The year of the Linux desktop has finally arrived

By Stan Beer
Sunday, 04 November 2007 10:58

Opinion and Analysis

While Windows advocates may smirk and say here we go again, as 2007 draws to a close I get the strong feeling that we may look back upon this year and recognize it with hindsight as the year that the Linux desktop finally arrived. There are a number of events that point to 2007 as being the turning point for Linux and it all started in January with the release of Windows Vista.

Those of us who attended the Vista media launches were all given boxed copies of the top of the range Vista and Office 2007 Ultimate software suites. At the launch, I felt from the outset that Vista was nothing more than a bloated and less stable version of XP that required new hardware, while Office 2007 provided nothing new that I needed and took away the familiarity of the classic menu system. Yet if I were to pay for the boxed Ultimate versions of Vista and Office 2007, it would have cost me more than AUD$1900.

As the reports started filtering in from system builders and users of the disappointment that Vista was, other reports started making their way into the tech press of the new distro of choice for many desktop users, Ubuntu. There was a feeling among many users that Ubuntu provided the best opportunity to break the vice-like grip of Windows on the desktop market.

Even though Ubuntu release 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) wasn't quite there yet, PC maker Dell picked up on user sentiment through its new IdeaStorm blog and announced that it would make a range of pre-installed Ubuntu desktops and notebooks. To date, however, Dell's efforts have appeared disappointingly half-hearted and carefully designed not to cannibalize its Windows PC business. It has taken a much lesser known PC manufacturer than Dell from Fremont, California, named Everex to show the way to make Linux desktops for mainstream users.

What Everex has done is two equally important things to bring Linux into the mainstream. How has it done this?