Hold on there, just a second. Linux for the desktop is not completely dead. Nor has it missed its chance. What opportunities has Linux missed? What is this about 1 percent market share (desktop)? What I'm truly not understanding is the claims of what Linux has missed. It's not that Linux has missed anything--It's that some have purposely ignored it. Where Dell sold PCs, and probably still is selling PCs with Ubuntu on them, kudos - But they now don't advertise so much more with it, oh well, they do - It's just more of "one" model available. You have to customise it. Not very appealing to the average consumer that just wants to walk into the store and grab-up something (or site). [System 76](http://www.system76.com/) has been selling PCs with Ubuntu on them for a couple years now (or more, not sure). Don't ask me how it is going for them - But there's one well known company that surrounds the idea of Linux on the desktop. Though, it'd be good if Canonical offered some lead-way support. You know, slapping a "*Buy a computer with Ubuntu on it*" right on their site? Very helpful in the long run. It wouldn't hurt for Red Hat to do the same thing. Strong-arm, not weak-arms Don't take the concept literally, or take it however you want .. either way: The reason Linux is still struggling its way to the mainstream, commercials on TVs, people coming over to your house and *knowing* that what their seeing on your computer is Linux is because the commitment between parties is weak. (Breath break) A strong arm needs be intact when trying to sweep the desktop market. Of course there is plenty of people/companies/groups out there that contribute heavily to Linux. I'm not saying they are the bad ones here - I'm not saying anyone is bad for any matter. But if Linux is going to make it onto desktops there needs to be an agreement somewhere along the line. And that agreement is working together for a solution. Issue with this current Linux setup I've had several discussions with various OS users, and we've all came to the conclusion that in some areas support is a must. If you're going to sell something, make sure you can support it - If you can't support it, then don't offer it. Given a few circumstances, some things that are sold really do not require support. An Operating System is one of those things that would need support. Of course.. there's layers within a company that handles specific tasks. And these tasks can be a number of different things. - Public Relations (Being nice to people) - Sales (Bringing people in) - Support (Fixing said bugs) - Commanders This is seriously as simple as it could get for now. What has this got to do with Linux and the desktop market? Think about how someone downloads a Linux distro (for free) and they have no idea what they are doing. They have to rely on Wiks, forums, IRC channels, mailing lists, and the next door neighbour to be able to get what they want, finished. This is not always the case - And I'd have to honestly say Ubuntu (10.04) has made this ultimate step in taking away the pain of trying out Linux. So anyway, what do you do to keep this customer? You help them - uh - For what price? Currently there's free Linux and paid Linux. Paid Linux comes from the term you have to pay to download it - but can get it free elsewhere - and the support costs money. Free Linux comes from what I just said - It's a loop. So once again, what has this got to do with Linux? It's bumpy, is what it has to do with it. Where is the working together? There's already Public Relations, and Support, but where is the Sales? Why aren't these Linux vendors displaying computer companies that sell Linux? No one is going to know where they're at if they're not displayed. Commanders is a tough situation. Every Linux distribution has a fleet of people that decide what gets released and what doesn't (for official). How do you get them to work together? They need to decide where their distribution fits the best in the market. Enterprise, or home. Can't have a million distributions running around, this just confuses the end-user. Said distributions of belonging to a group?--No idea. Conclusion  Out of all this that I've said, destruction needs to take place of all the small-time distributions and let the already-out-there distributions take the lead with nothing in their path. Yea, put your dukes and money stash up - It's a dollar sign war. It's a nasty thing to say, but it's the honest thing to say. You can't compete against your own team and expect to win. So until this actually happens, yes, the dream is dead. This is an article in response to: [http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/207999-2/desktop_linux_the_dream_is_dead.html](http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/207999-2/desktop_linux_the_dream_is_dead.html) [](http://www.blogger.com/)