A thought provoking question to be sure. Does Linux really need a killer app to succeed? As I once explained to the public, Linux needs to find a way to simply ‘work’ without having to ‘config’ everything. Once this can be done, it will really begin to become a real threat in the desktop market.

As things stand now, it is flaky at best in the desktop scene with specific devices. PDAs, scanners and digital music players all have to be ‘fooled’ with in order to work. If Linux can achieve a plug and play scenario for these devices, I would be completely thrilled!

In the late 1990s, we thought Linux needed a “killer app” that would make general PC users view Linux as a necessity the same way they first viewed Windows as a necessity due to Microsoft Office. However, a new direction in open source adoption seems to be emerging that might require a re-think and a change in our perspective.

Many popular open source programs like the GIMP, OpenOffice.org, MPlayer, and VideoLAN now natively support Windows instead of only supporting Linux. With the old way of thinking, having these great applications only available on the Linux platform would be the way to draw users to Linux. Now, thinking seems to have shifted.

Whether or not things were intended this way, it appears that many developers are thinking, “if they can get used to this on Windows, they’ll have no trouble changing over to Linux”. Whether or not this is true, I don’t know, but it’s certainly an avenue worth exploring. That’s not to say that Linux can’t stand up by itself; but perhaps some of us need to re-think our approach and think in business terms, instead of pride. Are we trying to fight a holy war, promoting purely GNU/Linux, or are we promoting open source software?