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

[Robert Heller]

At Thu, 7 Oct 2010 11:54:20 -0700 CentOS mailing list <centos at centos.org> wrote:

> 
> 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. Â 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.

The main thing about Linux that is 'hard' is the fact that you have to
use your brain and make choices: Which web browser? Which office suite?
Which email client? Which desktop? Which Linux distro? For lots of
people this is way too much work.  I guess if these people looked at,
say, cars or clothes the same way they looked at computers, they would
ALL be driving boring black Chevys or would have a closet with 100 black
suits, 100 black ties, 100 white shits, etc.  (Well maybe 100 black T
shirts and 100 pairs of jeans.)

> 
> Them's my $0.04 (inflation, ya know...).
> 
> Mark Richter
> Software Developer
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/markhullrichter
> Registered Linux User #472807
> - sign up at http://counter.li.org/
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>                                            

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