Will Linux ever be able to give consumers what they want?

Tech Republic ^ | 14 August 2014 | Jack Wallen

[ShadowAce]

In the world of consumer electronics, if you don't give the buyer what they want, they'll go elsewhere. We've recently witnessed this with the Firefox browser. The consumer wanted a faster, less-bloated piece of software, and the developers went in the other direction. In the end, the users migrated to Chrome or Chromium.

Linux needs to gaze deep into their crystal ball, watch carefully the final fallout of that browser war, and heed this bit of advice:

If you don't give them what they want, they'll leave.

Another great illustration of this backfiring is Windows 8. The consumer didn't want that interface. Microsoft, however, wanted it because it was necessary to begin the drive to all things Surface. This same scenario could have been applied to Canonical and Ubuntu Unity -- however, their goal wasn't geared singularly and specifically towards tablets (so, the interface was still highly functional and intuitive on the desktop).

For the longest time, it seemed like Linux developers and designers were gearing everything they did toward themselves. They took the "eat your own dog food" too far. In that, they forgot one very important thing:

Without new users, their "base" would only ever belong to them.

In other words, the choir had not only been preached to, it was the one doing the preaching. Let me give you three examples to hit this point home.

• For years, Linux has needed an equivalent of Active Directory. I would love to hand that title over to LDAP, but have you honestly tried to work with LDAP? It's a nightmare. Developers have tried to make LDAP easy, but none have succeeded. It amazes me that a platform that has thrived in multi-user situations still has nothing that can go toe-to-toe with AD. A team of developers needs to step up, start from scratch, and create the open-source equivalent to AD. This would be such a boon to mid-size companies looking to migrate away from Microsoft products. But until this product is created, the migration won't happen.
• Another Microsoft-driven need -- Exchange/Outlook. Yes, I realize that many are going to the cloud. But the truth is that medium- to large-scale businesses will continue relying on the Exchange/Outlook combo until something better comes along. This could very well happen within the open-source community. One piece of this puzzle is already there (though it needs some work) -- the groupware client, Evolution. If someone could take, say, a fork of Zimbra and re-tool it such a way that it would work with Evolution (and even Thunderbird) to serve as a drop-in replacement for Exchange, the game would change, and the trickle-down to consumers would be massive.
• Cheap, cheap, cheap. This one is a hard pill for most to swallow -- but consumers (and businesses) want cheap. Look at the Chromebook sales over the last year. Now, do a search for a Linux laptop and see if you can find one for under $700.00 (USD). For a third of that cost, you can get a Chromebook (a platform running the Linux kernel) that will serve you well. But because Linux is still such a niche market, it's hard to get the cost down. A company like Red Hat Linux could change that. They already have the server hardware in place. Why not crank out a bunch of low-cost, mid-range laptops that work in similar fashion to the Chromebook but only run a full-blown Linux environment? (see "Is the Cloudbook the future of Linux?") The key is that these devices must be low-cost and meet the needs of the average consumer. Stop thinking with your gamer/developer hat on and remember what the average user really needs -- a web browser and not much more. That's why the Chromebook is succeeding so handily. Google knew exactly what the consumer wanted, and they delivered. On the Linux front, companies still think the only way to attract buyers is to crank out high-end, expensive Linux hardware. There's a touch of irony there, considering one of the most-often shouted battle cries is that Linux runs on slower, older hardware.

Finally, Linux needs to take a page from the good ol' Book Of Jobs and figure out how to convince the consumer that what they truly need is Linux. In their businesses and in their homes -- everyone can benefit from using Linux. Honestly, how can the open-source community not pull that off? Linux already has the perfect built-in buzzwords: Stability, reliability, security, cloud, free -- plus Linux is already in the hands of an overwhelming amount of users (they just don't know it). It's now time to let them know. If you use Android or Chromebooks, you use (in one form or another) Linux.

Knowing just what the consumer wants has always been a bit of a stumbling block for the Linux community. And I get that -- so much of the development of Linux happens because a developer has a particular need. This means development is targeted to a "micro-niche." It's time, however, for the Linux development community to think globally. "What does the average user need, and how do we give it to them?" Let me offer up the most basic of primers.

The average user needs:

• Low cost
• Seamless integration with devices and services
• Intuitive and modern designs
• A 100% solid browser experience

That's pretty much it. With those four points in mind, it should be easy to take a foundation of Linux and create exactly what the user wants. Google did it... certainly the Linux community can build on what Google has done and create something even better. Mix that in with AD integration, give it an Exchange/Outlook or cloud-based groupware set of tools, and something very special will happen -- people will buy it.

[ShadowAce]

Your question is about 30 years too late. People already do it, and they have been dong it.

[ShadowAce]

You don’t use Satellite?

[AustinBill]

The answer is yes and no. First off, we're in the post-PC era so the notion that there's a huge consumer market for desktop computers is yesterday's question. There are still hundreds of millions of these out there but they are either converting to "tablets" (industry-speak for we-don't-want-to-admit-iPad-is-eating-our-lunch) or else are replacements made out of need. Real growth, per se, just doesn't exist here.

Since most of these legacy consumer desktops are Windows based PCs, the choice is either to move to whatever newer flavor of Windows MSFT is currently flogging, or else take the plunge and buy a Mac. Thanks to MSFT's Windows 8 fiasco, more and more are choosing Macs. Linux isn't even on the radar as it has zero consumer marketing behind it.

Does anyone really think Joe Average is going to RYO as he's trying to figure out what to do with his dying Windows XP box? Not a chance. Even those in the industry who work with Linux every day would never recommend it to their relatives unless they really enjoy receiving daily support calls from them.

That covers the "no" part of the question. The "yes" part is that Linux dominates the cloud infrastructure and that's what consumers are increasingly using via their "smart" devices and other connected services. So while the future of Linux has never been brighter, it's all behind the scenes as far as the consumer is concerned--and that's where it should be since the Cloud is the real growth area.

[usconservative]

You don’t use Satellite?

Nope. Our Linux Admin's prefer CFEngine for some silly reason, that and custom scripts.

They're going to have to learn Puppet soon as we're implementing a private cloud with VCE's vBlock and are standardizing on Puppet across the board.

[ShadowAce]

OK—that’s why Windows seems much easier to maintain. Satellite makes managing all those servers SOOOOOO much easier.

[trebb]

Just a little bit joshing I hardly ever need to use a command line for anything.

How long with Ubuntu?

I've loaded it a few times as a second OS, but always ran into some issues. I hear it's getting better.

Any problems getting things like anti-virus or firewalls to auto-start on login w/o having to input password each time?

Ever tried VM to run windows inside?

I really want to dump Windows as my prime OS, but got lazy over the years when it comes to digging into an OS to do the tweaks.

[cynwoody]

In the world of consumer electronics, if you don't give the buyer what they want, they'll go elsewhere. We've recently witnessed this with the Firefox browser. The consumer wanted a faster, less-bloated piece of software, and the developers went in the other direction. In the end, the users migrated to Chrome or Chromium.

Author's a moron.

Firefox did have a memory issue. But was solved some number of releases ago. These days, it's Chrome that eats up RAM! (Fortunately, RAM is dirt cheap.)

However, Chrome still has its strong points: a really fast JS engine, and a truly excellent inspector!

[cynwoody]

The author fails to make the distinction between Google (a Corporation organized around a set of common operating principles, stated goals and a product strategy) vs. the "Linux Community" which is not organized around a set of common operating principles, stated goals and product strategy.

If you add together all of the servers Google uses for its core business plus all of the Android smart phones and tablets out there in userland, I suspect Google accounts for the largest share of Linux usage of any company, by a wide margin.

[usconservative]

I suspect Google accounts for the largest share of Linux usage of any company, by a wide margin.

I cannot remember where I read it, but Google is the largest Linux user in the world ....

[GeronL]

I have been using Ubunti exclusivey for about a year, year and a half or something like that.

I don’t use VM. I don’t have any Windows OS at all any more.

It ha something called “Clamshell” anti-virus and I have no idea about firewalls. Maybe Shadow knows

[taxcontrol]

Good point. I assume that since there is a VOIP PBX for Linux (http://www.asterisk.org/) that integration would not be too hard.

[ShadowAce]

Maybe Shadow knows

The Shadow always knows! :D

I run Windows 7 inside a VM on my linux laptop (8G RAM) without issues.

There are several AV products that will run under Linux--however, most are just to prevent virii from being passed on to Windows boxes. There really is not much need at this time to run any anti-virus. Getting run to run at startup is a no-brainer, though. What GeronL meant, though, is ClamAV. It comes standard with most distributions, if you wish to install it.

The same goes for firewalls. They come included with standard repositories. And I do recommend running a firewall. Newer Fedora distros run firewalld to take the place of older iptables and ip6tables.

Hope that helps!

[tacticalogic]

I assume that since there is a VOIP PBX for Linux (http://www.asterisk.org/) that integration would not be too hard.

Integrating with that one might not be too hard. Integrating with existing proprietary systems like Mitel or Cisco is likely to be a much tougher nut to crack.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Will Linux ever be able to give consumers what they want?

In other words, "When will Linux be like (or more like) Windows?

Never. They are two different things. Consumers looking for Windows should pay Bill the money and get Windows. They will never be happy with Linux.

[ducttape45]

In answer to your question, I would say that as it sits now, "no," Linux cannot give the average consumer what they want. Let's face it, we want something that works as similar to Windows products as possible.

Most folks know nothing of "compiling kernels" and would miss the ability to double-click on "setup.exe" in order to install a program.

That being said, Linux is more stable than many Windows products. Many of us IT folks know that. But there aren't enough comparable software programs to take the place of programs we use on an everyday basis.

I ordered a hard drive tray for my computer and I'm going to experiment with Linux when I get it. I have an extra hard drive and I want to fiddle around with it and see how well it works for me. Who knows, it is conceivable that I could use Linux more than Microsoft in the end. We'll see.

[ShadowAce]

Most folks know nothing of "compiling kernels" and would miss the ability to double-click on "setup.exe" in order to install a program.

Most Linux folks have not had to compile a kernel in years.

And there is a GUI for listing/installing software.

Since you say you are planning on fiddling with Linux in the near future, I'll just let you discover for yourself how easy it can be. It's not the nightmare you are making it out to be here.

[taxcontrol]

Agreed, though in the worst case, dropping to a PSTN interface and transferring the call to another system’s PSTN interface might work. Cumbersome though.

[djf]

Actually, I installed Windows 7 on my desktop.

It does take a little bit to get used to, but after about 2 weeks, I am very happy with it!

[tacticalogic]

Agreed, though in the worst case, dropping to a PSTN interface and transferring the call to another system’s PSTN interface might work. Cumbersome though.

And it has to work in both directions. The mail server has to accept incoming calls and save the voice mail messages as audio files, and be able to initiate an outbound call to play back the message on your phone if you want.

[ctdonath2]

“The average user needs:
Low cost
Seamless integration with devices and services
Intuitive and modern designs
A 100% solid browser experience”

And achieving that requires doing things that lack the glamor, challenge, and/or exclusivity to motivate those capable of doing. Complete, solid, and flawless require enormous effort that nobody appreciates enough to do without getting PAID. Doing it _ahead_ of the curve requires even more financial reward. Those capable of doing such dull & obscure but necessary work can either do it for Linux and get no recognition nor money, or can go elsewhere and get paid (because that’s the only benefit a developer can get out of it).

Linux is for people who are content to fiddle with things; everything is delivered with a tolerance for frequent “oh, just do this...”. Most users have absolutely no interest, and no affinity, for fiddling with things. OS X, Windows, etc all WORK because people have been PAID to do the grunt work needed.

It’s kinda like a janitor: you pay him to empty trash, scrub toilets, vacuum floors, etc because NOBODY is going to do that work for free (at least on the scale, duration, and consistency needed). Linux is like a store where customers are expected to clean tables, unplug toilets, fix furniture, etc.