Re: Linux on the desktop - it's come a long way, but is it there yet?

["Matt Shields-4" <user=23@nabble.blu.org>]

 On Tue, Jul 15, 2008 at 12:41 AM, Mark J. Dulcey <[hidden email]> wrote: 

> Tom Metro wrote: 
> 
>  That was a good explanation for the situation 10 years ago. Now Linux 
>> development is heavily sponsored by large corporations like IBM, Novel, and 
>> RedHat. So the real question is why isn't new hardware supported more 
>> quickly by these commercial OS vendors? 
>> 
>> The answer is probably that there is just too much hardware to cover even 
>> by these large companies with deep pockets. With Windows, Microsoft writes 
>> drivers themselves only for a minority of the hardware. The vendors do the 
>> rest. 
>> 
>> So we're back to the usual chicken-and-egg problem where vendors don't 
>> feel compelled to support a platform that doesn't have a big market share, 
>> and consumers aren't drawn to a platform that doesn't support the hardware 
>> they want to use. Of course this is slowly changing in Linux's favor, but is 
>> still a far way from the "tipping point." 
>> 
> 
> A point you missed: most of those big companies are mostly interested in 
> Linux in the server room; the desktop is an afterthought. Ubuntu is unusual 
> in having such a strong desktop focus, and I believe that's one reason that 
> people are so enthusiastic about it. 
> 
> 
>