A couple of problems I’ve had recently:

- I can’t synch data with my phone
- The battery meter on my laptop is wrong (can’t be trusted)
- My multifunction printer does not work (no color) despite the fact that linuxprinting.org says it does!
- There are no good video editing tools (Cinelerra and Kino are horrible!)
- Ubuntu sometimes crashes for no apparent reason (a fresh install didn’t solve things)
- My laptop runs on one core instead of two.

The Linux community I’ve come into contact with during my various Linux escapades wasn’t really friendly. Overall I’d qualify their attitude as being feudal and totalitarian.

I’m thinking of buying a Mac. It’s cool, and things just work effortlessly. Plus the video editing tools are fantastic.

There is just one problem!
Hardware manufacturers still often simply refuse to support linux., and then the Linux community has to try to reverse engineer a driver for the hardware simply because windows users expect all hardware they buy to be supported by the OS, (and rightly so I might add). Because of lack of support from the hardware manufacturer, even to supply adequate technical information, these drivers are sometimes sub optimal, and this can lead to a user experiencing performance from his hardware that is sub-par compared to the same hardware working on a Windows system. Of course the user then blames the OS for the problem! But i’t not Linux’s fault, its the hardware manufacturers problem! Only the general public does not generally understand that.

This is a catch-66 situation for Linux, and it’s amazing how far they have come with this cannon ball chained to their leg.

At the moment for most types of devices Linux has an adequate driver infrastructure, only for WiFi adapters the situation is a bit chaotic and sub-optimal, but Linux kernel people are writing a new unified WiFi driver infrastructure to overcome this problem.

WiFi hardware is a case in point, generally hardware (chipset) manufacturers almost never publish hardware details about their solution, and treat it like a trade secret. On top of that most WiFi hardware requires that the OS (windows) uploads firmware to the hardware to make it work, and they organise the windows driver so that it obfuscates the firmware, as they consider the firmware also as part of the same “trade secret”. This makes it very hard to write a Linux driver that supports the WiFi hardware on the same level as the Windows driver does. Especially as ideally the driver should also support “hibernating” the WiFi adapter, that is removing the power to the adapter, then reading all its internal settings, and the “secret firmware” too so it can be saved to disk, to be restored on power up. This is even more difficult to implement without any technical info. and chips that make reading the internal firmware impossible on purpose.

For linux on the desktop to really “break through” hardware makers must resign to supporting a -third- platform (after Windows and the Mac ) which is not something they are willing to do if Linux is used by just 3% or so of all users.

So Linux is ready, at least the better distro’s are, (it does not really help that some manufacturers rush hardware onto the market with an unfinished Linux distro) but for it to really become ubiquitous the hardware manufacturers need to start to support it too, and follow the lead of manufacturers like Intel, ATI and HP. They owe it to the users who obviously expect that the hardware they buy runs on the OS of their choice. I am convinced they no longer can ignore Linux. Linux is ready, and it -will- start to be used as a valid desktop alternative.

I notice that most people complaining that “Linux” is not ready for the desktop are coming from Windows, and yet, at the same time, are saying “Windows _mostly_ works.” Well, guess what–Linux mostly works, too! The real problem for Windows users is that Windows “mostly” works in ways that they are used to being able to fix, yet, when things “break” in Linux, they are at a loss, simply because they do not yet know the system. It’s not a matter of Linux being worse than Windows–only different. It is the unfamiliarity of Linux that keeps people from garnering success in Linux. The real issue here is inertia. People took years gaining familiarity with Windows, and learning the ropes, so to speak. Yet, they expect Linux to behave exactly like Windows, or worse, they feel like a child again, needing to ask for help, when they should be proficient in “computers.” It just goes to show that there is not such thing as being proficient “in computers.” One can know Windows, or Windows apps, or Linux, or Linux apps, admin, programming, and so on, but “computers” embraces a lot!

So, the question, “Is Linux ready for the desktop?” Is YES–Just as much as Windows is/was! The real question is “Are people ready for Linux?” Is Linux perfect? No–but as all the proponents for Windows above have hinted–neither is Windows! It’s just more familiar to most people.

However, there is yet another question that those who have a hand in making Linux run. The question is, do you want to be like Windows? And by that, I mean, do you want to “mostly” work? or “just work?” You see, there is another contender for the desktop out there. That contender is the Mac OS. I have had a few friends switch from Windows in recent months, and none of them have had the configuration problems that either Windows or Linux users have. I have been surprised at how little technical support I’ve had to provide. Other than a gentle bit of steering in the right direction at moments of confusion, it has been smooth sailing for every one of them! Granted, Macs are all build by one manufacturer, and all that, but it is not so much about just that, as it is about the system allowing–no, encouraging exploration, about it being fun to explore and learn, and just plain working. This is the model that ought to be the goal–not to imitate the exact OS X experience, but that simplicity, reliability and plain pleasure. I see that the latest KDE 4 is just about correct for the pleasure of use, but under the hood is where the distros come in. Ubuntu has worked hard to get it right, and, even though I’m running an 8 yr old PowerPC laptop, the community has worked hard to keep us Ubuntu users working reliably–at least up to Feisty. I fear we may be gone with Gutsy, but I have been playing with Fedora 8 of late, and find it to be a wonderfully stable and capable distro. In fact, none of the kernal issues of the Feisty upgrade, and no need for the command line to adjust the mis-judged resolution issue. It was all done on the desktop, with the Gnome interface… In fact, I have yet to need the command line in Fedora 8. (Not that I don’t use it–I prefer it on occasion, but one ought _need_ to use the console–only to speed things up, not to do basic tasks. Actually, Feisty has been about as good at not requiring the command line on my aging Mac. In that respect, I find Linux very good–better than Windows in all the most important areas–installing and removing software, system stability, and portability of documents. Granted, one of my printers is not really recognized, but of the 4 printers I use, it’s the only one–a Canon MP printer that didn’t last long on the market. And Ubuntu recognizes it fine–my only problem is in Fedora.

So, I believe that, in so much as “Windows” is ready for the desktop–and lots of comments here indicate that it’s only “barely” ready for the desktop –, that Linux is also. And now to go vote.

-Jon

The older distro’s like suse, fedora and mandriva have these tools in their distro.