To my thinking, there's a significant two part reason why Linux and to a lesser degree MacOS will not topple Windows any time in the forseeable future. The first part is the fact that the world is standardized on Microsoft Office, and no amount of compatibility offered by other products will topple that. You'll need a genuine copy of Microsoft Office to play in the business/professional world properly, except in rare cases where you can get by with a functional clone. That leaves you running Windows or MacOS, only, or some type of user unfriendly and performance unfriendly compatibility layer on the Linux side.
The second part is one of drivers and compatibility. Every device supports Windows first, Mac second and everything else, if you're lucky or unofficially. Until there's some type of unified driver layer that works on EVERY flavor of Linux (and thus would make sense for vendors to officially support), Linux doesn't stand a chance with Joe Consumer who won't go to the effort to try and track down drivers and functionality for their new Canon multifunction printer, for instance. Even I'm in that camp. I'd love to move to Linux or some other OS, but I'm always held back by compatibility concerns. I need to be able to use my stuff!
In the world of netbooks you have two basic choices right now, Linux or Windows XP. Linux, in this scenario, is for when you want a lean OS and don't need to connect to any specific peripherals or be compatible with any Windows software. It's a WebOS and an OS for those who want to put the time and effort to make it something more. Windows XP is the leanest modern version of Windows that offers the same functionality as any other Windows system when that's what you need. So where does ChromeOS fit in? It can only hope to replace the Linux option, not the Windows XP option, which will become the Windows 7 option once that's available. Again, two different OS's, two different approaches, two different audiences. While the Windows netbook/laptop can do 100% of the functions of the Linux/ChromeOS netbook/laptop, the reverse is not true.
So to my mind, the markets, because of the needs of the users, will remain bifurcated on the netbook side, with no danger at all on the full-sized laptop/desktop side, where Windows-Mac-Linux/other will remain 1, distant 2 and mostly insignificant 3, respectively.
To my thinking, there's a significant two part reason why Linux and to a lesser degree MacOS will not topple Windows any time in the forseeable future. The first part is the fact that the world is standardized on Microsoft Office, and no amount of compatibility offered by other products will topple that. You'll need a genuine copy of Microsoft Office to play in the business/professional world properly, except in rare cases where you can get by with a functional clone. That leaves you running Windows or MacOS, only, or some type of user unfriendly and performance unfriendly compatibility layer on the Linux side.
The second part is one of drivers and compatibility. Every device supports Windows first, Mac second and everything else, if you're lucky or unofficially. Until there's some type of unified driver layer that works on EVERY flavor of Linux (and thus would make sense for vendors to officially support), Linux doesn't stand a chance with Joe Consumer who won't go to the effort to try and track down drivers and functionality for their new Canon multifunction printer, for instance. Even I'm in that camp. I'd love to move to Linux or some other OS, but I'm always held back by compatibility concerns. I need to be able to use my stuff!
In the world of netbooks you have two basic choices right now, Linux or Windows XP. Linux, in this scenario, is for when you want a lean OS and don't need to connect to any specific peripherals or be compatible with any Windows software. It's a WebOS and an OS for those who want to put the time and effort to make it something more. Windows XP is the leanest modern version of Windows that offers the same functionality as any other Windows system when that's what you need. So where does ChromeOS fit in? It can only hope to replace the Linux option, not the Windows XP option, which will become the Windows 7 option once that's available. Again, two different OS's, two different approaches, two different audiences. While the Windows netbook/laptop can do 100% of the functions of the Linux/ChromeOS netbook/laptop, the reverse is not true.
So to my mind, the markets, because of the needs of the users, will remain bifurcated on the netbook side, with no danger at all on the full-sized laptop/desktop side, where Windows-Mac-Linux/other will remain 1, distant 2 and mostly insignificant 3, respectively.
Books!
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
***************************
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.