Why Linux Still Struggles on the Desktop [but Thrives in the Datacenter]
I was reading through a Harvard Business Review article and I came across a distinction made by a Harvard professor which essentially says [in my own words] … “people don’t want a car, they just want to get from here to there”
I was struck by how true this is and how often we geeks fail to understand that subtlety. Linux is doing very well in the data center for this reason [plus the fact that it is free and libre] : organizations want a website, a mail system etc, they don’t want a server OS. Since Linux does this well AND is free and libre, then it is very compelling in many scenarios.
In the same vein, enterprise IT admins want to be able to control desktops and laptops, what applications are installed on them and enforce highly granular control of access privileges – it is only natural that they turn to Microsoft’s Active Directory in Windows Server and hence Linux hasn’t made a dent in that portion of the data center.
Now for the desktop – Linux hasn’t gotten this quite right [yet] because people just want to
- Type notes, resumes etc and share them with others.
- Edit photos and movies and share them.
- etc etc
They will use the tool that helps them do these things in the easiest and cheapest possible way.
While it is generally believed that the Apple Mac is the most elegant computer out there, its high cost keeps it out of the range of most people but most of those who can afford it do get it. This perhaps explains its popularity in the high end desktop publishing and graphics space.
Windows has evolved to be easy to use [perhaps more accurately, Windows is familiar and popular] and has surpassed MAC OS by supporting a large ecosystem [applications and hardware] which gives users a greater range of options to get the job done and painlessly share their work.
For all its virtues, desktop Linux is not as elegant [visually and usability-wise] as Windows or Mac OS X. Yes it is getting better but consider these things that the typical person needs to do but can’t do easily on Linux:
- Play DVD movies.
- Manage and synchronize digital media on their ipod or Zune/Zen etc.
- Create documents and share them with others in their native format [aka file format agnostic]
- Connect and use the latest peripherals [printers, scanners etc]
Some of these limitations on the part of Linux are due to vendors and manufacturers not opening up their devices or applications for whatever reason. Such practices are evil but guess what? – the user doesn’t care – she only cares that she can’t play that new DVD, use that photo printer or sync her ipod.
The key then is to orchestrated the average user’s Linux experience well: A geek with taste takes the vanilla desktop Linux and
- Installs some good eye-candy and fonts.
- Sets up a cool media player with any plugin and codecs for using the popular media formats and working with the latest ipod, zune or zen.
- Sets up drivers especially for wireless networking and wireless WANs.
- Configure such things as hibernate and suspend etc etc.
…… and viola!!! when a user starts their PC, they can go straight to gratifying themselves. Now for the hard part: how do we do this and still give the OS for free?
Every OS has it’s strengths and weakenesses. The problem alot of people don’t know much about computers so when thy go buy a pc or laptop they are faced with windows only and they get brainwashed with it. Even with windows they still don’t even know how to use it!
By the way I can watch movies in linux!
Your points are arguable. Usability of desktop linux depends more specifically on what distro you choose. I personally think that the corporations are backing the wrong horse(Ubuntu Linux). Most people think Ubuntu when they think of the most usable linux distro but this is not true as sometimes you still have to use the terminal and it does not have proprietary software and codecs installed out-of-the-box. I think people would have better opinions if they used PCLinuxOS or Mint. Since these have support for proprietary codecs and drivers enabled by default, the end user experience is far greater.
“people don’t want a car, they just want to get from here to there”
This is not true at all, and misses a lot of points.
If people thought objectively and dispassionately about the best way of getting from here to there, they would drive cars far less often. The car – particularly in America – is an emotional icon as much as it is a means of transportation, and if you don’t understand that, you miss the point in a big way.
The same doesn’t apply so much to software, but it’s important to understand cars properly.
To quote Tom,
“Every OS has it’s strengths and weakenesses. The problem alot of people don’t know much about computers”
That is the problem, I agree with you they need to know [just like we need to know more about some of the drugs and food we consume] … but the fact is that they don’t care. They are more interested in what jobs they want to do. That is the reality we must face.
I did mention that sometimes, the so-called easy way of doing things in Windows is more a “familiar way” or “the-way-everyone-else-I-know-does-it”. Until we can either de-construct that mindset and/or out-do it, it will always be this way.
I also watch movies on my Linux box …. but Totem isn’t exactly PowerDVD. I will write a post describing some apps that still keep me using Windows.
Nafees did raise some issues:
Of course my opinion is arguable, which is why I value your take.
“Usability of desktop linux depends more specifically on what distro you choose. I personally think that the corporations are backing the wrong horse(Ubuntu Linux). Most people think Ubuntu when they think of the most usable linux distro but this is not true as sometimes you still have to use the terminal and it does not have proprietary software and codecs installed out-of-the-box. I think people would have better opinions if they used PCLinuxOS or Mint. Since these have support for proprietary codecs and drivers enabled by default, the end user experience is far greater.”
You are right. I dumped Fedora primarily because living in the developing world, I can’t stand the several days I need to download 6 CDs. Ubuntu made a big statement there and it doesn’t hurt that they can ship you a CD free. I think they also popularized the live CD and these last two things have been very instrumental in me getting some friends to give Linux a try.
Anyway, if Linux is at the forefront of the desktop linux market today, it is because they are doing something right, they certainly aren’t perfect – I think the theme and icons suck!
And on to Adam Williamson’s comment.
“The car – particularly in America – is an emotional icon as much as it is a means of transportation, and if you don’t understand that, you miss the point in a big way.”
A valid point… and I have seen people in Africa buy Apple MACs and Tablets PCs instead of the desktop. Someone would argue that what they want in this case is something that bolsters their status. Which is true because in those I have observed with that trait, they don’t give a damn what OS runs on the cute, expensive and not-so-common gadget they have. So long as people are impressed by it, mission accomplished.