The Wandering Geek

Technewsworld has an opinion piece listing 10 things needed to bring desktop Linux closer to reality. Here is a snippet:

8. Convince the killer-apps owners to create real and usable ports of their products.
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7. Find a sponsor willing to step up to real publicity for Linux.
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5. Pay for Linux!
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1. Lose the attitude! Lose the edge! Stop whining already!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again (and again), it’s all about the OEMs. None of this stuff matters to anyone but us geeks. People use Windows on the desktop because of the lock Microsoft has on the OEM market. It’s not about the apps, or the OS, or the Free Software. Generally people will use whatever comes with whatever they buy. That’s why Google’s announcement of a new OS was so important - they were very public about the OEM agreements they have in place to put their OS on hardware that consumers will buy. They’re giving plenty of warning to the app developers to get ready, in this case to web-enable their apps.