[CentOS] OT: linux desktop market share more than 1%

[Mark]

On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 10:33 AM, Bill Campbell <centos at celestial.com> wrote:
:
>
> I have gone from OpenDesktop on SCO in the early '90s to Linux from 1996 or
> so to OS X shortly after it came out.  The vast majority of my development
> is on Linux servers, but OS X Just Works(tm), and I don't have to be
> constantly fiddling to get tools working.
>
> The vast majority of desktop users simply want to do things without having
> to worry about it.
>

I've been using CentOS on my desktop continuously since January 2007
and on my laptops during the last 2-3 years, and they mostly "just
work."  The tinkering I have done with my system largely consists of
stuff I do for fun or as an extension to my work (I've been developing
software for UNIX and similar systems for over 23 years) and has
little or nothing to do with "most" of what my experience of what the
average user needs.

"Standard" installations come with an office suite, web and email
facilities, some basic sound and video apps, graphics tools and
accessories, not too unlike what comes with Windoow$ or O$-X/MAC$.  A
great many of those apps are cross-platform capable and many people
use them on Win or Apple platforms as well (e.g., OO, Firefox,
Thunderbird).

Having waited 8+ years to make the jump to a Linux that wasn't a royal
battle to install and use, I have settled on CentOS mainly because I
needed it for a job and it was trivially easy to work with even before
I did any tinkering.  From what I've seen, Ubuntu, Mint and a few
other Linux distros are just as easy or maybe easier to use, but
there's a myth that "Linux is difficult" and that stigma traumatizes
anyone not willing to try anything new/different from the
hyperinfiltration of M$ Window$ or the glamor of an Apple.

Them's my $0.04 (inflation, ya know...).

Mark Richter
Software Developer
http://www.linkedin.com/in/markhullrichter
Registered Linux User #472807
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