I have been using desktop Linux software regularly since 2001, and as my primary desktop since very early 2002. My Linux systems background goes back t0 1995. In ’95, I did not have my Linux system directly connected to a fast network. In fact, I did not have ANY home system connected to a fast network, so I did not do the kind of computing I do today. Back in the mid nineties, I used UNIX workstations to access the Internet.
In 1999, I got broadband Internet access into my home. I hooked it up to my Linux software that I had at the time, and I was amazed that the DHCP service used picked right up and worked, right off the bat. However, I was attending graduate school online at the time and the papers and participation I did forced me to use Windows and Microsoft Office. I did, however, write a number of class papers about the emergence of Linux software and what I felt was needed to make it successful. Many of the things that I mentioned have happened in the server and embedded software markets, but have not really consistently happened in the Linux desktop space.
… so I open this up to you and pose the question: What, in your mind, will it take for desktop Linux software to reach critical mass? Do you believe it is there, do you believe it will get there, or do you believe it is a lost cause? Whatever your opinion, make your comments and arguments sound and civil.
Thanks!