Comments on: Yet again, desktop Linux won't claim a year

Netbooks haven't changed the fact that local Linux is simply not necessary, making 2009 no more the "Year of the Linux Desktop" than 2008 was--or 2007, or...

[hlainchb]

I find it interesting that the people that I know that run Linux, including me, are always the ones who get asked for help when there seems to be something wrong with their Mac or Windows machine.

I started refusing to reinstall people's Windows operating systems until I got this great idea. I now tell them I would be happy to do that so long as they are fine with me putting Linux on their box. Most of them are totally fine with that.

It's a win-win situation. They are happy because they have this new snappy computer and I am happy because I will never be asked to see that computer infected with malware again.

[kiwibuntu]

10% will make a difference:
All Ubuntu needs is 10% of the desktop market to break the Microsoft monopoly. Firefox is at about 20% and the web is a much better place for it. All desktop users will benefit if Ubuntu continues to grow.

2008 the year of the linux desktop for me:
2008 was the year of the linux desktop for:
- My development machine (finally good enough support for dual monitor and surround sound) - see http://p-s.co.nz/wordpress/?p=105
- My wife's machine
- The additional business/family computer
- My Mother's laptop and her desktop
- My business laptop - see http://p-s.co.nz/wordpress/?p=23
- My parents-in-law desktop - see http://p-s.co.nz/wordpress/?p=35
- The laptops of a handful of friends - e.g. http://p-s.co.nz/wordpress/?p=28
I can't count my grandparents because they went linux (Xubuntu) in 2006 ;-)
So thanks to all the developers, QA people, community organisers, administrators etc who made this possible. Your work is appreciated and making a difference.

[gary.edwards]

Cloud computing changes everything. It's the best opportunity the Linux Desktop has, but that hardly means Microsoft is standing still. They too have a "Cloud Computing" plan designed to bridge their desktop monopoly into a Microsoft proprietary Cloud - Services system, and bind it there for years to come.

The impossible barrier for the Linux Desktop is the same barrier faced by Windows based Microsoft Office alternatives such as OpenOffice, WordPerfect Office and Lotus Smart Suite. Years of "client/server" development has bound the bulk of business processes to the Microsoft Office productivity environment. For all practical purposes, Microsoft is the "client" in "client/server".

Cloud Computing will usher in a great transition of these bound business processes, as they are re-written and enhanced to take advantage of highly interactive, universally accessible and incredibly productive Web centric collaborative services. It is the great transition of these bound business processes that afford the Linux Desktop it's moment of opportunity.

Microsoft of course is not sitting still. They have been working for years to protect this MSOffice-Outlook-Access anchored monopoly on business systems, while trying to figure out proprietary alternatives to Open Web formats, protocols and interfaces. This is pretty much complete, with the Windows Presentation Foundation providing a proprietary base for the Microsoft WebStack-Cloud-RiA suite of applications, services and developer tools. Adding insult to injury, Microsoft systems are designed to offer business users a Hobbsian choice of low end, dare i say "crippled" Open Web formats, protocols and interfaces, or, high end, very rich but proprietary formats, protocols and interfaces fully capable of enhancing existing MSOffice bound business processes even as they transition into the MS WebStack-Cloud-RiA model.

Further discussion of the "business process" angle can be found at: <a href="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dghfk5w9_165f7ntr6cz">"It's the Business Processes that Bind"</a>