how serendipitous!
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| tuxchick May 14, 2009 3:08 PM EDT |
Somebody was just discussing this in another thread :) I think a major boost on the server side will come from nicely-packaged application stacks that remove the hassle of having to hunt everything down manually, and creating nice integrated management consoles. On the desktop we still need good OEM options, and despite the usual pressures from Redmond Linux is gaining traction there. As you said, it's a process. |
| kingttx May 14, 2009 3:11 PM EDT |
I guess I write quickly. :) I do hope people will take the time to read the article rather than jump on the headline, though. heh |
| cr May 14, 2009 3:54 PM EDT |
My opinion... Agreed, there never will be a Year Of The Linux Desktop, because that's not the kind of force that's being applied. If it was one company doing a product rollout, they'd need to build buzz quickly to get high initial sales and user exposure and so build a virtuous circle, because their survival depended on being able to get enough volume shipped to make them profitable. The launch of Windows 95 was handled a lot like a major movie release, with high-impact advertising ramping up to the release date. If Win95 had failed like Vista, Microsoft wouldn't have gone under, but I doubt they'd be the global force they are today, because it was that make-or-break. Linux doesn't have that kind of marketing budget to throw around, but it doesn't need it. There are companies betting their futures on Linux, but Linux itself would continue and thrive in the community even if they all went under, pushed forward by the likes of the Debian community and supported in minor ways by those companies which benefit from Linux even though it's not their focus. To me, that looks more like a sea-change force, like the slow but relentless rising of the tides that drowned coastline communities around Britain and elsewhere as the last of the Ice Age residues melted. It was something you could adjust to easily enough -- just walk to higher ground and settle there -- but it wasn't something you could fight. Linux is like that: proceeding at its own pace, but unstoppable, and seeping in everywhere it's not specifically walled out. I'm tempted to suggest that we're in the Decade Of The Linux Desktop -- 2003 to 2013, perhaps, if we tie the start to a public eye-opener event like the SCO trial -- but even that is probably too abrupt a timeframe. Anyway, the Year of my Linux Desktop was 2001, when my Linux console became more active and important to me than my Win95 one, so I've already celebrated. |
| caitlyn May 14, 2009 3:58 PM EDT |
I agree that Linux is gaining traction on the desktop. Last year by most reliable numbers Linux captured about 25% of the netbook market. According to a recent article posted here netbook sales are expected to grow by 102% this year, laptop sales by about 11%, and desktop sales are actually in decline. Linpus, a Taiwanese Linux distributor sees Linux netbook share at 50% next year. If that sounds fanciful remember that new netbooks are coming out with ARM processors and PowerPC and MIPS based netbooks are in development. None of those platforms are supported by Windows. The netbook boom has had two effects. Some manufacturers (Dell, HP, Asus) have expanded their Linux offerings on desktops, nettops, and/or full sized notebooks. Some businesses have bought these systems now that Linux on the desktop doesn't require extra labor compared to Windows on the desktop. In the past the labor cost would have more than offset the price of Windows. Linux can now be sold on price as well as security. I agree that it will be an evolutionary not a revolutionary process. That's fine. So long as consumers and businesses alike know they have choices Microsoft's monopoly will continue to erode. Competition is a good thing. |
| azerthoth May 14, 2009 4:03 PM EDT |
Good read, to paraphrase, and one aptly suited to the MS suits Linux is like rust, once it starts you cant ever get rid of it. It slowly moves until it consumes every little bit. It is insipid in it trek from here to there. much like the dust you breath in the air. Cough as you may, cough as you might, even ghandi predicted the end of our fight. OK pathetic poetic moment done. Good thing I don't rely on that talent to pay the bills. |
| tuxchick May 14, 2009 4:08 PM EDT |
Az you are a poet. "Linux is like mold.... "Linux is like fungus... "Linux is like dry-rot.... "Linux is like tooth decay.... "Linux is like entropy... |
| caitlyn May 14, 2009 4:10 PM EDT |
Yuck! Have you ever tried to sell tooth decay, tuxchick? Please, spare those analogies. I could see a Microsoft FUDmeister using them. Replace mold with cheese or penicillin. Yes, I know those are molds but they don't conjure up the negative imagery that the word mold does. Better yet, replace fungus with mushrooms and put them on a pizza. |
| NoDough May 14, 2009 4:15 PM EDT |
>> "Linux is like mold.... >> Replace mold with cheese or penicillin. Mmmm. Cheese. >> "Linux is like fungus... Mmmm. Mushrooms. >> "Linux is like dry-rot.... Mmmm...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I got nothin'. |
| caitlyn May 14, 2009 4:17 PM EDT |
Yep. Dry rot and tooth decay just can't be made appealing. |
| tuxchick May 14, 2009 4:45 PM EDT |
I never was any good with catchy slogans or product names, which probably explains why my tasty nutrition beverage, "I Can't Believe It's Not Sewage", didn't succeed. |
| number6x May 14, 2009 4:58 PM EDT |
1999 was the year of the Linux desktop! (For Me) I started using Linux in '97 but it became my main desktop in '99. SuSE with Applixware, very nice. |
| gus3 May 14, 2009 5:19 PM EDT |
You say "dry rot." I say "campfire fuel." You say "tooth decay." I say "putting the dentist's kids through college." |
| Bob_Robertson May 14, 2009 5:33 PM EDT |
> "putting the dentist's kids through college." Our pediatric dentist asked me if we'd started saving for the boy's braces yet. He's 2. That does not bode well.... |
| vainrveenr May 14, 2009 5:47 PM EDT |
Quoting:Linux is like rust, once it starts you cant ever get rid of it. It slowly moves until it consumes every little bit. It is insipid in it trek from here to there. much like the dust you breath in the air. Cough as you may, cough as you might, even ghandi predicted the end of our fight.Indeed! ... and with this another invocation of the infamous quote from Mohandas Gandhi : First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/mohandasga103630....) |
| caitlyn May 14, 2009 5:47 PM EDT |
tuxchick: Surprising, since energy drinks that taste like what I'd imagine sewage would taste like are all the rage now. |
| kingttx May 14, 2009 6:03 PM EDT |
Ya know, I was such a physics geek in college, and I think it shows. :-/ |
| TxtEdMacs May 14, 2009 6:51 PM EDT |
Here is Tech Headline for this thread: Quoting: "Linux thrives on a diet of penicillin pizza with no dough" Poisoned by toxic fungus toppings that rots everyone's teeth. Windows is the only safe recourse!S.L.a.T.P. [aka Spoken Like a True Presstitute*] YBT * Not mine, it was the favorite line of a History Professor I knew that was a reporter. |
| hkwint May 15, 2009 7:34 AM EDT |
Quoting:"Linux thrives on a diet of penicillin pizza Reading that too fast makes one wonder what the heck Penicilinilla is, some kind of new mozzarella Mozilla? |
| cr May 15, 2009 12:25 PM EDT |
It's a mixture of Bleu Cheese and vanilla, of course. |
| tuxchick May 15, 2009 1:17 PM EDT |
Ow. Ow. Ow. The pain of puns, owww. Ok actually I'm laughing, but I'll never admit it. |
| TxtEdMacs May 15, 2009 2:07 PM EDT |
Anyone know the text equivalent of stomping off in disgust that I can use until html 5 arrives for most browsers? I am turned off by the gross misuse of my one-liners. YBT |
| cr May 15, 2009 3:27 PM EDT |
We are strong in the punnicilin: the moldy oldies. |
| hkwint May 15, 2009 7:11 PM EDT |
If Linux is rust - then according to "Neil Young & a mental horse" Linux never sleeps so that may be correct. If somebody would add Alu + potassium manganate, thermite would be produced and Linux could power spacecrafts. If Linux is mold, then sure it will kill a bacteria like Microsofia Coli and it will rot away Apples as well. If Linux is like entropy, then Gogol (By some ignorant Americans pronounced as 'google', which is only 10^100) is small compared to it, because for entropy calculations you need "Einsteins big number estimates". With really large entropy, factors such as Google can even be neglected without dramatically changing the outcome of calculations. If Linux is like tooth decay then Sabayon (named from the sweet desert Zabaglione) would inherently be bad for Linux. As a protective measure, its package management is called 'entropy' (coincidence doesn't exist does it?) Nah, I'm still not convinced what Linux is. I'd say "It's in the clouds"; equal to how the inhabitants of Tuvalu described their .tv TLD. |
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