Desktop Linux's Future

[John Lambrechts]

The following is a quote from timdorr on Neowin.net, 
"
Well, here's an interesting concept on the costs of OSS:

A Small Orange runs all our servers on Linux, Apache, Pure-FTPd, PHP, MySQL 
and a host of other freely available and open-source software. To us, this
software is essentially not free. However, we devote a portion of our
monthly revenue to donations to these open-source products. So, in
essence, we've removed the "free as in beer" element of OSS. In exchange
for our donations, we are fueling the development of the software and
improvements. Short of devoting a developer to work on these projects,
it's one of the best methods we can use to ensure we keep high quality
software available for us to use.

I don't have an arguement, or even much of point, I just think it's
interesting that we essentially pay for this open source software, even
when we do not have to. Honestly, I don't think an Office for Linux
product would sell very well, since there is an ingrained desire to
maintain only an open-source set of software on Linux machines. Also, I
still think desktop Linux sucks (the quality, non-beta software selection
is less than even my Mac), so it's like eating filet mignot covered in
dung. You may have one of the best meats to eat, but it's still wrapped in
crap.
"
I would like to hear everyones point of view on this statement and what
the future of desktop linux holds. The only thing I have yet to understand
is what do companies and small businesses have to benefit from getting
into the open source world? I just watched the video of Mark Shuttleworth
talking at Debconf and he has a very interesting outlook but I still
personally haven't seen the light in the desktop linux market.

enlighten me,

John