Standards have been more lacking in closed source software all along due to opaque development. Standards are more common in open source development incuding standards for designs of useful products other than software, and the code for those standards is public for all to see. Granted, even standards are more quickly improved in open source development.
As for 20 years, I’ve been using Linux for nearly 20 years, although NetBSD is better for some purposes (extra security, transducers, industrial hardware, etc.). On closed source software, manufactured scarcity is one of the reasons for its decline.
Linux is the most common operating system in Internet servers for good reasons, but there are also Linux distributions that are easy to use, easy to install and include multimedia support by default. The following is a good one.
Linux Mint
http://linuxmint.com/
It’s really very nice to use a system with no concerns about viruses or spyware. Open source development isn’t stopping after software, though.
I’ve used Linux in the past, and I’ve also installed Linux on several computers for my family. The user experience stunk to high heaven, and I had to admit to myself and my family members that, Linux just wasn’t right for prime time. It’s still not right for prime time, even if it’s a good or the best solution for servers.
Consumer-side computing cannot allow for experimentation, and Linux is a decades-long experiment (on the consumer side).
Standards are defined as what is the more accepted and easier to use and which people have the least number of complaints about. Linux will never be Windows or even OSX or Android or iOS. The Linux people (developers) are still trying to emulate the Windows experience with their OS, and if standards to them means being more “Windows-like”, then, they’re looking at Windows as the standard.
No matter how anyone wants to spin it or put in, Windows is the standard. Closed or not. The standard is also defined by what most machines use, and Windows is what most PCs use. So, standards for computing have been defined for at least 3 decades, and Linux ain’t it.