[Mailinglist] Why Desktop Linux Will Not Take off, and Why You Don't Want It to

[David Desrosiers]

> That's *excatly* my point.  Those non-geeky guys want every choice made 
to them
> _default_ WM, _default_ panels, _default_ buttons, etc.

> And what we are talking about is a _Desktop Linux_ which is one way of 
saying
> that we also want non-geeky persons to use Linux.

> But they can't because they don't like to tweak anything.

I don't see why.. every single one of the "popular" distros, and many of 
the lesser-known distributions all come with "sensible defaults", which 
can be modified or changed later if they want, or left alone if they 
don't. 

SuSE generally has KDE + kwm
Ubuntu generally has GNOME + metacity
ZenWalk generally has XFCE4

..and so on. It all depends on what you want and can get used to. Play 
with KNOPPIX and boot with 'desktop=icewm' (or fluxbox, kde, fvwm, and 
whatever others the latest 5.0.1 DVD supports) and let your users decide 
for themselves. Tweak and shave from there. 

There is this ongoing myth that Linux is "too complicated" with too many 
options and buttons and choices, and these same people propagating this 
myth (witness the original online article that started this thread) seem 
to believe Linux needs to "remove" these things in order to succeed. I 
don't see that broken logic at all. 

KDE for example has done very well at keeping itself extremely powerful 
"under the hood", if you choose to pop the hood and look inside. If you 
don't, then you don't need to know what's in there. All you care about is 
that your car starts when you put in the key and it goes when you press on 
the gas. Taking the options out doesn't make sense, but having levels of 
usability, selectable by the user, is always a good approach. 

Are you a newbie? Choose "Basic" for your interface options in your 
applications or your environment. 

Learning a bit more about Linux? Want to try pushing your envelope? Change 
that interface option to "Advanced", and get used to a little more power. 

Feel like a guru? Twiddle all of the options on with the "Expert" 
interface options turned on. 

There's no need to "dumb it down" for these users, while crippling it for 
others. Give everyone what they want, with a simple radio button dialog to 
select between the complexity that they think they're comfortable with. 

> > For me, the "Linux desktop" has already taken off, years ago... I 
don't 
> > need the validation of Windows users to convince me of that. 

> Hey, I thought that Linux *was* a Desktop OS... ;-)

Its an everything. Its like saying: "What is this lump of clay?" Its a 
sculpture! Its a dish! Its a coffee cup! Its a pet rock! 

For users used to Windows being "a PC", they're not comfortable with Linux 
being whatever they want it to be; router, PC, server, microwave, coffee 
maker, home automation controller. 

Its whatever you want it to be. 


David A. Desrosiers
Linux on Power Developer Program Manager
daviddes at us.ibm.com
Office: 860-271-1642