2008: Year Of The Linux Desktop
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Are we doing enough to attract new users from the IT community? The results are right here, many of the IT pros do not see Vista as an option any longer, and I personally see a fantastic opportunity for various Linux distros to make a name for themselves going forward. Here’s a solid opportunity to take some thunder away from Ubuntu and give a leg up to otherwise lesser known distros. All the development teams of these distros need to do is provide helpful security tools for IT pros and then work at getting the word out of their existence.
Security-Based Distros Already Exist? Sure they do, yet most people have no idea what they are or where to find them. Even worse, there is a high likelihood that most of those security types in the IT community will shun using such options based on some haphazard belief that they are not as good as proprietary options.
The only ace in the whole I have seen when it comes to convincing these individuals is when you can successfully show off the various network security auditing abilities of the various security distributions in the market. For my money, PHLAK is the easiest sell, but Operator is not too shabby either. In the end, the key is to demonstrate what each distro can do for an IT pro and perhaps even more importantly, making them aware that such power tools do exist, possibly in the hands of those who wish to do their network harm.
IT Pros Aside, What About the Windows Power Users Looking to Switch? “Ma and Pa Kettle” are not going to jump onto the Linux bandwagon without some sort of support mechanism in place. Be it local or remote, there must be a strong support system to prevent frustrating moments that will, in the end, drive these individuals back over to the dark side of the OS world.
Computer power users, on the other hand, present a stronger opportunity. Unlike their less savvy counterparts, training these individuals to counter wireless headaches, take on partitioning challenges and so forth, is actually something that has been proven to be quite successful.
An issue that is not being addressed with these individuals is helping them to make the switch completely. Enabling the casual Linux users to discover that much of the closed source software they are using on other platforms is often times available for their favorite Linux distribution. This alone would help to implement some big change in long-term adoption, versus the never-ending attempt at trying a distro, then jumping onto something else because they did not find what they were looking for.
Defining When Something is “Ready.” Over and again, I hear people railing on the idea of desktop Linux being “ready” for the mainstream user. Frankly, anything can be defined as ready, with enough support to help that user get things working the way they need it to.
But to those Windows users who claim that popular Linux distros are not ready, I would ask them for a set of guidelines, as to help us better understand what they need specifically. Like Vista, popular Linux distributions have some bumps that need to be ironed out. But unlike Vista, a skilled Linux user can create usable work-a-rounds should something become overlooked during development. Vista, unfortunately, is apparently lacking this feature. And I would say the same for any locked down OS. These operating systems do not provide enough room to create solutions when closed source development falls on its face in the name of creating something ‘pretty’ versus functional.
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