His house was littered with computers/devices, and a lot of visitors, knowing this, ask to ‘get online for a few minures’. The interesting thing for me was that they rarely even realised or mentioned that they were using Ubuntu. I honestly don’t think it made one jot of difference to them, ‘average users’.

Us professionals may still be faced with client constraints that force the odd XP boot… but hopefully that is getting less. I agree that Adobe could do a lot to help the world in this respect.

However, to all the naysayers and newbs confused by too much choice, I say one thing: download a LiveCD version of Ubuntu, burn it and just try it. There will be a learning curve, but I bet it’ll be less than you thought; persivere and you’ll be converted!

Please stop “thinking” for a second and listen. The logic of your statement says an OS is a failure if fewer people use it compared to some other OS. So Linux will continue to be a failure, by your logic, until it reaches 51% of the users. Was Windows a failure until version 3.1. Was it measured against Apple or DOS or both? Is Linux a failure on the 500 fastest supercomputers in the World?

“The fact is there are billions like me. Windows (and now increasingly Mac OS) is still within reach for a person like me.”

Is still within reach? When was it not in reach? What else was there to reach for? Windows comes installed on every computer (yet people still wipe it off and install Linux). Is that the kind of “reach” you are talking about? You still have known only one OS and your thinking is completely influenced by that OS. The easiest OS will be the one you’ve had the only exposure to. You cannot comment on which is easier, Windows or Linux. I can because I’ve spent years using both. Can you understand that? Comment on Windows, it’s what you know. I’ll comment on Windows AND Linux because I know them both.

After years tolerating XP’s memory management (two restarts a day, that’s all we ask), I just couldn’t see putting up with Vista’s tarted-up, hard-to-find-anything interface for years more (open the control panel, and tell me that’s clear).

On a whim, I test-installed Ubuntu, used it for a day, then re-installed it in its own partition, and I’m running my freelance business atop it.

Faster & more reliable than Vista, but the real key is the nice, clean interface.

That said, a decision to use Linux today is largely a philosophical one; it runs well, but still has issues dealing with some audio & video formats.

Ubuntu Linux is close. If most Windows users were handed a PC with Ubuntu already installed (including the audio/video/DVD stuff), they’d do just fine.

I’ve been a fan of the concept of Linux for a long time, but unfortunately it’s still not quite ready for prime time with the general masses, in my opinion. For browsing, email, office applications, there are no problems at all. But I still have strange random audio and video problems. I reboot more often than I would have expected (due to the windows manager locking up) and I still feel like knowing a bit about command-line Linux is best if you’re going to run the OS.

If I had to choose just one OS with the requirement of running all of my current apps, I’d choose XP right now. If I could dump my legacy apps for equivalent apps, I’d choose Mac OS X for sure. Linux is still relevant, though in many ways. And it is getting closer to being the kind of system you would recommend to your father-in-law who only browses online, writes a few letters but who consistently installs and runs every toolbar, “performance booster” and other malware program targeting Windows.

You’re are thinking like a person whose only exposure to operating systems has been Windows. It’s only “common sense” that tells us that there must be one and only one operating system for the masses. But that “sense” is based on only one experience. There has been no scientific study to prove that there should be one monoculture OS. Now to add to that, there may be 500 distributions of Linux but when you subtract all the special purpose distros, dead distros, and marginal distros you are left with about a dozen to chose from. Also, the biggest differences are the names, desktops, application choices, repositories and a few specialized applications. The underlying structure is the same. The worst side effect for 12 distros “running the world” would be that malware would not be effective across the board immediately. As in zero day immediately.

To say that there “HAS to be a ‘One Linux’ movement” is not unlike the Hollywood studio executives in the 1920′s saying “Who would want to see a talking picture?”. They could not imagine anything but silent films because their only exposure to film from the beginning was silent. As far as “competing” with Windows and Mac look how far Linux has come and when it started. Look how fast Linux is developing. People, organizations and companies are piling on, not jumping ship. You may be looking at the last year when Windows and Mac will be considered equals of Linux. Every day I notice more and more bloggers are saying how Linux just doesn’t cut it for the desktop and more and more I see Linux growing and making its way into every aspect of computing. I think something’s getting squeezed here, and it’s not Linux.

However the Internet has also jumped ahead and in doing so Flash and Video have become an important part of the experience.

Until the OSS Community have that warm and fuzzy talk with Adobe to settle the constant development Lag then the desktop no matter how pretty and usable will be a few years behind the windows and mac clients.

There are work arounds and there are a few cameras currently supported but the results have been less than stunning.

Add to this the lack of SaaS replacements to core applications for some users and the occasional kernel upgrade which can break a bespoke system them we have a constant level of uncertainty for any but the more experienced user.

Further Dell and Asus are not running a clear platform of repositories woring with the OSS Community. Leading many of the core developers of the community asking those companies for specs and information to aid with support , creating more LAG.

Meanwhile Linux on the server has been and continues to be a boom with benefits of scalable and manageable tools that make a sysadmins life far easier however the growing lack of “net” awareness of many conventionally trained windows sysadmins is causing the occasional break and interrupt in that growth.

Overall theres a bubble of interest and the instantOn will prove more a gimmick than a gateway OS and result in many consumers perceiving linux as “that thing which runs Firefox”