Will Linux and Mac Desktop Adoption Ever Reach the 20 of the 80/20 Rule?
I've been sitting on this post, because I was hoping to put a more positive spin on the fact that even companies that adopt Linux for desktop computer users rarely if ever provide it to more than 20 percent of their users. In other words, even companies who say they “Love Linux” only put it on one of five desktops. Since I can't figure out a happy way to spin this, I'll put the blame where it belongs: on the Linux community that believes technical advantage will sway users and therefore ignores marketing. They lose, every single time, to Microsoft, because executives in Redmond know that marketing, along with massive developer support, always wins.
Let's be blunt: Apple and Linux fans squandered an enormous opportunity when Vista laid a resounding egg, both with the public and with developers. In sports, sometimes it's enough to let your opponents beat themselves. Evidently the same holds true in computer operating systems, because otherwise Linux and Apple would have grabbed 20 percent each of the new installs market during the early dog days of Vista. Neither did, and Microsoft won't lay another egg like Vista for at least eight more years. That noise you hear is the window of opportunity for Linux and Apple slamming shut.
The spark for this post was the report in ComputerWorld titled Survey: Even Linux-Loving Firms Only Deploy It To One-Fifth of Employees. Linux's overall share of desktops remains at about 1 percent, according to the article. I've seen much larger percentages in small and medium sized companies, but that's not the issue here. The 1275 IT professionals surveyed in April this year reported that half of the businesses that have deployed Linux on the desktop rolled it out to less than 20 percent of their workers.
I believe, as do the Linux and Apple fans, that more competition on the desktop would make for a better range of solutions because of more innovation and new approaches to old problems. Macs are making inroads into larger companies, but not nearly as much as they should based on the problems Microsoft has had keeping customers happy during Vista's early days. Linux offers huge cost savings, especially in smaller companies unable to wring big discounts out of Microsoft based on volume purchasing.
Alas, the world does not often turn in ways designed to make me happy. And the world of desktop computing is not turning in ways to increase desktop percentages of Linux and Apple systems.
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I am an IT officer in my company. And I have started deploying GNU/Linux, with only one in every 10 desktops. The most important use of Linux in my case is for the email server and for my primary desktop as I am not a heavy user of MS Office and other MS based apps. And I love free software not only Linux but OpenSolaris and the BSDs. Honestly, I just want to convert all users to GNU/Linux, the most obvious hindrances are:1. Accounting software - impossible to run on GNU/Linux(vmware and others are not a solution to this since we still need a license and that additional support cost, we need to save not to add costs)
2. Printer Drivers - Most HP printers will work, but most canon printers is next to impossible unless buying a third party driver to which is cost prohibitive, impossible to explain to the management (Printers should provide FREE drivers)
3. Centralized management - In GNU/Linux it takes much pain and effort to lock/control/manage GNU/Linux desktops from a MS Windows outlook.
4. No developer support and the lack of marketing (We know Redhat / Novell have thousands of vendors supporting them, but how can we get them and the cost is beyond me) That is why SAP, Platinum(they changed name), Oracle rules the corporate world.
As I see Ubuntu and Fedora, they made impressive improvements on the desktop, but again, most improvements did not cater the corporate world. I am using Hardy as my primary desktop now a server for it runs two Windows NT servers, it serves better for that purposes. And it is useless to the rest of our users. All 3D effects, fast boots, notifications are all but serves a little audience. Compiz not even stable. The first question in implementing GNU/Linux desktop is, "can I run this and that on that box"?
Nevertheless, GNU/Linux is good only for the servers and specialized workstations like the one we found in most of hollywood's special effects companies. As of today, I doubt this will change sooner. And lastly, Apple's computer is cost prohibitive to implement as desktops.
Not sure about you're diagnosis.
I would say that its more to do with the fact that there are important bits of software which have yet to find their way onto Linux desktops. Another problem is the hardware manufacturers who are slow to support the platform. Recently I found that I could not use the latest ATI drivers due to Xorg 1.6 conflicts. In the past there would have been nothing I could do, due to the, previously, poor quality of open source drivers. However, I was pleasantly surprised at the strides that have been made in this area.The interest is already there. A quick look at 'google trends' comparing searches for Ubuntu and 'Windows Vista', 'Windows XP' or 'Windows 7' is quite telling. A search on twitter reveals similar trends. The word is getting out faster than ever. People don't need to be marketed to. With the spread of social networking, the word is getting out faster than you can say 'twitter'.
It really doesn't matter if the opportunity for capturing 20% of the desktop market has been lost or not, because in the not so distant future desktop computing could be pretty much irrelevant. Moreover, every year, there is huge improvement in the Linux desktop experience and I'm sure this will continue while there is growth and a community behind it.
Linux community need important software and better support from hardware manufacturers and this is something that can happen incrementally as its a chicken and egg situation.
Native Application Support
Video drivers are no problem with Linux in my experience here. My point is for the Printer driver which is a necessity in the corporate/company settings. I know, the lack of OEM support. Also, it is quite good to see employers and co-employees alike subscribing to twitter or any social networking sites for technology reasons, but no, most were for personal.If web-based applications will at least be comparable to native desktops applications, then OS from Microsoft becomes irrelevant, I agree. There are many things to consider for this, a ripple effect. If for example, Adobe will plan to release a Photoshop version as a cross-platform web-based application with full functionality as of the Windows native version, then it needs to consider the printer drivers support for different operating systems to make it a usable app in various OSes. If no native printer drivers for Linux, I doubt Adobe will going to release a Linux version or take time developing it. Again if Adobe will release in spite of, what took the hardware makers so long to support drivers for Linux? Again a chicken and egg dilemma.
What I would like to see in the near future is the 5% desktop installations of Linux. GNU/Linux is really good for business start-ups who may use ERP systems based on open source software, where there is no vendor locked-in. GNU/Linux is not a feasible solution to companies who have existing ERP solutions from proprietary companies like SAP.