console (instead of buying hardware to run it windows).
Linux is a nice OS, I’m a fan myself. It’s free, it’s open, it’s customizable, it’s extensible. It’s used on servers, cell phones, embedded systems, supercomputers and what not. You want to know the real reason why it’s a failure on the desktop? It’s because it sucks there. It’s chaos, it’a complete mess. It needs to become a platform. No desktop platform, no chance of success EVER. I wish something could be done about it, but I don’t see it happening. Too many people, so few agreements about anything. Sad.
nice thoughts there Quem, i also think they unify there resources and head in one way or may be 2-3.
Yes, i see reason #4 and #5 most crucial. Lack of standards and less contribution to one another causes major setbacks to each distros. PC manufacturers should also give other options to consumers. But most of them are tied to Windows and so the fellow consumers.
In such situations no one would like to use Linux, except handful of computer nerds and it makes bad impression of Linux as geeky.
I was ready to install Linux and decided for PC Linux OS. I guess that with a little research i can get used to it, but the main thing i’m using the computer for are programs for painting and graphics. Although i understood that there is Wine, that makes Windows applications run on Linux, from what i’ve read on forums, it seems that Corel Painter doesn’t work at all and Photoshop CS2 actually works badly. Wherever i look for info, i get the same answer: there is Gimp to replace them. But Gimp and similar programs aren’t an alternative because they are not for professional use.
Is there any hope that this could be fixed soon? I’m stuck with Windows only for this reason.
And another thing, i’ve heard that a failed Linux install can ruin a harddisk..i think it’s probably not true, but i wouldn’t want to try before knowing if it’s a possibility.
(sorry for my english)
@K
It wont ruin your hard disk for sure.
And as far as Photoshop is concerned gimp is the closest and free alternative. As is Inkscape for Illustrator. Both may not fully replace them but you can pull of almost 90 of things if not 100%. But still you can try Gimp in windows and try to work on it. And as far professional use is concerned there is no such label as “professional use”.
ok I feel obligated to respond.
I appreciate the desire to spread linux and comment on its growth but…
LINUX has already WON. MS lost.
Dont believe me? look at the stats above again 12.5% of XP users have UPGRADED to Vista, with its subsidizing and almost singular availability on new high end products. .3% of users switched. I feel pretty safe in saying no one switches from linux to windows, XP is practically unusable once you have had a friendly OS.
more fun stats for further research
MSN Travel –> Linux powered (hahahahahah,no seriously if thats not an admission what is?)
top 500 supercomputers
netbooks (well the usable ones, and majority)
Mac OS (yes I know it is BSD based and not Linux, but we are still talking UNIX derivatives)
every successful business that did not start before 1994, google, wikipedia, myspace, facebook, amazon, ebay, etc, etc, etc
and last but not least the list of people in my life using a linux distro (I recommend Ubuntu for new users, single desktop, no compiz, yes it is cool, keep it simple and upgradeable, let them figure the rest out)
My Dad (Ubuntu)
My Sister (Ubuntu)
My Sisters BF (Ubuntu)
MY GF (Ubuntu)
MY GF’s Sister (Ubuntu)
My GF’s Mom (Ubuntu)
6 random people at the Starbucks around the corner who were originally planning on getting a new comp
All my geek friends (Fedora/Centos, geek in the nicest way guys)
Every admin I know, even straight windows admins…hell its what rdesktop and vmware are for. (Various)
2 additional comments here:
In response to yeah but you support them. “No, No I dont, I dont have to come over to there house and clean viruses, fix dll errors, reinstall windows, maintain backups, or participate in illegal software installations, Linux just works”
In response to you installed it for them. “Yeah most of the top group, but then again my sister did it on her own drunk on tequila”
In summary Cost of Windows ($100), Office ($200), Photoshop (lets face it your copy is illegal), VirusScan ($50/year and you get them anyway), Nero ($60)
Cost of Ubuntu Linux (30 minutes for broadband download and installation) which includes OpenOffice, Gimp, Brasero
**Note virus scan skipped as a BullS*** scan is NO replacement for fixing the code
Do I expect windows to just die? No, but I expect it will go faster than DOS 1981-2000 R.I.P.
I love LINUX. I use Fedora in my Lappy and for my server as well as all the clients. I have almost forgotten wat is windows and virus.
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