Linux has its own problems. Staying with XP is best, but we need somebody like Google to get into the OS market.
What really put me off a few years ago, on Linux, was the Uber-Geeky depths I had to plumb to get answers, drivers, and other stuff to work properly.
When it reaches a stage where you can just install it, and it works with your hardware without much tweaking, it will give MS a run for its money.
Now the idea of another large company. like Google, developing another OS is interesting- there's got to be a market for it.
> Linux has its own problems.
Primarily just some key apps.
> Staying with XP is best, ...
Anyone not on it needs to act by 30 June 2008,
the last sale date for XP for most uses.
Mafiasoft has reportedly recently extended the
life of XP beyond that only for low-end laptops
that can’t really run Vista.
> ... but we need somebody like Google to get
> into the OS market.
In my case, if Adobe and IMSI got onto Linux,
Windoze would already be outta here.
Every OS has its own problems. The learning curve for contemporary Linux distributions is no worse, and possibly easier than it is introducing a new user to Windows. I made the transition from Win2k (GREAT Os!) to Linux painlessly. My 60 year old mother runs it with only administration from me. If you possess enough technical knowledge to format a hard drive and install an OS, modern Linux is fully within your grasp.
Free, secure, and fully featured, heck even the eye candy of Vista without the performance hit, if that's your preference.
I agree with you about Linux. It is great for servers, but it needs years of labor and billions of dollars invested in R&D before it will be ready as a mainstream consumer operating system. A company like Dell or Google or IBM could make the level of investment that Desktop Linux requires to make it a decent product, but so far they've shown no willingness to do so.
In my opinion, for the foreseeable future, the best OS for most computer users is Mac OS X.
(not a Google OS, but it looks like it's trying to be one)
I had the same thought just last night while watching a program on how Google started, etc.
I thought, "When Google decides to get into the OS business, it could be the move that eventually cripples Microsoft."