Re: Dell stops offering Red Hat on desktops

[Steven Pritchard <steve@silug.org>]

Tony Zafiropoulos said:
> Steve, what we need from community leaders is a thoughtful discussion as
> to what is necessary to make Linux become accepted in the mass market. One
> market at a time. Gaming, Schools, financials, database front ends,
> etc. etc.

Gaming:  We need time for the distribution vendors to include 3D
drivers for common video hardware.  It would also really help if the
video and sound card vendors would *really* support Linux, but I'm not
going to hold my breath.  (ATI, Intel, and 3Dfx (before they died) get
points here.  Matrox isn't perfect, but they are a hell of a lot
better than NVidia.)

Schools:  School administrators generally suffer from the "nobody ever
got fired for buying M$" syndrome.  Whether it is through community
pressure, legislation, or whatever, they need to be convinced that
they wasting taxpayer money on Microsoft garbage is a Bad Thing.

BTW, I have seen a high school simply convinced that Linux is a Good
Thing.  That high school has the most successful computer program that
I have ever seen.  They're lucky they had such a good bunch of
students...

Financial:  At the high end, Linux is a good platform (like for SAP).
At the low end, I just haven't seen the software.  Maybe it is out
there, and I just haven't been paying attention...

Databases:  At the low end, Linux has *everything* beat, no problem.
We've got MySQL and PostgreSQL if you want to go with free software.
We've got *every* major commercial database.  At the high end, there
are some performance issues that need to be worked out, but I think
that will happen soon.  (Probably in 2.4.10 or so...)

Fortunately, I think the database vendors actually have been taking
Linux seriously.  I'm a little surprised that Oracle (or somebody)
hasn't just said "Linux isn't good enough" yet.  They know it is just
a matter of time, and I guess there's enough anti-M$ momentum to keep
them committed.

Go ahead, give me some more things to give my opinions on.  ;-)

> What are the hurdles to be overcome?

The vast majority of the hurdles come from simple momentum (everybody
else runs Windows, right?) and bias (*way* too many people make their
money from proprietary software).

> We do need to be heard in the press, otherwise the pro-MS lackeys will
> drown out everyone in the main media.

In that case, does anyone know who might take my post as an opinion
article?

It does always worry me that the computer publications and web sites
are naturally pro-M$, since Windows is where their advertising
revenues usually come from.

Steve
-- 
steve@silug.org           | Southern Illinois Linux Users Group
(618)398-7360             | See web site for meeting details.
Steven Pritchard          | http://www.silug.org/
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