Ubuntu, you blew your chance to go mainstream

Why is this irrelevant and nonsensical rant by this guy is being posted? Thanks for letting know to never read cr@ps from techrader.com. What did he expect, Debian guys putting up a hundred million dollar TV commercial campaign?

No, I think what he expects is for Canonical to put up TV commercials for a television campaign. This is so simple, it is frustrating to see it overlooked time and time again. If any Linux Distro, and Ubuntu would be the prime candidate, wants to "take on" Microsoft Windows, they are going to have to do so on the public airwaves. Run all the YouTube videos you like...you can "word of mouth" until one is hoarse, it still isn't going to match the impact media advertising will have. How many years have Linux clips been up on YouTube? They've had marginal impact.

The only people by and large, that are switching to Linux via YouTube videos are those who are "internet-centric" anyway. The huge middle of the market is being passed up and ignored. I think the author is trying to make that point over any other.

h

tmx, let me try to answer that one (about why it is posted):

Scott and Sander - as editors - try to post everything which is about FOSS, free standards, Linux or related.

They don't judge the article on it being well written, worthwile to read, well informed or not (otherwise half of the articles will be probably gone), because that would eventually end in censorship. Apart from that, we noticed not everybody who wants to make oneself heard is good at English, but nonetheless what they try to say might be worthwile.

Also, it is good to read about the arguments the people who are 'against Linux' might have. Because if you are a Linux supporter but you only talk to people already using Linux and who are a Linux supporter also (like on LXer most of the times), you might loose the 'connection' with the real world with tons of people having received no education about Free Software and Linux.

I agree Helios and thank you for the explanation to tmx Hans. :-)

I've always said that the way to make any operating system popular, Linux or otherwise, it must be shipped preloaded on hardware, and the OEMs must make a case in their marketing as to why the potential buyer of that hardware would benefit from something that isn't Windows or Mac OS X.

Forget fanboy histrionics, there's a lot that the average Windows user can gain from a mainstream Linux distribution such as Ubuntu: stability, lots of free applications from a secure, trusted repository, a much smoother desktop experience, security, better filesystems ... the list goes on.

Ubuntu makes an attempt to spread its message beyond the fanboy realm, but I see the distros partisans continually devote more energy to preaching to the geeky, already indoctrinated choir.

Helios, of course, is one of the few who gets this. He offers Linux (not sure which distros he's installing these days) on its merits to people who don't know about it and can definitely benefit from it.

I haven't bought a new computer ... hell, I haven't bought ANY computer costing more than $20 ... for over seven years now. Linux and BSD make me productive with the hardware I have now. That's my story, anyway.

Like Ken, I agree with the article, this was a missed opportunity.

To extrapolate on what Hans said tmx;

I do try to judge articles on being worthwhile to read (there are many articles you may find by searching that never make it to my newswire) but that also depends on your point of view. I also judge on where the news is coming from, we get submissions from all kinds of sites, many many reposts and worse. But with that said I also get submissions from many readers that are awesome and our newswire is the better for it.

I also sometimes post things I know are not very good for the very purpose that our readers get an idea of what is being passed around as real information on Linux and FOSS to the 'general public' as it were. Sometimes whether its crud or not it is being read by those who may not know the difference, which I try to show. One has to know what is being said inaccurately before it can be refuted accurately. I have posted many articles written by Mayank Sharma and I respect his opinion, whether I agree with it or not. I posted this story with the feeling that is was very relevant to our readers.

Apart from that, LXer'ers love reading stories from Ken Hess, and even better: Rob Enderle.