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Originally Posted by cortman
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It may seem I am against Linux; but really, I'm not. To be honest, I *WANT* it to become a major force in the market. I would *LOVE* to have Windows, OSX, Linux and maybe some desktop version of Android to split the OS market at 25% each.
If developers would then create and use platform-independent stuff (which already partially exists), then software could run basically everywhere. It would be best for everyone. 4 majar players, going from "Build Everything Yourself" (Linux), up to "Get everything done for you" (Apple), with Windows and MS in between.
The problem is that, if it comes down to it, no-one really wants to cooperate. They all just want to be the biggest, the richest, and if possible, the only one.
Linux will not become a major force on the desktop if there isn't some unification of distributions and the way of doing things. Choice is good. People care about the big choices. The choices they can understand. Which desktop do I want? Have KDE for the Windows-like feel, Gnome for the Mac-like feel, and one or two lightweight desktops. Make them compatible, so every software package works seamlessly in every desktop. There is enough choice in browsers, mail clients, and media players and that sort of stuff.
Too much choice is paralyzing, and Linux gives you choice on *every* level. Nobody except the biggest nerds care about the display server, the audio server, the driver model, the file system, the startup daemon or the version of "ls" that's used to list files. These things must just work, and work well.
Apple did it. What is OSX, basically? It's a BSD Unix, powered by the XNU (MACH-type) kernel. It's called Darwin. You hardly see it, if ever. Apple stuck a nice GUI on top of it (Aqua), shoved some nice (al be it a bit power-limited) hardware under it, and it helped them to skyrocket from the ashes up to one of the richest companies on earth.
Unify all that Linux stuff that is "under" the desktop. Put a desktop layer on top of it which *every* desktop adheres to. Then tell people: "*THIS* is Linux, and you have several different ways of working with it (show 4 desktops, shipped by default). No matter which desktop you choose, all programs will always work and look like they should in your chosen desktop."
I think you'll see Linux take off like a rocket.
Ubuntu is trying to do it, but IMHO, they are doing it in an antagonistic way.