Agreed on the OS debate in general terms.  But I think the RedHat CEO said
it because he can't SELL Linux on the desktop to corporate customers... they
have no need for it, and may not ever...

He has to focus on what makes his company money, and it wasn't the desktop.
It was the servers.

*I* say the desktop doesn't make money because Linux isn't offering business
anything they don't already have and budget for.  They look at the "Free!"
price tag with a (properly) jaundiced eye... knowing that nothing is truly
"Free!" in business.  There's support costs, re-training, etc... 

Linux on the desktop has always been a copy-cat OS.  Sure, 3D spinning cubes
rotating to show different virtual desktops and things is "nifty", but not a
"must have" for business.  The qualities in a desktop interface that
business needed were pretty much covered with the very first release of Mac
OS... the mouse was a giant leap forward in user interface (thanks to Xerox
PARC, where Apple got the idea) at the same time.  

Linux comes up with something that causes the desktop to make people (and
yes, I mean the word "make", not "help") more productive at the jobs they do
in "normal" business, it'd take over until the other guys could copy-cat it.
Linux's "openness" is a downfall there... a copy would be forthcoming VERY
quickly, and the commercial guys would be able to say, "we added that
feature, but you won't have to retrain everyone else on that other Linux
*stuff*".

Linux on the desktop is pretty much stuck in a weird world of nifty things
and uselessness, likely forever.

Nate 

-----Original Message-----
From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf Of
Tamas Rudnai
Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 1:50 PM
To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public.
Subject: Re: [Bulk] Re: [OT] KDE 4.2 Desktop

Anyway, I am not saying Linux is better desktop than X or Z, but I highly
doubt if the OS itself with the windowing system can be pronounced as
non-desktop and server-only operating system - I think the boss of RedHat
just said what he said because desktop users are using Ubuntu nowadays
instead.

Tamas


-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist