Seen in the Toronto Star: "Mac vs. PC: the digital divide"

[Evan Leibovitch]

I must admit to reading this thread with a bit of amusement. It's 2010, the
11th or so consecutive "year of the Linux desktop", and we still finding
ourselves having to jump up and down every time some misinformed reporter
describes the desktop as a two-platform race.

In every survey I've seen, the Linux desktop -- despite all the advances in
ease of use, de-facto consolidation behind Ubuntu and creative apps -- still
trails far behind Windows and MacOS in use. Windows 7 has raised the bar on
"good enough", and there's still little compelling reason for most people to
abandon the pre-shipped platform on their computer. We saw in the evolution
of the netbook that the inertia of people to stick with Windows is still too
strong to overcome easily. People who are aware of both the technical and
freedom benefits of using Linux are still numerous enough to be a factor --
but just barely.

IMO this is no longer (if it ever was) something to get really upset over.
The desktop OS is becoming less relevant every day as more computing moves
to the cloud, and in server space FOSS (Linux and BSD) excel and more than
hold its own. The same things that repel casual end-users from Linux attract
admins and developers without peer.

On the desktop FOSS is still moving ahead, but not in the old paradigms.
OpenOffice, Firefox, Gimp and other FOSS desktop applications are being
increasing preferred over their proprietary counterparts. In MeeGo and
Android Linux is powering increasingly popular mobile platforms; it won't be
long before the number of Linux-based cellphones outnumbers Windows PCs. And
now we're seeing Android -- that's a Linux desktop, right? -- move up the
food chain into netbooks and iPad-challenging
tablets<http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/19/dell-mini-5-prototype-impressions/>
.

I can barely remember the old Novell
attempts<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cldeHjFig_c>
 to <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eTguZ5OzJ4>
inject<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-329Czokjk&NR=1> Linux
into the Mac-versus-PC meme. (And it's done so much good for Novell, eh?)
It's old and tired. Those who are curious can easily find where to look for
more information. And those who want to try a Linux desktop have some
excellent evaluation tools available, such as Ubuntu's live demo.

Let's be honest; the Star article was, almost self-admittedly, a light,
content-free piece designed to attract hits from those who are passionate
about operating systems -- and those who just like to read about conflict,
real or imagined. It didn't change anyone's mind about anything. Adding
"what about Linux?" comments to a piece like this seems to do little more
than legitimize the article's weak premise.

Does this mean conceding the Linux desktop to being a niche rather than
mainstream player? I don't think you need to look far to see that this
reality hasn't changed significantly in a decade, and sees little sign of
significant change. The biggest genuine encroachment of Linux is just
beginning, and it fits in your pocket.

I feel bad for David being misquoted, but that's hardly new to journalism.
And keep in mind the unmistakable irony -- that no botched interview can
mask -- that the location chosen for this Mac-PC battle was a place called
"Linuxcaffe".

-- 
Evan Leibovitch
evan at telly.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-ca/attachments/20100304/3b94e445/attachment.html>