Linux Prospects, Post-Windows 7

by Sam Dean - Oct. 21, 2009Comments (4)

With the release of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system slated for tomorrow, several Linux releases and announcements are arriving. Paula Rooney at ZDNet suggests that the Linux flurry may represent wave-making in reaction to the release of the much discussed new version of Windows. Does Windows 7 threaten to stifle Linux, and what are the prospects for Linux as Windows 7 rolls out?

As Rooney notes, this week IBM and Canonical announced the launch of the IBM Cliet for Smart Work package. It allows cloud- and Linux-based online work via Ubuntu and IBM's Lotus Symphony suite of productivity applications. Novell has also introduced SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 Service Pack 3, which brings many software upgrades and more support for hardware. Meanwhile, Red Hat is out with a new beta release of its Fedora Linux dubbed "Constantine." Is the timing of all of this meant to make waves as Windows 7 approaches?

As we noted here, Microsoft was very shrewd to open its beta and release candidate testing for its new operating system to anyone, and the company got a slew of pre-orders for Windows 7 through the effort, as well as good early reviews. The company has also already delivered the new OS to Microsoft's volume licensees. The actual Windows 7 rollout has been a multi-step process and doesn't just consist of fanfare to take place tomorrow.

Microsoft has stated that it is aiming Windows 7 squarely at the hot netbook market, and it's there that I'm hoping Linux and Linux-based platforms can maintain some entrenchment. Large computer makers such as Acer and Dell have continued with efforts to keep Linux and Linux-based operating systems alive on netbooks. Acer is even going to offer a dual-boot version of its Aspire One netbook that runs Windows as well as Android.

The netbook market has largely been driven by rock-bottom pricing, and open source operating systems and applications can continue to usher in impressive prices. That's the stated goal with netbooks that will run the Moblin operating system, for example.

But Windows 7 is also likely to gain strong market share as a desktop operating system, partly because there hasn't been a completely trustworthy version of Windows for businesses to bank on in many years. Microsoft hopes to reverse that trend with Windows 7. Large players on the Linux front continue to fail to market Linux with the same fervor that Microsoft markets Windows, and the marketing blitz that will surround Windows 7 could be a blow to desktop Linux. We'll see how this all plays out soon, but I'm especially watching the prospects for Linux and variants on mobile devices. There, where cost and choice have been so important, Linux has a chance to make a difference. 

 


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4 Comments
 

The problem with linux is in the second paragraph of your article..


IBM, Canonical, Suse, Redhat and a slew of other that I am not going to bother listing.


Yes its great that Linux is open source, blah blah blah. Plain and simple, until all the various vendors agree to work together they will pose no threat to Micro$oft.


Think of the mass amounts of time wasted by all these vendors trying to push out features that only work on their release. If the Linux community could centralize its efforts and build 1 (one, single, uno) stable, compatible product they could make a dent. Standardize on package formats (there needs to be an easy to run installer), I don't care that they all have different mechanisms to auto install software - I want 1 file to download, double click and be done and if I have to worry about dependencies forget it.


Centralizing development into a single "Linux" OS would also allow vendors to have a standardized way to build drivers. Why would I, as a hardware vendor, waste money to develop 7 different flavors of my drivers so 1% of the market share can use it (maybe).


And while they are at it, it needs to be prettier, nice and shinny...people like shinny and fancy window animations. Lets face it, without a ton of add-on's KDE and Gnome (oh yea that has to be standardized too) are pretty vanilla looking.


You know what else really grinds my gears...the linux geek who is going to come along and completely rip my comment...YOU DONT GET IT MAN - until all these things happen the AVERAGE consumer won't touch linux. I don't care that you got 8593% better graphics performance from your hacked nVidia driver....the AVERAGE consumer wants it to just work. No packages, no dependencies and any random piece of hardware I buy at Staples, BestBuy etc needs to work out of the box. Period, end of story.


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How about a central repository for source code from which all distros can take and to which they can give what they can. Each distro mantainer would be still in charge of compiling it to work with their distro but at least there would be one (ein, uno, 1) code behind it.


As for making it pretty, Compiz doesn't seem vanilla to me at all. But it also shows where Linux seems to be lacking, as you point it out. All those sliders, numbers, and unfriendly options would drive any user mad. Programmers are not usually the best judges in UI design, or design in general... Which brings us to the third thing that's wrong with Linux today: Design.


Programmers are not designers, they didn't go to design school, they have skills in drawing what they want to see, not what's best for the user. Why not leave graphics to real specialists instead. We claim how Linux can be customized in almost any way but you don't see any tools that will let a graphics designer create a consistent experience for users. QNX Photon UI was great, BeOS had (at the time) one of the nicest user experiences, and we should not aim to emulate or copy others but come up with themes and skins that aim to be widely accepted as well done.


While we are at it, let me point that this is not an easy task, but the open source community can very well benefit from the experience of many web designers that have far more experience in this.


And I concur that geeks have somehow lost the touch with reality when asking people to "know about computers". One uses teeth, keeps them healthy to the best of their abilities, but ultimately goes to the dentist when dealing with trouble. Teeth must just work without a degree in Odontology, they have to look clean and not crumble when we bite.


Let's cut to the point here: Linux has the tools, has the perks and has the awesomeness, but it still lacks in friendliness and looks and it's development is sparse. We are by far better than were we where last time, but it's about time we get around to solve this issues, that are, to sum it up: Code synchronization, UI development (with consistency in mind) and friendliness.


This explains why mobile gadgets with Linux get better acceptance than Desktop computers. (Think android and Moblin here).


If the Linux brand is taken seriously, the companies behind it will benefit from it by means of the other perks they offer to their own communities, the effort should not get diluted while everybody pulls for their own brand (Hear this Ubuntu-Suse-Red Hat-Arch-et al, as a brand you should not matter, Linux should matter).


I think it's time Linux rethinks itself, stops the "which distro is better" discussion (that leads nowhere) and starts taking itself seriously, if it's at all going to succeed by gaining more market share.


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As a long time Windows stack developer a applaud Windows 7. However MS stiill is run by not technical PM's who are paid to ship features and reduce costs regardles of quality. MS is broken and needs to be fixed by putting actual technical people in charge. Steven Sinofsky is a hack!


The best linux platfrom ever is Android. An actual product, shiping on a clear hardware platform.


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I'd agree with the comments that Linux, for all that's cool about it, needs to look pretty.


I used to work for a well known oscilloscope manufacturer - we bought a smaller company making cheap and cheerful scopes.


Sales on these were soft until they hired a graphic designer to rehash the boxes - bland grey cases and red knobs were replaced by cool crackle black cases with orange knobs.


Same internals, but now they looked a peach - and sold like hot cakes...


Might be worth trying...


0 Votes
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