List the reasons why Linux will successfully enter the Desktop

List the reasons why Linux will successfully enter the desktop-general Linux technology-Linux technology and application information. The following is a detailed description. I think Linux will become a standard desktop operating system. Although it takes some time for most users to leave Windows, there are good reasons to believe that the day will come.

Linux, a global community, has begun to support standard file formats. In addition, with Firefox and other browsers gaining more market share, it is increasingly difficult for users to use Internet Explorer to browse websites. However, this change is slow and will continue to slow down. Most people give up Windows only when the funds are tight.

Perfect generic client

Desktop computers support a variety of work habits. For example, you can use Microsoft Word for Windows and other local text processing programs to edit files, or use a network tool such as Google Doc. You need Windows to execute Word, however, any job system with a good browser can successfully execute Google Doc.

Once you get rid of the question of accepting a new file format, the question becomes: "Why do I have to use a Windows system that is full of bugs, huge sizes, and insecure ?」 Simply put, getting rid of habits makes desktop computers with the cheapest price and the least problems the most ideal choice.

In the long run, Linux can achieve a perfect Generic Client ). This platform is a free software development center, making it the focus of extensive and open computing. As Linux is gradually used as the basis for mobile phones, DVRs (such as TiVo and Dish networks), routers, and other specific systems, the platform is almost everywhere in all fields other than PC. This makes it more likely to control the PC field in the future.

As Linux becomes a standard platform for various software development, it becomes more attractive as a personal computing platform. Any overlap between the above products and PCs will save heavy labor. More and more available free software also enhances the attractiveness of Linux as the basis for development.

Many Linux tasks that must be performed on PCs have been implemented on mobile phones and other products. We may never see the era of $100 in Internet computers, but with the development of network computing, people are increasingly dependent on Web-based emails and the emergence of Web applications such as Google Doc, this has been proved. We owe the rich client functions in PC and/or mobile browsers to AJAX and Java. .

The more we rely on this type of operation, the more invisible the job system will be. Most people do not know or care about what operating systems their mobile phones use. We may always care about what systems are executed on our PCs, but the boundaries between the two job systems will gradually become blurred. Linux should be the best choice because it is already widely used on so many devices.

If Linux is only used as a general-purpose network computing client, it will not succeed. People will continue to use their PCs as power workstations, even if sometimes this is not appropriate. This is the nature of computer users. Therefore, Linux requires an eye-catching desktop experience. Although Linux already has Compiz Fusion, many Linux users refuse to install or disable Compiz even if 3D does not require as many hardware resources as Vista does in Linux.

Desktop computers require more substantial evolution in thinking. KDE4, the new version of KDE, seems promising. KDE (K desktop environment) Developers seem to want to bring new things to the desktop experience, not just some novel visual effects. KDE4, or some of its features, can be executed on Windows and Mac OS-X, but it is completely a Linux software and will be more conducive to pushing Linux than any other platform.

KDE4 is an extension of Linux in electronic products, catering to the general network computing trend. The fact that Linux is free (free) and other factors will help Linux succeed on desktop computers. But Linux still needs more things. It needed a window of opportunity to replace the original system, and it needed to overcome some important obstacles.

Windows of opportunity for Linux 」

Whether Microsoft succeeds or fails, it will provide an important window of opportunity for Linux, so that the platform can seize the market share of a large number of desktop computers. Switching to a desktop operating system is a very painful process. Especially for enterprises, Windows and other traditional operating systems always have great advantages. However, Microsoft has made a lot of mistakes recently, encouraging users to seek the taste of other desktop computer operating systems.

Windows operating systems have always been notorious for being insecure, while Microsoft's Vista makes the problem more complicated. Visa is expensive, full of loopholes, imperfect, requires complex licensing, full of DRM, high hardware requirements, frequent upgrades without the user's permission.

As mentioned above, when there is a lack of funds, people are most likely to switch to a new operating system. If Microsoft is smart, it should continue to support "fairly good" Windows XP, because any attempt to force users to upgrade to Vista may lead to "lack of money. However, if you upgrade to a desktop computer that you know you don't like, the risks of adapting to the new system may become more acceptable.

Perhaps Microsoft's biggest mistake is to use SCO to arouse fear and doubt about Linux. Those who used to support SCO are not self-satisfied now. Microsoft claims that Linux has infringed its patents and directly launched an attack on Linux. SCO makes the high-profile analysts more likely to make the same mistake.

When Microsoft launched Windows 95, it began a difficult strategy. On the one hand, the company successfully took advantage of its unique advantage in setting up 32-bit Windows applications, in fact eliminating all competition in the mainstream desktop applications. The problem is that Microsoft has no friends.

For example, if Lotus Smartsuite and WordPerfec Office are still healthy and competing with Microsoft Office, it is almost impossible for Linux to enter the desktop market. Vendors will be able to collect revenues from Windows applications and will not be interested in supporting another desktop platform.

However, unfortunately, Microsoft has not regretted the mistakes made in the past. It is impossible for the company to give up its large market share of Office in order to save some of its loyalty to Windows. The loss has been caused, and manufacturers are now more inclined to support more competitive platforms, which creates opportunities for Linux and other desktop computer operating systems.

However, although Microsoft makes it almost impossible for competitors to make money using Windows's mainstream desktop applications, Linux does not have to restore this opportunity. The best mainstream Linux applications are free open source applications. Although many vendors are beginning to recognize the advantages of free software, most vendors still do not want to understand how to use it to make money, at least they realize that they cannot use the same method to make money in the old market.

Another problem with Microsoft's window of opportunity is that they only make it easier for any alternative operating system to expand its proportion in the desktop computer market, but not necessarily Linux. Mac OS-X can benefit from these opportunities and may have benefited. Linux may have advantages in the long term, but in the short term, Linux requires some additional changes to take advantage of these opportunities. Linux will have to overcome some major obstacles.

Obstacle 1: Linux pre-installation needs to be expanded

If Linux correctly identifies hardware during installation, it is much easier to install Linux than to install Windows-the personal experience of many Windows and Linux users. Obviously, Linux can be forcibly installed in case of hardware identification problems, but Windows can also do the same.

Some may say that the Linux installation program has been much better in terms of hardware identification recently; this is irrelevant, and the simplest installation is unnecessary. Therefore, no matter whether it is true or false, there are so many people who believe that Linux is more difficult to install than windows. They have to install Linux, but they do not have to install Windows because the PC they purchased has been pre-installed with Windows. Mac OS-X has advantages in this regard. After purchasing a Mac computer, the desktop operating system is ready.

The way to overcome this obstacle is obvious. Install Linux on a PC without having to deal with installation issues. Ubuntu works with Dell to pre-install Linux for machines. This is a great start, but it's just a start. Linux will require more vendors to support pre-installation in order to succeed in the desktop computer market.

Obstacle 2: KDE must replace GNOME and become the preferred GUI for Linux

GNOME is a standard graphical desktop computer environment for Red Hat Linux, Ubuntu, and SUSE. GNOME may not prevent Linux from entering the desktop computer, but it will not help Linux sales on the desktop computer. GNOME seems to be confused when it targets cainiao or hackers. If GNOME tries to satisfy both types of users like KDE, the situation will be different.

However, GNOME tries to become a user-friendly desktop computer, which makes it impossible (or almost impossible) to execute any task other than the most basic job. If you want to do something that GNOME does not want you to do, you must edit the GNOME registry or other configuration files.

GNOME developers believe that removing things other than the simplest functions can free users from worries and avoid being overwhelmed. Even Linus Torvalds challenges the wisdom of this design strategy. Two years ago, he wrote in an e-newspaper: "If you think your (GNOME) users are dummies, only dummies will use them .」

Some people may think that GNOME is doing well, because most popular Linux distributions use it by default. If the market share of Linux desktop computers is growing rapidly due to these circulation versions, this may make sense. However, the market share of Linux desktop computers is poor, which means this is not the case.

These circulating versions are very popular, but they are only popular among those who are already familiar with Linux, and GNOME is more likely to be attractive to these users. GNOME is attractive to some experienced Linux users because it is one of the few complete desktop computer environments that are lighter than KDE, making GNOME more suitable for servers. For those who know how to crack and those who are not afraid of GNOME registration or command line, the limitations of GNOME are negligible.

What measures must be taken to eliminate these obstacles? Red Hat supports GNOME because the authorization problem has been solved for a long time. SUSE prefers GNOME because an early developer of GNOME actually runs the company. Only one day knows why Ubuntu defaults to GNOME (although you can download and install Kubuntu, KDE is the default ).

However, if these circulating versions want to drive Linux's expansion in the desktop computer market, they need to accept and promote KDE as the desktop computer standard, and/or force GNOME developers to give up on the development principles that are already dead. This is especially true for Ubuntu, which takes the lead in pushing popular brands such as Dell to pre-install Linux. In any case, the market share of Linux desktop computers may rise, but if more distributions support the same graphic desktop computer, the proportion will grow faster.

Open file format will promote the market acceptance of Linux

Linux has to overcome two difficulties. Windows and Microsoft Office are actually the same thing, and there is no Microsoft Office for Linux or a fully compatible suite. Or you must switch to the open file format, or the Linux application must support the perfect import of Microsoft Office files. The ideal solution is to switch to the open format, but this will be determined by the market.

This problem does not seem as insurmountable on the surface. People should remember that WordPerfect once monopolized the word processing market, but they still found a way to move to Microsoft Office. Microsoft will not allow the market to easily switch from Microsoft Office to other applications, but this change is still possible.

The attractiveness of open file formats is hard to resist. Open file formats are more meaningful than Microsoft Office. Moving forward to the open file format is to ensure compatibility in the future.

What is the bottom line?

Despite the many obstacles, there are still good reasons to be optimistic about the prospects of Linux in the desktop computer market. Since the middle of 1990s, I have almost always used only Desktop Linux, even though I needed more basic computer knowledge than now.

There is another factor that cannot be emphasized. For anyone who really knows what the "Free" Software means, they know that "Free" is the biggest advantage of Linux, but there is no denying the power of "Free. Microsoft uses this power to make Internet Explorer the world's most popular browser. Netscape's demise is because the company is unable to compete with free software providers.

Only Firefox can defend against attacks because it is a free software. Among the three main competitors in the field of desktop computers, Windows, Mac OS-X and Linux, only one of them is free, this important reason will make it a practical standard in the desktop computer market.