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I don't think that is so certain. I could be happy with Linux and in fact, i already use Linux exclusively on my Laptop and Windows only on my Desktop. The reason i can't ditch Windows completely right now are a couple of proprietary apps which don't have Linux alternatives. Those alternatives do exist for Mac.
So despite i like Linux and despite that it runs on my existing Hardware i will get an Mac, simply because Linux lacks support from Software companies and the OSS scene can't compensate everything.
Please, no one saying Wine now. I tried all the apps i miss on Linux with Wine and not even one of them worked in a bearable way.

How about QEMU or VirtualBox? They have kernel support and if you have a recent CPU it'll even have virtualization support. These mean near-native speed. You can even run apps in a "seamless" manner ie. show just the app you want, in a native Linux desktop window instead of the whole Windows desktop.

I didn't know there is a seamless mode now, which indeed sounds very tempting. It isn't an alternative though, since the Apps i use need OpenGL support and are pretty performance and Memory intense.

Accelerated OpenGL and DirectX support is coming for VMs. QEMU and VirtualBox have began working on it--first to come is OpenGL. VMWare and Parallels are working on getting DirectX support thru OpenGL on *nix platforms.

VMWare already has experimental Direct3D 8 acceleration support in their Linux/Windows products. I played Need For Speed - Hot Pursuit 2 under it. Apart from several missing textures, it ran pretty smooth and a good sign for things to come.

Of course Need For Speed isn't a great example because it runs pretty well in Wine and Cedega already. But its one of the fewer games I have that utilizes Direct3D 8.x. However, games and apps that use OpenGL or rely on an older or newer DirectX API than 8.x don't work well or at all yet.

That said, I prefer Wine and my seamless terminal server over virtualization just on principle. Its required to have an extra copy of Windows (full) to virtualize the OS. Microsoft went one step further in Vista by requiring you to purchase the more expensive Business or Ultimate versions for *legal* VM use.

Edited 2007-12-16 18:01

Yeah, actually i didn't buy a dozen virtualization Products to see if one of them might run those.
None of them has them in their "working apps" list though and Win4Lin doesn't even support OpenGL which is required for those apps.
Now "contacting a Wine and Windows emulation expert" is a really funny thing to say. You mean like, pay them 10000$ to modify Wine to run my software? Or do you mean like "hey they can't know it doesn't run". If you mean the first one, i don't have that kind of money and quite obviously just buying a Mac would be a better solution. If you mean the second, then i guess i should tell you that i'm the AppDB maintainer of two of those Apps... the amount of Wine developers is rather small and everyone wants them to get their favorite app to work.

Wow... so WineX, CrossOverOffice and Win4lin are free now? That would be good news, except they aren't and since they aren't guaranteed (and even not very likely) to run my apps, why would i waste money on them?
Win4Lin (as i understand) has no OpenGL acceleration which means 0 (as in Zero) chance of running them.

So you honestly believe it is an good alternative to spend a lot of money on emulation software, which have a very slim chance that they might run my software, with the almost certain chance that they don't support the next version of my apps just for the benefit that i might run my apps at 10% performance with twice the requirement of ram?

Absolutely agreed. Unfortunately, most Linux zealots will not realise this as a truth.

Dave

But apple has these things in their favour:
1. Plethora of well known software, drivers
2. Easier to set up*
3. Big company, lots of marketing.

*Some may argue that linux is easier to set up because it includes the apps you need out of the box but if you need to use your wireless networking card and it has no native driver what do you do? Most people don't like hunting down firmware and setting up ndiswrapper. Or having to stop using their brand-new non-hp photo printer because there are no linux drivers.

No doubt that linux is a great OS but for the average Joe, Mac is more attractive. But who knows - this may change in the future.

Edited 2007-12-16 00:40

Same thing applies to Vista and even XP, and yet it doesn't stop Windows. And if there's an OS that comes with the least amount of stuff out of the box, Windows wins the crown hands down. It has the worst ratio of money payed for applications you get by far, of the three.

And if you stop to think about it, you'll see that most of these drivers are not even Microsoft's merit. That brand new camera and whatnot works because the manufacturer makes drivers for Windows and can't be bothered to make them for other OS's. To that I say thanks but no thanks, if they don't want me using it I won't. No matter how much I may like a piece of hardware, when they say "but you gotta use a certain OS" is where I draw the line.

The big advantage for joe is that they can just look at the box and read the requirements and tell, whether the product will work or not with his Windows PC or Mac.

In theory. In practice YMMV, except they neglect to tell you that part. The stuff on the box doesn't guarantee anything, it's just saying it has a good chance of working.

And it's up to the manufacturer of either OS or hardware to screw it up. Take for instance the recent rebranding done by Microsoft:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204...

They have changed the PlaysForSure logo (their DRM for Zune) with a "Certified for Microsoft Vista" logo. So "certified" will now mean one thing for Zune (ie. supports PlaysForSure DRM and will play tunes downloaded from Microsoft's store) and another for any other device (ie. will not work). Average Joe will be in for a bit of a suprise at some point, even though the device he bought said "certified".

The last time I checked, Macs had a bundle of software pre-installed.

"but if you need to use your wireless networking card and it has no native driver what do you do?"

Buy a new one. Wireless cards are cheap. Macs are not.

(Oh, or there's the ndiswrapper if you would rather spend a a bit of time, rather than money on wireless card.)

Buy a new one from this list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_open_source_wireless_dri...

Reward the manufacturers who support open source.

Ralink, Intel, Atheros and ZyDAS.

Edited 2007-12-17 12:13

Linux still needs to get fundamental basics right, pretty much everything is easier, less stressful, a less time consuming to do with Windows, and I hear is even simpler on OS X.

The first-time tried to installed Linux was in 1995 Slackware 3.0, no support for my generic graphics card, and i had to issue some weird command -line augments to disable noacpi for it to even install.

Fast forward 12 years, i try installing ubuntu 6, no support (Vesa modes don't count) for my NVIDIA graphics card, and i had to issue some weird command -line augments to disable noacpi for it to even install on my INTEL motherboard.

Edited 2007-12-16 00:50

There was no support for ACPI in Linux at that time. Please don't lie.

Well, if you drove one car for a decade, everything else will seem weird, you might even bet your one is beter than all the others (wouldn't be the first time such thing happens). Your being unwilling to properly try to install a Linux distro doesn't convince anyone of it being a load of crap. There are some of us who could list angering stories of pretty hard Windows installs, so what ?

<p>"Your being unwilling to properly try to install a Linux distro doesn't convince anyone of it being a load of crap"
<p>Well i think its clear from my post that i have indeed tried and tested many distros of linux.

So try to install Vista in an old computer and see what happens.
The problem is not the OS here but the fact that NVIDIA don't make appropiate drivers for Linux (that meaning open 3d drivers that would be directly included into the hardware).
It is the same problem that old hardware has with vista. The company that sold the hardware is not interested in doing drivers for it.

But it is only a question of marketshare. Once they realize there is business in making sure their products work with linux, that big problem of you totally disapears.

Neither.

Most people just don't have a reason to switch. Most of the software available on Linux is also available on Windows. In contrast, Linux recieves attention from a miniscule portion of the commercial software market.

No exclusive apps on Linux is a big deterent IMO, along with certain "geeky" perceptions--some which may still hold true today when dealing with poorly supported hardware.

Cross-platform apps are fine and satisify the open source ideology but fail to increase attention or awareness of Linux as a viable platform.

You can very well run Windows apps from a *nix environment in a varity of ways: wine, seamless terminal services (CVS-built rdesktop & seamlessRDP w/ several patches), seamless-mode virtualization (VirtualBox). However, none of these solutions are intuitive nor flawless.

People are not willing to migrate to a different OS and learn about it, just to use the same apps as they were before--assuming they tried something above.

I think people, such as me, who use Linux do so for alternate reasons. Reasons such as it being free, open, non-Microsoft, and "different". These are all valid reasons for OSNews readers but aren't a concern for ordinary users.

Ordinary computer users don't know and/or care about Microsoft's monopoly status or open source code, etc. Therefore the only way to gain their interest is to develop amazing software they "must have" thats not available on any other platform.

Edited 2007-12-16 01:35

Most people just don't have a reason to switch.

I couldn't agree more. However, there is a deep psychological element involved in all of this.

Recently, a new teacher came to our hagwon (private English academy) here in S. Korea. I had told him before arrival that the Boss would be happy to help him purchase things like a new laptop for his personal use, and he could reimburse the Boss incrementally from his salary. So he did just that.

The problem? If you buy a new computer in Korea, it comes (a) with Vista (various versions) by default, and (b) exclusively with the GUI in Korean; even the CLI comes with Korean switches and the like when traversing the filesystem (I know because I did that for him the other day, of which more later).

Now, he could have purchased an English-language laptop from (say) Prime PC in Tokyo, but if he did that, he would have to pay 10% Import Duty on the purchase once it arrived here. He was desperate to have English Windoze and in the end, despite the fact that he could have used my software to (a) partition his drive and install any favour of Linux he desired (I use Mandriva and have everything he could need, including an up-to-date version of Acronis so he could have done all of this comfortably from within Windoze), and (b) he would then have had a very nice-to-look-at, exclusively-English environment, he has just forked out for a more expensive version of Vista, in English, to be despatched from England, and intends to scrub the HDD and install this.

This is indicative of the mind control Microsoft has due to its dominance of the market. Despite having someone there who could do everything for him absolutely for free, his insecurity when confronted with the unknown made him do something that I would never even consider. The fact that he would be doing things almost exactly the same in day-to-day terms under Mandriva (I would have set him up with KDE and he would have really enjoyed it) and it would have been free, with a minimal user learning curve, were things that he never really considered, so afraid was he of venturing into what was (for him) uncharted territory.

I think people, such as me, who use Linux do so for alternate reasons. Reasons such as it being free, open, non-Microsoft, and "different". These are all valid reasons for OSNews readers but aren't a concern for ordinary users.

Ordinary computer users don't know and/or care about Microsoft's monopoly status or open source code, etc. Therefore the only way to gain their interest is to develop amazing software they "must have" thats not available on any other platform.

Yes, this is true, too. I use Mandriva because I first played around with it back in its 7.0 days (and wrecked a hard drive in the process!!!), but I find that being able to get the KDE appearance just as I want it, having to spend no more than a minute booting and no problems so far with any kind of malware, viruses etc. is fantastic. I have just begun setting up XP Pro under Virtualbox on my desktop machine and it is great - it works really well and transitioning between host and guest OSes is sweet and easy.

But this doesn't mean that, as a user, I am either unwilling or unable to fork out for software; I'm happy to do this if I consider it worthwhile, it's just that I can now do anything I could do under Windoze - free.

For me, the main reason to switch was simply the security aspect - if all of the Windows GUI is in Korean, how on Earth could I ever be sure that the system was secure, even with English-language third-party apps like Trend PC-Cillin to protect me? Virtually all that I do in Windows these days is just update the databases and scan for malware and viruses; I do everything else under Mandriva, and I'm happy there because this is a comfortable and largely hassle-free environment under which to do almost anything I need to do.

But I don't evangelise on behalf of Linux, only present it as a considered alternative if there's a problem. Some things run better under Windows, so use Windows. For everything else, use Linux.

Anyway, let me finish with this: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/eo20071216a3.html

It seems that it's not only the English-speaking world that finds it has trouble with new versions of Windows and Office!

I also teach English in Korea and use PClinuxOS
at home..in the office i have only met
one other linux user(we have 15 foreign teachers)
and most haven't even heard of it. Fine with me.
As for security..well you could learn Korean like I did
or get that guy in Itaewon to install an English XP.
One problem for Korean users of Linux - or indeed any Asian language user - is the poor quality of input methods needed to input text in their native language.
Sure there is SCIM...which will work for firefox but not Kmail(one is Qt one is GTK..scim only works for
one widget set). The different toolkits used by linux
make life difficult to get a single decent simple to use input language switcher like XP or Apple OS X has.
If you can't get this right linux will never win
in Asia.

What is heartening is the elevated interest
in Apple - go to any starbucks and you will see
at least one or two macbooks there. Five years ago
that would have been impossible.

Edited 2007-12-16 12:00

Yes, I just downloaded the latest version of PCLinuxOS and will be cutting it in a while, or virtualising it as it should work well under Virtualbox if OpenSuSE is anything to go by . . . I have two PCs and both dual-boot XP and Mandriva, and Mandriva always works great on both machines.

No-one ever seems to say anything bad about PCLOS as an "alternative". But I have been busy today editing a set of video files (using Kino), printing, you name it . . . it seems to me that unless there's some helpless "show-stopper" that brings everything to a screeching halt, discussions of which OS is "better" or will get more market share in the future is superfluous.

Movie Maker under Microshaft doesn't seem to be able to accept files (*.mod) from my JVC HD camcorder so I use Kino under Mandriva instead. Gets the job done! ^_^

I dont use it for any of those reasons. I use it because it's lot less frustrating than Windows (I've used Windows since 1990 and always found it frustrating) and I am more productive in Linux and/or BSD both at work and at home. Sure, free, open and non-windows and all that is nice but at the end of they day I need to get stuff done and that is what it's all about. I cant get stuff done in Windows without pulling my hair out and having my blood pressure skyrocket. Granted the same happen in Linux (try setting up an ad-hoc network with nm-applet) but much less so.

Edited 2007-12-16 07:31

I'm fine with Windows XP (I don't need Vista, thanks). If I had to change, I would use Linux. I tried OS X and I didn't like it as a whole, especially the look.

Indeed. Uptake of linux will go slow, and not at all if Linux doesn't offer advantages to both developers and users. We need to be clearly better than Microsoft and Apple. We need to out-innovate them and bring the latest technology at the earliest possible moment.

Yet it happens to be that we're particularly good at these things, and as our ecosystem grows, we grow faster and stronger. FOSS development techniques, unlike proprietary development models, scale pretty well.

As more and more companies are joining FOSS one way or another, we will cross some threshold were a FOSS system will have such clear advantages it will be impossible to ignore. Lower costs, better availability and more capabilities; and a more healthy ecosystem with more competition and smaller, more innovative companies.

In the long run, I don't think MS and the other proprietary vendors will be able to stop it - unless, UNLESS they can do so through legal and political barriers. But the tide is turning against them - Europe is slowly getting committed to FOSS, and it is keeping a close eye on abuse of marketpower - which is the only real asset Microsoft has against FOSS.

//all they see is 93% market share(built on decades) //

Umm ... how long has Apple been around? Longer than Microsoft, I believe. Why don't they have 93% market share?

According to Wikipedia Apple was founded in April 1, 1976 and Microsoft April 4 1975.

Also Apple produces both the computer and the OS. Microsoft piggybacked upon the success of the IBM PC and through strong marketing tactics[1] became the dominant supplier of OSes for IBM PC compatible computers. Their rise to fame is directly linked to the success of the IBM PC as a superior platform not the other way round. Most of this happened in the late 80's. It was not until late 1995[2] that Microsoft could even claim to have a equal Windowed OS to the Macintosh. Even then it was an unstable mess.

People bought PC compatibles because they were cheaper than macs and more easily upgradeable not because it ever had a superior operating system.

[1] Some would claim that Microsoft cheated as part of their tactics but still that does not deny that they succeeded.
[2] Microsoft had a superior OS called OS/2 before they dumped it in IBM's lap and went with the inferior NT platform. However this was not a viable Desktop for the masses until Windows XP release in 2001.

At one point, Apple had 50% of the home/micro computer market. The Mac peaked at about 14%, IIRC. Does anyone else remember when games like Myst and Marathon were made for Classic Mac OS?

"Many people in Linux community is anti-capitalistic and business unfriendly, making life harder for Linux vendors "

Like who? We all like to eat, we all like money, and we all typically work for and support businesses.

"There is an elitism in the Linux community, as if people have to prove that they worthy to use Linux. Average consumer won't fall for that. In fact, Linux people don't want "average" people to join them. So, "they don't."

5 years ago yes, today not so much. There will always be some of this in any "camp" Windows Mac Linux doesn't matter here.

"Entertainment side of Linux is underdeveloped"

Sadly, yes. I spent some time playing games last night that while they weren't on-par with some of the commercial games out there, they were ok.

Alien Arena 2007
Tremulous
Warzone 2100
Armagatron

"Microsoft is a market leader, but still, Microsoft interoperability is considered a bad thing."

No, the lack of published standards leading to interoperability is a bad thing.

Where do you get this stuff? Most Linux users that I know personally use Linux and have a Windows VM that sits on top using their existing license. It's really a very powerful combination. We also buy software, yes that's right we buy it. We support companies like Transgaming, Codeweavers, and VMWare because we really aren't anti-anything. We just PREFER linux.

Is it that hard to comprehend? I'm so sick and tired of all the bullshit comments about linux people are this and that.

It's f--king OS racism.

Edited 2007-12-16 16:00

First thing, I am writing this on SUSE Linux. I use FreeBSD, too. I don't say that all Linux people are the same, but most "old guard" Linux people I know are. They are living in some Star Wars alike universe with Empire vs. Rebellion mindset. Take a look at Stallman. His hatred towards capitalism is radiating. Maybe the "old guard", who carried the whole thing forward in the early years, is holding things back today. Someone said that every revolution eats its own children in the end.

I agree about the lack of published standards, but I was talking about the attitude. Microsoft interoperability IS CONSIDERED bad thing.

This is not OS racism, it is positive criticism. There is nothing wrong with Linux in technical aspects, it is at least as good as any other OS. It is about approach, and attitude. Technical improvements are good, but won't lead to more acceptance.

and the list goes: id software, epic, etc.

I never bought a windows-only game simply because I don't use/like windows, I love buying Linux games like doom 3, quake 4, etc, e.g. id software or epic games, etc.

and i support/like those companies that support us.

http://img463.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf4560ae0.jpg

Ah, "anti-capitalistic". Like capitalism is an unblemished virtue. Just say left-leaning/communist, why don't you.

Linux vendors live, die and work in capitalistic environment. They need to follow the rules in order to survive and make money.

Xandros is "bad", Linspire is "bad". Novell is "bad". RedHat is "good" now, but they have been "bad" couple of years ago.

Debian was always "good", but they don't make money at all.

There is no "good" or "bad", all of them are trying to make living. And all of them are offering, at least, one variant of their distribution for free.

Personally, I don't doubt that both Apple and MS can continue making tons of cash into the distant future. I also don't doubt Red Hat and Ubuntu will continue to grow, Linux will continue to dominate supercomputers and grow in mobile phones.

What I DO doubt is that MS will be able to hold onto a 90%+ something marketshare, or even a 70%+ marketshare, into the distant future. How that cookie crumbles, though, is up for anyone's guess, but I don't doubt that both Apple and various Linux service companies will all benefit, though the Linux companies will probably never make as much revenue as proprietary software companies (which isn't to say their impact on the world will be smaller).

And while I do agree with you, my point was that articles like this don't do anything to facilitate MS' fall out of dominance nor Linux based Operating Systems and Mac OSX succeed.

Microsoft has nowhere to go but down. As market leader, it's very difficult to continue that dominance without fighting those attacking you from both sides. Innovation is not easy, and the market leader has to fight innovation from everyone, to match what they create, and continue creating or else it'll lose that dominance.

Those not in dominance, Linux based OS companies and Apple, have nowhere to go but up...which position would you like to be in?

I could not agree with you more.+1.

Ps. I think Windows will be replaced by another propietary system anyways.I dont mean OSX.And yes, I am a 100% Linux user and love it.Just I am not the "all your base are belong to us" fanboy.

Edited 2007-12-16 13:46

I guess that the home pc market is maybe 20-30% apple

two "rats"? i don't think so...

and the "dinosaur" will soon be a fossil and will only remain as a part of history.

Edited 2007-12-16 01:09

LOL, it's the story of evolution my friend. You have something against rats? They're our ancestors. MS is the huge, lumbering stupid dinosaur, and Apple and Linux are the smaller, but nimbler rats.

Edited 2007-12-16 01:07

Apple is more like a panda.

//LOL, it's the story of evolution my friend. You have something against rats? They're our ancestors. //

Interesting. I believe it's the *theory* of evolution. Also, why has the so-called evolution stopped? Humans are getting worse, not better.

Evolution is a fact, not a theory.

Look at your hand, see that thumb, what is it for ?
If you were to design a hand, an extra finger would be way better than a useless thumb.
A thumb used to be your dew-claw, it has evolved into half-finger, half claw.
It is the thing that allowed your ape ancestors to hold onto the branch instead of falling out of the tree.

Also, you say evolution has stopped ? Why then, when you take a walk around a museum, do all the clothes from the past look as if they will only fit children ?

And, what is your appendix for ? will you die when it is removed ? Nope, and your spleen ? also nope.

That is only humans, but I will give you an example of evolution that no-one can dispute;


Your house is infested with 1000 fruit flies, so you go down the shops and buy a fly killer spray. You spray madly around your house and 960 flies die.

A flaw in the genes of the remaining 40 flies makes them immune to the fly spray.

A couple of weeks later, there is 1000 flies again, the 40 flies have bred. So, you rush down and get the fly spray, no flies die this time.

The genes of the new batch are all immune to the fly spray, so, you go and get a stronger spray.

960 flies die, leaving 40. This 40 has another genetic flaw that means they are immune to the newer stronger fly spray.

Couple of weeks later, 1000 flies which are immune to both the new stronger spray, and the older weaker one are buzzing around your house.

This is evolution in action, survival of the fittest, and a species adapting to a situation.

There is both the *theory* of evolution AND the *fact* of evolution.

The *fact* is that species have evolved in the past, and continue to do so.

The *theory* is one possible explanation of how this happens.

You have two elements or cornerstones of that theory: inheritance of characteristics is one element, and selection is the other.

Inheritance provably happens ... well after the theory predicted a mechanism for inheritance, DNA was discovered.

Selection depends on weaker members of a species not surving to the point of being able to breed (or otherwise not breeding ... you can have evolution of characteristics through breeding preferences, such as in the lyre bird).



If indeed it has stopped for humans, then one or both of the two fundamental mechanisms must no longer be happening.

Inheritance still happens, there is still DNA involved in reporduction.

Selection: maybe not. Most humans, stronger or weaker, now survive to the point of being able to breed.



If the mechanism of selection in evolution of humans has indeed ceased, and most individuals survive and breed, then the end result would tend to be that the spread of human characteristics would increase in all directions at once. People will get both taller and shorter (ie more variation amongst individuals at either extreme). They will get both fatter and thinner. They will get both smarter and dumber.

Edited 2007-12-17 00:11

"Also, why has the so-called evolution stopped?"

What on earth makes you think that evolution has stopped? You don't have the perspective to say that because your lifetime is a fraction of a twinkle of a blink of an eye in evolutionary terms.

The time since the discovery of evolution is not even anywhere near long enough conclusively confirm Darwin's theory of evolution, so I don't see how anyone can conclusively deny Darwin's theory of evolution or confirm it, nor suggest that evolution has "stopped".

What we can say is that there is considerably more evidence in support of Darwin's theory than there is to debunk it. Many transitional fossils have been discovered more-or-less exactly "when", and "as" predicted based on fossils from predecessor and successor species. DNA was predicted before it was discovered (as touched on by another poster).

In the event that human evolution has slowed, history suggests that like aligators, elephants, sharks and other species that seem to have slowed to an evolutionary crawl, we no longer have to worry about being 'negative-selected' to be removed from the gene pool by predators. As a species, we may have found our niche, as it were.

Actually rats aren't how ancestors, but rather a rat-like mammal. Some would argue it was more mouse-like than rat-like, but point is that this cute little four-legged creature _could_ be the ancestor of all mammals (unless of course it is the descent of another mammal).

Claiming we descend from the rat is like claiming we descend from the cod... oh wait...

Yes we do. The dinosaurs are gone and the mammals rule the earth.