Desktop Linux still DOA
Submitted by srlinuxx on Wed, 08/06/2008 - 14:30.
One of the great tech non-events of the last few years involves Linux on PCs. Every so often, another wave of hype washes in about how companies are finally going to ditch their Windows machines in favour of the open-source operating system and productivity apps like Sun’s StarOffice and (more recently) IBM’s Symphony.
I suppose you can’t blame IBM for trying to capitalise on the bad press of Windows Vista to try to give this story another spin. It has just agreed a deal with the three top Linux companies to distribute its own Notes and Symphony software alongside the operating system. The promise: a “turnkey” software package that, according to IBM, cuts 30 per cent or more from the cost of buying a new enterprise PC.
Companies are finally getting the message about desktop Linux, claims an IBM official, pointing to the evidence from a report by Forrester: this showed that last year the number of enterprise running Linux rose from 0.1 per cent to 0.5 per cent.
3% in the enterprise?
These writer only use what supports their hypthesis. See the chart in Vista: DOA in the Enterprise
,----[ Quote ]
| The really bad news for Microsoft: the number of business PCs running Windows
| XP increased from 2007 to 2008—three times the increase in the percentage of
| PCs running Vista.
|
| Perhaps worse: The majority of businesses waiting for Vista—meaning those
| running older Windows versions—migrated to XP instead. Microsoft had counted
| on Windows 2000 and older versions to go to Vista. The newest Windows saw
| some conversion, but XP got much more.
`----
So?
So whats your point? That enterprise would much rather run a 5+ year old Windows OS (i.e. WinXP) then Linux on the desktop? Or that Desktop Linux can't compete (or compare) to a 5+ year old Windows OS? Or what?
Vista sucks (although SP1 fixes most of the major problems) - but Desktop Linux sucks even more (let me know when there's a patch to fix that!). Maybe when I can control a Linux Desktop and it's user via AD and GPO I'll be interested. Until then, I'll just buy my Vista Business Enterprise License and downgrade to XP.
Desktop Linux, part 2: charge up the defibrillator
Some readers took issue with my reference to Linux on PCs as DOA (though, I should add, very respectfully - these open-source types certainly know how to conduct a civil conversation.)
Yes, it was flip, I admit it. But let’s face it: enterprise customers haven’t bitten, and enterprise is the real focus of the latest IBM push.
As several commenters usefully pointed out, though, there are other markets where the story could be different. Governments, particularly in Europe, have already taken a lead.
Rest Here