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> That there are very few preinstalled Linux options is the reason it hasn't taken off commercially. There's a lot of truth in there, but also some complex rea
by dwc 14y ago
> That there are very few preinstalled Linux options is the reason it hasn't taken off commercially.
There's a lot of truth in there, but also some complex reasons why that hasn't yet come about. A fairly large part of the problem is that Linux has attracted a lot of miserly people. They want free (as in beer) stuff, and are running on older hardware. The idea of paying for software is anathema to them because they're hoping someone will give it to them for free instead, and they're willing to hold out for that. There are others who pick Linux for technical reasons, or for free (as in speech) issues, but there are enough of the cheap bastards to skew the market, unfortunately.
If you could magically move the market so that OEMs offered Linux, and companies provided Linux versions of their software, then I think a lot of what you say would be spot on. But getting there from where things are currently, now that's tricky.
- drcube 14y agoYou're right that the current Linux market is quite different from the market as a whole. But a great killer app like Steam could bring a lot of "normals" over from other platforms and change that. It's basically a chicken and egg problem that needs some established company to make a big bet on Linux to initiate change. That's why I think it could pay off big time. If Valve could draw even a tiny fraction of Windows gamers over to Linux it could kickstart a huge migration away from Microsoft over the next several years, with Valve at the center.
- dwc 14y ago> It's basically a chicken and egg problem that needs some established company to make a big bet on Linux to initiate change. Yes, this. That company may or may not have to take a monetary hit to do so, but I can see it happening at some point.