| Why desktop Linux might not take off |
Sep. 13, 2006
You might expect the article "Why Desktop Linux Will Not Take Off, and Why You Don't Want It To," by self-styled "former Linux evangelist" Martin Girard, to simply be a troll. Girard likens Linux to early transistor-radios with clear cases, enabling users to see their intricate inner workings.
"Linux as a desktop ... has a transparent casing; you see all of the insides. This is one of the things that makes it appealing to technology enthusiasts because their brains recognize the concept of 'technical elegance,' analogous to 'mathematical elegance,' a concept beyond the reach of non-mathematicians," writes Girard, in the article at OSNews.
"But the crowd has a different opinion; being technophobists, transparency in design and implementation is inelegant, even repelling. Indeed, when you try to explain to your old folks why Linux is technologically superior, you scare them away," Girard adds.
Girard, who describes himself as C++ developer and former Linux evangelist who's trying to quit, goes on to conclude that "Linux will always be unpopular on the desktop because it is in every way comparable to a fully revamped Hot Rod with an engine so large the car needs no hood, so long to assemble it can only be the work of die-hard mechanics and so difficult to drive it takes a pilot, not a driver."
See if you agree or disagree with Girard's thesis, by reading the complete story here.
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