Linux, on the other hand, is still to omni-directional for its own good. It could actually learn a lesson from Microsoft, in this sense. They need to standardize on a single desktop (KDE or GNOME) and a single core. It’ll never happen. My mom just doesn’t want to compile drivers and debug her kernel. Linux is perfect for verticals and corporate environments right now – not for the home desktop. –Chris Pirillo on the Opera Newsletter mailing list, Sunday, 05 Oct 2006 23:46:37, via the Quote of the Day on Elliotte Rusty Harold’s Cafe au Lait
I wonder if this issue isn’t beginning to sort itself out, though. Debian seems to be gaining more mindshare lately — not so much directly, as through distributions like Ubuntu and Linspire that derive from it. In fact, since Linspire has decided to use Ubuntu as a base, it looks like we see the start of an efficient production line that would make Adam Smith proud. Debian produces the core of a purely-free operating system; Ubuntu, next in the assembly line, tunes and polishes to the point that it is attractive to commercial users, and can be commercially supported; and Linspire polishes and adds-consumer-friendly touches like proprietary media codecs.
(I do think, though, that the GNOME-vs-KDE conflict is overblown, and doesn’t need to be ‘resolved’; applications for either desktop will work on either desktop, and which one you run as a base simply depends on user preference — and the design philosophies of the two are different enough that each has a well-defined constituency, just as Windows and Mac do.)