What Linux Needs To Do To Reach The Masses.

[Seagasm]

I came across this article which I found interesting at https://www.techrepublic.com/article/wh ... he-masses/. What are your thoughts?

[malspa]

My question would be the same as what one person asked in the comments following the article: "Does Linux really need to reach the masses?"

[GuiGuy]

IMO MX has already fixed the issues mentioned (and many others).

[Gordon Cooper]

A topic perhaps good for a lengthy discussion, but we need to live with the facts. Linux has not been promoted as a home user system. In contrast Windows, and to a
lesser extent the Macs, have been promoted by many many retailers as the computer system for home use. Ask the average citizen about Linux and you will most
likely get a blank stare. Anything to spread Linux amongst the masses has a lot of catching up to do.

[JayM]

Recently my friend asked for help installing Linux on an aging laptop. The laptop originally ran Windows 7, but it was upgraded to Windows 10 (due to the end of life for 7). After the upgrade, the laptop became nearly impossible to use. Why? Because Windows 10 failed to recognize that the hardware didn't meet the basic system requirements. The laptop in question was an older Lenovo, so it was worth salvaging.
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And so, I installed Ubuntu 19.04.

You chose... poorly.

That is no longer the case. An overwhelming majority of people compute on the go. People like myself are the exception, as I spend probably 90% of my computing time at a desk. The masses, on the other hand, work on laptops, tablets, and phones.

One word: gamers. (Yes, there are gaming laptops but the majority of gamers prefer high-end, powerful, upgradable desktops and GPUs with huge, fast monitors if they can afford them. With laptops they're pretty much stuck with the CPU and GPU that the machines came with, plus the monitors are pretty small.)

Wireless is still not 100%.
High resolution screens require users to configure settings so they are readable.
Suspend (need I say more?).

He's spot on but I would add a fourth: Nvidia GPUs. Basically Linux distros and/or their desktop environments (DEs) need to do better at Plug and Play: include proprietary drivers and autoconfigure and load them if devices needing those drivers are detected, preferably when booting the live medium or at the very least during installation of the distro.

What it will really take to get Linux to the masses is to break Microsoft's stranglehold on computer producers (Dell, HP, Lenovo), to wit: the contract that stipulates that they have to include an installation of Windows on every computer that they sell, in return for which M$ will supply them with dirt-cheap OS licenses. What would it take? I'm not sure. Perhaps if one of the major distros (sadly, that would probably be Ubuntu) would partner with a major manufacturer to supply them with a customized or forked version of the distro tailored to specific models of that manufacturer's machines, wifi firmware, GPU, etc. so everything would work flawlessly for the end-users.

Dell already has a subsidiary company, AlienWare, that specializes in highly-spec'd gaming desktops and laptops. If a manufacturer started a wholly-separate subsidiary that sold high-end Linux-only machines that performed at least as well as their Windows counterparts and cost less (as they wouldn't need to have the absolutely latest and greatest hardware to do so, due to Linux itself being faster, lighter-weight and more efficient than Windows) they might be onto something. Particularly if Canonical (or someone else with fairly deep pockets) took care of all the OS customization and driver setup for them and offered professional support for the OS at a reasonable cost. Canonical could recoup their costs (as this would probably be a loss-leader) by offering the users longer-term support contracts or charging on a per-call basis, going through the computer company, beyond the initial free support period which could be along the lines of 6 months.

They could also offer a line of very low cost budget machines that were spec'd to handle basic end-user computing tasks (web browsing, email, chat and so on), and perhaps a business class of machines (and here's where both companies could rake in the cash via enterprise-level support contracts and suitcased on-site training classes for the users.) Initially they should probably pick just one market to aim for: gamers, end-users on a budget, or corporate then expand into the other markets later.

[rokytnji.1]

For years. Harley Davidson was a close knit focused corp with corp policy of customer support always in front. Now you would not recognize em. Because now they have mass appeal.

Which is slowly pricing me out like a old home squatter on prime real estate like in NYC.

Careful what you wish for. You usually get it and find out ., OOOOOOOooooops.

Capitalism usually jumps to the for front when mass appeal kicks in.

[JayM]

For years. Harley Davidson was a close knit focused corp with corp policy of customer support always in front. Now you would not recognize em. Because now they have mass appeal.

Which is slowly pricing me out like a old home squatter on prime real estate like in NYC.

Careful what you wish for. You usually get it and find out ., OOOOOOOooooops.

Capitalism usually jumps to the for front when mass appeal kicks in.

Capitalism isn't necessarily always bad. One of the beauties of Linux is that, were it in more demand, a niche market would open for small businesses that are too small to avail of Microsoft's cheap licensing scheme to sell used/refurbished computers with Linux preinstalled, at a lower cost than the same computers with Windows (as the customer would have to pay the full retail price for a Windows license.)

[rokytnji.1]

Well. Systemd got mass appeal. Look at all the happy campers now.

Capitalism being good or bad> Too broad and too heavy a subject . Plus entrenched for thousands of years.
Staying out of politics since I don't back any teams/divisions any more. Plus. Forum rules say no.

[mxer]

Mass appeal?

Like pulseaudio & systemd, or maybe IBM/RedHat.

Seems to me 'we' lose out, things get changed to suit businesses that like to charge money for service contracts.

Luckily there are still the BSDs to fall back upon, when it all goes pear shaped.....

[richb]

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Capitalism being good or bad> Too broad and too heavy a subject . Plus entrenched for thousands of years.
Staying out of politics since I don't back any teams/divisions any more. Plus. Forum rules say no.

Moderator
Everyone keep that in mind in this thread.