[Gllug] uk gov report on the state of oss

[tet at accucard.com]

>This is not me trying to preach to the converted, it is me totally
>misunderstanding why people consider Linux not ready for the desktop ;-)

It's because it's not. And the reasons aren't remotely techinical.
Linux can do, today, everything that's needed to make an end user
productive. Letters can be written, sheets can be spread (!), the
web can be browsed, friends and colleagues can be emailed. That
covers 95% of everything people want to do on a day to day basis.
But projects can't be planned, network diagrams can't be drawn,
and numerous other niche applications just don't have a Unix
equivalent yet[1].

But the problem comes when they need to exchange information with
others. When people receive a password protected spreadsheet, they
don't want to have to ask for it again in a format they can read.
When they receive a document in Word's latest file format of the
week, they *expect* to be able to read it. That's purely conditioning.
They put up with the fact that Word 97 can't do it on Windows either.
But on an unfamiliar platform, they blame the OS rather than the
application (or the sender). Against that sort of mentality, Linux
will have a hard time cracking the desktop. It not only has to be
as good as Windows, it has to be *significantly* better. And it's
not, yet -- purely due to the available applications, not due to
problems in the OS itself.

Tet

[1] Yes, I know about kivio and dia. But while both show promise,
    if anyone thinks they're viable Visio replacements *today*,
    then they're dreaming. And I'm not aware of any MS Project
    replacements.

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