Linux is nearing "Critical Mass"

[Tim_Wright]

Apparantly Linux is reaching critical mass according to this report:

http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS3687814342.html

Happy reading!

Tim

[bryansmith]

Like every other report that has a similar message ("xxxx will be the year of the Linux desktop!"), I'm very skeptical about this one. Plus, like I saw someone say before, do we really want Linux to be widespread? The "nerdiness" factor of Linux makes using it more fun (for me at least). True, more corporate backing would be nice but for the most part, the community does a fantastic job of supporting itself.

[kornelix]

Apparantly Linux is reaching critical mass according to this report: http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS3687814342.html
Happy reading!
Tim

HP will support Linux when enough customers ask for it. Really brave.

How about offering it and promoting it, HP? You might learn that customers are waiting for you as much as you are waiting for them.

[benjamin20]

its a business. it cant just go willy nilly with ideas that could destabilize the company. right now they are selling a lot of computers. also the market is predominantly Microsoft, so much so that supporting Linux would not promise a lot of profit. like they are saying hte major demand for Linux is from enterprises, and they cater to that. but think for a second about just what it would mean to support Linux. first there is the variety of Linux distributions. then there is all the software not supported by Linux. then there is all the computer illiterates that dont understand either of those two problems.

basically they are waiting for more work to be done to automate processes and to unify standards. also they need those finishing touches to driver support to be done, such as video cards and such. also they need wine to become more reliable. they want to know that they can at least hack a way for windows only software to work on Linux. finally they want to know people will buy the product. it will just take time for it to come around, it will happen eventualy, linux is growing and Microsoft is shrinking, but dont think that it will all of a sudden happen right now.

[Tim_Wright]

I aggree with kornelix. I think if HP were to take the first step people would respect them even more. As for profit, if shipping Linux on their PC happens, more and more people will go to the company. And when more and more people buy machines from them with Linux pre installed HP will get more and more money that they can put into support which will encourage more people to buy from HP. It all works out in HP's favour. There are something like 30 million people using Linux atm, M$ should be getting worried!

Tim