I wonder if after this, the kids in Cupertino are coming up with the new iProtect product line…

Woman Fights Serial Rapist with iPod Charger

I’m confused… What the huh…

I know that heading is going to draw fire.  Flaming, diahrea, explosive ridicule most likely.  That’s ok.  It’s a true statement.  However, I obviously need to qualify it to be proper.

As I’ve said before: A person’s experience “switching” to Linux will vary as much as their DNA varies.  Every person has their own unique needs, preferences and capabilities.  This is not lost on an operating system by any means.  If you’re the kind of user that is 100% happy doing nothing but Gmail/Hotmail, YouTube, reading news, and playing games, you will likely be 100% happy with almost any operating system, including Linux (whatever distro gives you wood).

If you are a seasoned Windows or OSX user, who has developed an intricate web of applications, scripts, utilities, and configuration settings to do an assortment of specific tasks, you may not be as happy… or happy at all.  You can still do email, surf the web, manage office suite documents, play (some) games and watch YouTube all day long.  But some of the dearest things you depend upon in OSX or Windows will not make you happy on Linux.

Am I picking on Linux?  Not really.  However, it brings up the viability of the argument that Linux is “ready” to knock Windows “off the desktop” of most computer users.  For some it is.  For some it is not.

I could cite specifics like lack of specific hard device drivers, flakiness of video options, limitations and complications of various FOSS applications, and nebulous support.  To be fair, Windows can suffer from those very same issues (except that FOSS apps are only one option, not THE option).  Case in point: Which is better?  Posting the same confusing question to dozens of discussion forums and getting flamed with answers like “RTFM!” and “stupid noob”, or pulling out the credit card to call for suppor, getting put on hold and then getting some half-baked goon in Bangalore who not only can’t understand the question but reads the “solution” from a queue card and closes the case.  Not much of a choice, is it?

As for applications… I got a ton of emails and blog replies suggesting this or that as a “perfect” or “near-perfect” replacement for “x” on Windows.  Almost NONE were “perfect” replacements.  In fact, only one was (GPAR2 in lieu of QuickPAR).  K3B is not a replacement for the entire Nero Ultra suite.  Not even close.  PAN is not a decent replacement for Newsbin Pro.  gtkPod, RhythmBox and Floola are not 100% replacements for iTunes (even though I despise iTunes).  Firefox and Opera still have problems (even on Windows) dealing with some sites developed only for IE.  OpenOffice still does not provide 100% compatability with MS-Office documents.  Gimp is a very worthy contender for replacing PhotoShop CS2 however (maybe CS3).

And that’s just the apps that exist for Linux.  Then there’s the ones that don’t.

There is no AutoCAD replacement for Linux.  There is no Inventor or SolidWorks.  There is no Macromedia/Adobe Flash MX.  Sure, there’s Wine, Parallels, VMware and VirtualBox.  But those are cop-outs.  They offer a half-way solution to getting the job done.  But that’s a lame excuse.  Until these types of applications have 100% suitable alternatives there will be a large segment of OSX and Windows users that simply cannot “switch” without paying a heavy price.  Even the price of searching for replacements, and then learning how they work, and then learning to how to tweak and optimize them, is a very expensive proposition for some.  I’m speaking of those who rely on their apps for their careers.  Downtime/learning time is expense time.  It’s time lost from executing work, spent on retooling, and with almost no garantee of a net gain in the end.  Only a sideways shift or lateral move.  For a business environment that makes no sense at all.  In many cases, that cost is not recouped by the elimination of software licenses, mainly because the OSX or Windows licenses have already been paid for.  If you dump them after that, you’re literally throwing money away.

What Linux and the surrounding “community” needs (and it’s not really a community at all, it’s more of a collective label of “people that hate Microsoft and Apple”), is a desktop environment, and a complete suite of all of the top 50 or 75 applications used by OSX and Windows customers.  That would be the starting point.  If there were a package like that, it would already be sliding into every corporate office everywhere.  It’s not.  It’s creeping into IT backrooms and server rooms and IT geek desktops.  Until this is resolved, Windows and OSX are only going to continue growing.  And growing they are.  If you doubt that, check the investor reports for each company for yourself.

I really don’t care who wins.  I really don’t want ANYONE to “win”.  I want to see intense competition.  It makes better products, and cheaper prices.  We all win.  I just think Linux and FOSS could do more to put pressure on Apple and Microsoft than they are.  The fact that Windows and Apple prices aren’t dropping drastically is a clear indication that FOSS isn’t eating away at their profit margins.

I know that heading is going to draw fire.  Flaming, diahrea, explosive ridicule most likely.  That’s ok.  It’s a true statement.  However, I obviously need to qualify it to be proper.

As I’ve said before: A person’s experience “switching” to Linux will vary as much as their DNA varies.  Every person has their own unique needs, preferences and capabilities.  This is not lost on an operating system by any means.  If you’re the kind of user that is 100% happy doing nothing but Gmail/Hotmail, YouTube, reading news, and playing games, you will likely be 100% happy with almost any operating system, including Linux (whatever distro gives you wood).

If you are a seasoned Windows or OSX user, who has developed an intricate web of applications, scripts, utilities, and configuration settings to do an assortment of specific tasks, you may not be as happy… or happy at all.  You can still do email, surf the web, manage office suite documents, play (some) games and watch YouTube all day long.  But some of the dearest things you depend upon in OSX or Windows will not make you happy on Linux.

Am I picking on Linux?  Not really.  However, it brings up the viability of the argument that Linux is “ready” to knock Windows “off the desktop” of most computer users.  For some it is.  For some it is not.

I could cite specifics like lack of specific hard device drivers, flakiness of video options, limitations and complications of various FOSS applications, and nebulous support.  To be fair, Windows can suffer from those very same issues (except that FOSS apps are only one option, not THE option).  Case in point: Which is better?  Posting the same confusing question to dozens of discussion forums and getting flamed with answers like “RTFM!” and “stupid noob”, or pulling out the credit card to call for suppor, getting put on hold and then getting some half-baked goon in Bangalore who not only can’t understand the question but reads the “solution” from a queue card and closes the case.  Not much of a choice, is it?

As for applications… I got a ton of emails and blog replies suggesting this or that as a “perfect” or “near-perfect” replacement for “x” on Windows.  Almost NONE were “perfect” replacements.  In fact, only one was (GPAR2 in lieu of QuickPAR).  K3B is not a replacement for the entire Nero Ultra suite.  Not even close.  PAN is not a decent replacement for Newsbin Pro.  gtkPod, RhythmBox and Floola are not 100% replacements for iTunes (even though I despise iTunes).  Firefox and Opera still have problems (even on Windows) dealing with some sites developed only for IE.  OpenOffice still does not provide 100% compatability with MS-Office documents.  Gimp is a very worthy contender for replacing PhotoShop CS2 however (maybe CS3).

And that’s just the apps that exist for Linux.  Then there’s the ones that don’t.

There is no AutoCAD replacement for Linux.  There is no Inventor or SolidWorks.  There is no Macromedia/Adobe Flash MX.  Sure, there’s Wine, Parallels, VMware and VirtualBox.  But those are cop-outs.  They offer a half-way solution to getting the job done.  But that’s a lame excuse.  Until these types of applications have 100% suitable alternatives there will be a large segment of OSX and Windows users that simply cannot “switch” without paying a heavy price.  Even the price of searching for replacements, and then learning how they work, and then learning to how to tweak and optimize them, is a very expensive proposition for some.  I’m speaking of those who rely on their apps for their careers.  Downtime/learning time is expense time.  It’s time lost from executing work, spent on retooling, and with almost no garantee of a net gain in the end.  Only a sideways shift or lateral move.  For a business environment that makes no sense at all.  In many cases, that cost is not recouped by the elimination of software licenses, mainly because the OSX or Windows licenses have already been paid for.  If you dump them after that, you’re literally throwing money away.

What Linux and the surrounding “community” needs (and it’s not really a community at all, it’s more of a collective label of “people that hate Microsoft and Apple”), is a desktop environment, and a complete suite of all of the top 50 or 75 applications used by OSX and Windows customers.  That would be the starting point.  If there were a package like that, it would already be sliding into every corporate office everywhere.  It’s not.  It’s creeping into IT backrooms and server rooms and IT geek desktops.  Until this is resolved, Windows and OSX are only going to continue growing.  And growing they are.  If you doubt that, check the investor reports for each company for yourself.

I really don’t care who wins.  I really don’t want ANYONE to “win”.  I want to see intense competition.  It makes better products, and cheaper prices.  We all win.  I just think Linux and FOSS could do more to put pressure on Apple and Microsoft than they are.  The fact that Windows and Apple prices aren’t dropping drastically is a clear indication that FOSS isn’t eating away at their profit margins.