Is Linux free?

[GarethDW]

Heh. Indeed.

Linux is very good but still requires too much research to get it working at a level that today's users are accustomed to.

That's because, up until recently, today's users only had a choice of buying a Windows-based PC or buying a Mac. Microsoft knew all along that people are resistant to change, so did everything they could (including some very dodgy business practices) to prevent hardware manufacturers from offering alternative OSes. Get people to learn using a PC the Microsoft way and they won't be keen on having to unlearn things to do it the OS X way or the Linux way or the "any other" way.

They still use this tactic by trying by whatever means necessary to get Microsoft products used in schools, or in 3rd world countries, etc... so that their user base isn't aware of alternatives that could be used instead.

Users that have learnt to use an OS other than Windows find that Windows is bizarre and user-unfriendly - there's a famous quote by an American astronaut asking if he really had to click the "start" button in order to shutdown his PC

Will this ever change? No.

It already is changing. Dell now sells desktop PCs with Ubuntu pre-installed. Netbooks with Linux installed are available on the High Street and at virtually all online sellers - including OcUK. In June 08, 3% of PCs sold in the UK had Linux and not Windows installed on them, according to a report by research firm Context.

There's not enough money, and people, involved for hardware and software companies to jump on the Linux bus with both feet.

The 'community', while having many helpful people is in general self destructive. Bickering over distributions, how to do things, who knows best etc.
Conflicting ideologies and advice are often as useless as no help at all.

I disagree - there are plenty of companies using Linux, such as IBM, Google, Intel, Boeing, Cisco, Nasa, Virgin, Peugeot, Disney, Shell, Panasonic, Ferrari, the US Navy, Amazon, Lockheed Martin, Mercedes Benz, Deutsche Bank, Volvo, etc... All of these companies use Linux. I'm fairly sure they use Windows too, but they all definitely use Linux either on servers, workstations or both.

 

[yashiro]

That's just not true with the amount of money IBM, RedHat, Canonical, Novell, HP, Dell and so on are pumping into it.

It is but a tiny fraction of the investments in Windows by most companies and the other 90% of the world's computer users.
As such, no one will ever throw their lot in with Linux, eschewing Windows. This is what I meant by both feet.

I'm not really going to be dragged into the cyclic Windows vs Linux argument. I'm all in favour of fixing 'bug number one' but also realize it's a far off event.

Let's just revisit this thread in 10 years and hope the heap of crap that is Windows Vista was the beginning of the end.