GreatSunJester
February 11th, 2006, 05:22 PM
My opinion only, but I think the idea has validity -- ignore or flame as needed.
Ubuntu needs a couple things to really make an impact on the marketplace.
1. Easy to use Graphical installer that will ask if you want to dual boot and which OS you want as primary.
2. Integrated support for 3D windows gaming as effective as possible without paying extra.
Now, before people complain about me I will offer some explanations.
When was the last time an office upgraded all their computers because a word-processor would run better? The last time a business bought all new machines to make a spreadsheet run faster? A database? Solitaire?
In short, businesses do not drive the market, they follow it - frequently at a distance, several generations back.
What applications yield the greatest advances (both real and projected) in computer hardware? What segment of computer users will, at times, upgrade at the drop of a hat? Gamers. What part of the computer society regularly writes their code to run best on hardware that barely exists? Game coders. Games drive advancement in the marketplace, inspiring writers to make more demanding games, and gamers to expect more from their hardware.
Optimally the major players in gaming would release native Linux clients for their games. Since we do not see this, it is up to the Linux community to prod them. Which brings me to point #1 above: The friendly installer, which I believe is being worked on. Computers ship with Windows for the most part, deal with it. Most gamers are stuck on the Windows platform because that is where the games are. Linux must be easy easy easy to install -- and REMOVE without a trace if needed. Most gamers have a short attention span when it comes to anything computer related that takes away from their game... installing an OS that will not play World of Warcraft, EverQuest 1 or 2 or Lineage will not be attractive and HOLD them.
Leading us to point #2 above: even with a small performance hit (assuming the hardware is semi-current), if gamers have the ability to boot to Linux, select a game and PLAY it, they probably will just to be "different" or worse yet "LEET". Once game manufacturers see any portion of their target market playing on Linux, they will start to release their games to run natively -- thus increasing performance. If a gamer sees the game he (or she) wants to play is fully playable on Linux, they will be more willing to try. Computer vendors will be more inclined to sell a machine with Linux preinstalled and say to the buyer, "see -- save the $100 MS charges with a new machine and buy more RAM, or a step up in CPU power."
Point #2 is the biggest fear of Microsoft. Slashdot, Digg, Reddit and other tech/rant sites may have blurbs that drift down the page about the newest release of OpenOffice (BTW - I wrote this in AbiWord), but can you imagine the posts if Blizzard released a Linux client for WoW? I could actually see mainstream news writing about it, this would be such a major change. Think of Dell releasing a Linux based system... just the performance gained by not having Norton installed to start with would be staggering and make the system that much more desirable.
The first step is up to the outsiders though, the Linux gamers and coders. Ubuntu is making such a usable distribution that it has the best chance of starting this change. One CD installation to a fully functional desktop is incredible, and can only get better. I look forward to more and more!
Ubuntu needs a couple things to really make an impact on the marketplace.
1. Easy to use Graphical installer that will ask if you want to dual boot and which OS you want as primary.
2. Integrated support for 3D windows gaming as effective as possible without paying extra.
Now, before people complain about me I will offer some explanations.
When was the last time an office upgraded all their computers because a word-processor would run better? The last time a business bought all new machines to make a spreadsheet run faster? A database? Solitaire?
In short, businesses do not drive the market, they follow it - frequently at a distance, several generations back.
What applications yield the greatest advances (both real and projected) in computer hardware? What segment of computer users will, at times, upgrade at the drop of a hat? Gamers. What part of the computer society regularly writes their code to run best on hardware that barely exists? Game coders. Games drive advancement in the marketplace, inspiring writers to make more demanding games, and gamers to expect more from their hardware.
Optimally the major players in gaming would release native Linux clients for their games. Since we do not see this, it is up to the Linux community to prod them. Which brings me to point #1 above: The friendly installer, which I believe is being worked on. Computers ship with Windows for the most part, deal with it. Most gamers are stuck on the Windows platform because that is where the games are. Linux must be easy easy easy to install -- and REMOVE without a trace if needed. Most gamers have a short attention span when it comes to anything computer related that takes away from their game... installing an OS that will not play World of Warcraft, EverQuest 1 or 2 or Lineage will not be attractive and HOLD them.
Leading us to point #2 above: even with a small performance hit (assuming the hardware is semi-current), if gamers have the ability to boot to Linux, select a game and PLAY it, they probably will just to be "different" or worse yet "LEET". Once game manufacturers see any portion of their target market playing on Linux, they will start to release their games to run natively -- thus increasing performance. If a gamer sees the game he (or she) wants to play is fully playable on Linux, they will be more willing to try. Computer vendors will be more inclined to sell a machine with Linux preinstalled and say to the buyer, "see -- save the $100 MS charges with a new machine and buy more RAM, or a step up in CPU power."
Point #2 is the biggest fear of Microsoft. Slashdot, Digg, Reddit and other tech/rant sites may have blurbs that drift down the page about the newest release of OpenOffice (BTW - I wrote this in AbiWord), but can you imagine the posts if Blizzard released a Linux client for WoW? I could actually see mainstream news writing about it, this would be such a major change. Think of Dell releasing a Linux based system... just the performance gained by not having Norton installed to start with would be staggering and make the system that much more desirable.
The first step is up to the outsiders though, the Linux gamers and coders. Ubuntu is making such a usable distribution that it has the best chance of starting this change. One CD installation to a fully functional desktop is incredible, and can only get better. I look forward to more and more!