Spy der Mann's Journal: The year of the Linux Desktop: Why it still hasn't arrived

It's even become a recurrent joke. Every year is 5 years away from the year of Desktop Linux. Despites the fact that Linux is getting better and better every day, still very few people switch. Why?

There were excuses, or valid reasons for not adopting Linux. Some of them have been slowly addressed.

Driver Support? Check.
User friendliness? Check.
Lack of applications? Check.
Compatibility? Uh oh...

Perhaps it would be good if we analyzed why Vista isn't becoming a success. Windows XP is just "good enough", and people don't want to spend another hundred dollars to upgrade.

"But Linux is free", you may say. Well, I have a surprise for you: It isn't.
*GASP* Blasphemy!

Actually, it's applications support. Do you see Flash Professional for Linux? Do you see Photoshop CS for Linux? Do you see Adobe Premiere Pro or Sony Vega for Linux?

"Oh, but you can use Wine". Well, not all professional applications work on Wine. "Well, there's Crossover". Yeah, but is it free?

Touché.

What about gamers? There's Cedega, which allows you to play your DirectX games on Linux.... for a price.

See... people already spent money on Windows. They have already spent money on the games. And the apps. So why the heck do they have to spend EVEN MORE MONEY on buying a compatibility suit *JUST* so they can switch to a (fingers quoting here) "Free" operating system? Don't make me laugh.

Sure, The companies behind Cedega and Crossover have done wonders to aid the Linux community. But the software remains proprietary.
*GASP* Blasphemy!

Yeah yeah, it may be GPL licensed or whatever, but the companies are already discouraging compiling it on your own. In other words, to keep the money flowing, they're hindering the Linux community from a wonderful weapon which is Windows compatibility for professional applications... AND games.

If my uncle Joe won't switch to Linux because he likes using Photoshop and video editing programs (professional ones, I mean), and I can't assure him that they will work on Linux (most probably they won't), how will he Switch (Specially if his whole business depends on using those apps)? And if his son has to buy some compatibility software to run his Windows-only game, how will he switch?

So here's my proposal: Google or another powerful company, like IBM or Novell, should PURCHASE these companies, and release the code to the community. Or at least pay them a good bunch of dollars to release their code every 4 or 5 months, and to keep developing the stuff.

Wham! Instantly, the next distributions of Linux will allow us to run our favorite Windows applications without complaining.

But it hasn't happened. And there aren't good Free alternatives for Flash Professional or Adobe premiere (there are, but I said good). And until some company decides to start paying a hundred volunteers to build these FLOSS alternatives, there will be a vast majority of people who won't switch.

I am an example. I didn't want to switch to Linux unless there was a good alternative to MSN messenger. In the end, I switched, but I lost my ability to store and send custom emoticons (at least until Pidgin 2.2.3 which comes out in 2 weeks). But just as there's MSN messenger, there's this online game, or my favorite office application, or my favorite ActiveX control for Internet explorer which is needed to visit this or that website (or to make our company software work), etc. etc. etc.

Users need to be guaranteed that their favorite apps will run on Linux. And we can't do that without Cedega or Crossover. And, unfortunately, the companies' futures depend on NOT releasing their code.

So, what to say about TransGaming Technologies, or CodeWeavers? Are they beneficial to the community? Or have they become parasites? And why do the images of the symbiotes in the Spider Man comic, suddenly come to my mind?

(And speaking about comics, here's a good one - i know, it's inaccurate, but you get the point)