Jason Burns’ Blog

Man am I tired of hearing and reading it. There are so many different flavors of this story. “2009 is the year of Linux”, “Linux ready to take on Windows” or in today’s ZDNet article: “Why Linux is ready for the desktop today.” It seems obvious to me that this is a classic case of the boy who cried wolf. It doesn’t matter who writes this article these days, it is always received with a snicker and an eye roll.

I have probably said this a hundred times, but the reasons that Linux fails to make progress have very little technical base. Of course there are some technical hurdles that are preventing it, but the main reasons are much more subtle.

The Social Impact of being Free

Now before we get into the debate, and you start flaming me saying free has nothing to do with price, let’s take a reality pill. Free has everything to do with price in the Linux world. I guarantee all things even, all the schools in India, all the low cost net books and all of the PC recyclers would not be considering Ubuntu and the like if they could get Windows free. I will hit this topic a few times in this article, but get a grip, 99% of the world does not care if you can look at source code and redistribute it, they care about what it can do, and how much it costs.

So the real free comes with a stigma. The average Joe customer wonders why he doesn’t see Linux computers in Best Buy, he wonders why they aren’t on the front page of Dell.com, he wonders why nobody he knows uses them. That makes Linux an unknown and the general populous already has a computer phobia, they don’t want unknown, they want warm and comfy.

The last reality, is that to the world at large, Windows is not expensive. I am not sure of the exact numbers, but I would guess that the number of Windows licenses sold outside of a new PC purchase is extremely small. That means that to average Joe computer buyer, they are buying a computer and it comes with Windows on it. They don’t see it as a cost. It’s hard to argue the price of Windows to people who feel like they have never paid for it.

Crippled by Innovation

I will bet that headline got your attention. I am reminded of a quote from Jurassic Park. Dr. Malcolm says “we got so caught up in could, that we forgot about should.” When I look at some of the true innovative things about Linux, from a user perspective, I think of projects like Beryl. The intent, which was good, was to come up with a sexy desktop for Linux. The reality was an awkward spinning 3D cube, windows that burn into flames when you close them and rain drops on your desktop. Really guys? Windows that burst into flames?

I will admit to being caught by the Beryl bug and having a burning desktop myself for a little while, but had that same attention to shine and gloss been applied, with a little more sanity of course, to the desktop in general, perhaps KDE and Gnome would not look like the Big Lots version of Windows.

There is talent in the Linux community for sure. The sad part is they just seem to be so far out of touch with who a real computer user is. I am not a real computer user, if you are reading this, you probably aren’t a real computer user either. The users that have to be conquered to make Linux a reality don’t know what TCP/IP is, they don’t know what brand their CPU is, and they get hives when someone mentions Linux because they know that it was used to hack the planet in Live Free or Die Hard with Bruce Willis.

Hopelessly Herdless

Which brings me to my last point. Joe user is a follower. Joe user finds comfort in the herd. Joe user actually WANTS to be like everyone else. When Joe buys his iPod, he wants to use iTunes. When Joe gets his digital camera, he wants to install the Photoshop Elements that came with it. Joe finds comfort in buying software in a box at Best Buy and he sure likes being able to take it to geek squad when it’s broken. This is where the Linux community breaks down.

For the masses, Linux is unsupportable, incompatible and unknown. I don’t want to say it (even though I am thinking it) but, if you want to beat Windows, you better learn to be a lot more like Windows.

I am being honest when I say that I want Ubuntu and the Linux movement to get it. When I read articles like this one posted on CNET.com this week, I kind of chuckle at first, then reality sets in and I feel sorry for them.
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