Will Linux ever take off with the mainstream?

Linux is an open source operating system - members of the community distribution can contribute and make changes or add shit they think should be changed. This is very difficult for Linux to be marketed. It's taken the whole Linux community YEARS to get their act together to come up with something that is user-friendly. Ubuntu has been very successful with bringing the power of Linux to the masses, and perhaps has a chance of taking off. The community has to conform together and stop having disagreements with the Ubuntu distribution and standardize it!! I don't see this happening. Think of the average user...very familiar with Windows/OSX and then you throw a completely different environment at them...it's not going to work since the majority of people do not like to what they use everyday in a drastic manner.



I believe the best way for people to jump into the world of Linux without having to touch their hard drive would be to boot up a live cd of the Ubuntu distribution. All you have to do is put it in your CD drive, reboot, Linux will load up into memory and BAM! live client of Linux; and of course reboot, take out the cd and nothing was changed. Another way to go at this would be to create a virtual machine (more for advanced users) and boot your Linux distribution from there. I have done this and had much success with VMWARE Workstation, but I used it to boot the BackTrack distribution that's full of network utilities.



Here are some tips that can help you decide if Linux is right for you:

1. Make sure you can live in a non-windows world. The easiest way to see if you can is like I said before: download a distribution of linux (ubuntu) and burn it to a cd and boot up a live client of it.

2. Limited Commercial Support - learn to love your neighbors. Even though the Ubuntu community is very large and helpful, the type of response is very wide and inconsistent based on the problems you might have if any at all. FORUMS

3. Find the right distribution for you. Most like UBUNTU - compiz fancy 3D effects and very user-friendly.

4. Do your Homework - make sure all your hardware is supported by the distribution. Personally I haven't had any issues with Linux supporting my hardware, Ubuntu does everything automatically and don't have to worry about your drivers, especially with the latest version of (10.04).

5. JUMP IN - the biggest thing that impedes anyone's ability to try new things is that they don't try; just try it! - you like it, then you like it - if you don't, then you don't - try something else and move on. Just don't stick with one operating system the rest of your live completely obvious to what else is out there.

Possibilities are endless with Linux:



I think Linux's Ubuntu distribution has a chance at hitting mainstream, but they still have a long way to go.

MACFAGS

No offense at all to MAC-users, they are very well built and durable but wayyy over priced in my opinion, but if you have the money to drop on a MAC there is nothing wrong with that.

At my university there is a huge population of MACFAGS. Not just mac users but full-on MACFAGS! Let me define a "MACFAG"...
A MACFAG is someone who purchases an apple laptop for the sole purpose of showing it off in coffee shops and in their classes, because it's sleek/shiny and the fact that it costs $2000 if not $3000. Another attribute that defines a MACFAG is the fact that they want to be different and scoff at the idea of compatible software.

This is just completely silly to me to spend so much money on this "look". I can get a much faster and stronger PC Laptop for half the price of a MACBOOK. It's rediculous, Steve jobs is a fucking GENIOUS!!! People take note of what the fuck he does because it's obviously working LOL

So in my daily schedule...I go to my local coffee shop that is full of macfags, the smell of macfagness reaches all the way fucking down the street. I get a coffee and sit down in the middle of the macfagness and whip out my Sony Vaio, boot up Linux and start working on my projects in JAVA. FEELS GOOD MANG

Here's to sum it up: