Why desktop Linux sucks
Desktop Linux is well behind Windows. There are the obvious reasons, such as ease of use, support, etc. I’d counter all of these with the stability of Linux, the fact that on a GNOME desktop everything is already there, lack of viruses, etc.
However, for most people this isn’t the issue. The main problem is application support.
What do we have to do for Adobe to notice us? Photoshop CS2 currently sells for almost £500… I’d be very hard pushed to afford this, but I would pledge that cash in an instant if it would bring about a copy of CS3 for Linux, or Solaris, or FreeBSD. I’m sure other people would do the same for other Adobe products.
These days hardware support is less of an issue. For the most part we get by… nVidia are providing great drivers, ATi are still trying to get there, while many other hardware is catered for by the third party. But lately this hasn’t quite been enough… I’m starting to feel the gap between myself and my Windows counterparts… where is my nVidia PureVideo H.264 and DVD decoding? Where are all of the good options for my Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS?
I’ve already put down the money for both of these pieces of hardware. Given that there are a lot of people now running Linux on their desktops, it would be really great for us to see this support.
In the near future I hope we’ll see a revision of Vmware Workstation that includes a feature akin to the Parallels Coherency that Mac users have had for a short while now… and I bet they’re just as fed up at the lack of advanced hardware support. What’s the better that they will see it before we do? Pretty high, is my guess, and I don’t think that they really have a much higher percentage of the desktop market.
Oh, well…
Tags: UNIX