Asa follows up on his recent Linux not ready for the desktop commentary. He acknowledges that there are several lines of argument that disagree with his assessment, and he reacts by making this a bigger topic in his blog: he announces a four-part series about more specific questions of Linux on the desktop.
I've been using various SuSE Linux distributions since the mid-/late-90ies, and I love it as a server, but I definitely agree that Linux is still anything but user-friendly. I've been trying some versions of the Ubuntu Live CD and was delighted by the approach; but there still are spots where the "old" Linux approach shines through and destroys the apparent simplicity. And even the more recent SuSE distributions lack user-friendliness.
Small example: System boot. The Ubuntu Live CD loader could use some heavy optimizing and UI work. It takes ages to load from a CD, and there are silly text mode screens with cryptic messages. The SuSE boot process in comparison uses a graphic mode loader, but manages to make it look shrill. Too many random colors.
When (if) I boot up my Powerbook, it shows a logo and a rotating circle. Nothing else, until the login prompt.
Yeah the boot process is indeed not a reflection of user-friendliness, but it's an indicator of the underlying thought process. The SuSE desktop matches its boot process: shrill and loaded with options. Ubuntu: spartan. OS X: mostly clean, and rather refined.
I love Linux on the server; but not on my dekstop. A user-friendly Linux desktop can't be created by the people who make Linux so great for the server. This requires a culture change, a new class of developers. Let's see how Ubuntu turns out... and until then I have the best of both worlds.
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