Pay attention, you will be quizzed after the following demonstration:
PC-BSD install, and this:
PCLinuxOS in action, (more below)
And this: The One Laptop Per Child system running in virtualization on top of Gentoo.
All of these are Open Source systems; PC-BSD, PCLinuxOS, and Gentoo, and all are doing some fairly amazing things, yet all the media tech pundit are reporting how Vista sales are rocketing, Mac sales are flat, and Linux is essentially dead, or slowing to the point of irrelevance. Consider this learned opinion:
Trouble breaking through the adoption barrier.
If Linux is so fantastic, how come everyone is not using it? I see a few different factors responsible for this. Confusion and dependence on proprietary media formats, FCC headaches over keeping certain aspects of wireless devices "closed off" and of course my favorite – will Microsoft sue us for using this platform? Yet even if we push all of those problems to the side, the end user still is not seeing this Linux alternative advertised anywhere in the mainstream media. Thus, how is Joe Average expected to discover this as an alternative to Windows?
Well, perhaps not so learned after all:
Corporate paranoia and poor public perception is a dangerous thing for any grassroots effort. Despite good intentions and best efforts from the Linux community, the almighty dollar is always going to come out the winner. Microsoft has already From figured out how to make sure that the only Linux the U.S.-based user will be using is that which has offers their own seal of approval.
And the example given is Linspire? Mwahahahahaha. Perhaps we should consult someone who actually has a brain knows something about things like this, Ms. Pamela Jones of Groklaw:
The above covenant is personal to any given Customer and is non-transferable.
[That means no eBay, no friends, no family, no first sale with the promise attached. Just keep it to yourself, if you know what's good for ya. Be buried with it.]
That's part of the text from the Linspire/Microsoft 'patent covenant' agreement, followed by Ms. Jones commentary. Essentially it boils down to zero patent protection, and you get to pay Microsoft for any upgrades. Better just get Vista. Then you know you're getting screwed, and no bones about it.
While I would agree that there are still some rough edges in Open Source systems--notably wireless connectivity (specifically roaming wireless), the advances made in the last two quarters are nothing short of astounding.
And where exactly are those Vista sales coming from? Is it business users switching over en masse? Home users lining up to get it? No, it's essentially the OEMs putting it on the systems, and a few folks picking them up--an OEM install counting as a sale. Businesses are by and large waiting for the first SP pack, or even considering waiting for the next system: '7'.
Home users are sticking for the most part with XP, not wanting to buy a machine that offers little to nothing new for a big chunk of change, and likely a hardware upgrade as well. But at least it's getting good reviews from those in the know, right? Well, not so much. Consider the opinion of the president of Acer computer (fourth largest computer maker in the world):
ACER PRESIDENT, Gianfranco Lanci has blasted Microsoft's Vista.
Lanci told the Financial Times Deutschland that the impact of a new Microsoft "operating system" has never been so weedy as with Vista.
"The whole industry is disappointed with Windows Vista," he said.
It must be really awful if he is saying this publicly; one would imagine that normally this is usually said behind closed doors. Ouch.
Mac sales being flat? Just more of the same FUD, plus many folks are waiting until they can get Leopard free with their new systems in October, and the newest hardware. Macs last forever, so no need to get the latest iron to run the latest system software. I'm running a G4 Powerbook (over six years old) that just refuses to break. Runs Tiger just fine.
And Linux/BSD/other OS adoption falling flat, and interest dying out? Judging by the vids up top, which do you believe--some pundits, or your eyes? Well, what about the Open Document Format? That's in trouble, right? Judging from the following, one would think so:
Is it game over for OpenDocument? Probably. We've been expecting Massachusetts ITD to publicly revise its open formats mandate to include Office Open XML (OOXML) ever since Louis Gutierrez resigned as CIO in early October 2006. That was as clear a signal that ODF had failed in Massachusetts as needed by anyone in the know.
Nail up the coffin. It's ovah. Money always wins, and the monopoly will always prosper. Suck it up and move on. Never mind that Australia, India, Peru, the governments of Japan, the Italian parliament, international Math and Science journals all chose the ODF format. Massachusetts chose OOXML, so that's the end.
Contrary to popular pundits 'opinions', things are getting more exciting in the Open Source world, and interest in these systems has never been higher--and it's only gaining steam.