What is the Real Bug #1?

[chessnerd]

According to Mark Shuttleworth, "Bug #1" is that Microsoft's Windows operating system has a majority market share. To some, this is exactly what Ubuntu should be working to do: end Microsoft's dominance. However, I wonder if that is something that everyone agrees with.

What do you think Bug #1 really is?


---My Opinion---

To me, Bug #1 is that people haven't heard of Ubuntu or Linux.

Would I like to see Linux as the market leader? Maybe. Would I like to see Linux in stores? Sure. Would I like to see average, everyday people understand what Linux is? Definitely.

To me, the most important thing to do with Ubuntu and Linux is simply spread the knowledge of their existence. You don't need everyone to take up arms against Microsoft and proprietary software; you just need to educate people. Give them the freedom to choose what they want. It's like an election that is sure to be a landslide. You know who will win, but you hold the election anyway. If everyone chooses Linux, great, free software gets a point. If everyone chooses Windows, excellent, a victory for proprietary software. Either way, at least they were given a choice.

Ubuntu's job shouldn't be to dominate the market. If that is the case it is no better than Microsoft, Wal-Mart, or any other monopoly-driven, power-hungry corporation. The job of every company should only be to make a good product and to tell people that they have it. After that, it should be up to the people, and competition should reign.

[kspncr]

Your first 5 poll options are all more or less the same thing.

[kspncr]

And yeah, that's probably bug #1 by the way

[Screwdriver0815]

Ubuntu's job shouldn't be to dominate the market. If that is the case it is no better than Microsoft, Wal-Mart, or any other monopoly-driven, power-hungry corporation. The job of every company should only be to make a good product and to tell people that they have it. After that, it should be up to the people, and competition should reign.

and thats the way I understand Mark's explaination of Bug #1 and how he wants Ubuntu to fix it ;)

[chessnerd]

Your first 5 poll options are all more or less the same thing.

I thought about that when I wrote them, but they are different. It can be argued that Microsoft's dominance leads to the next four options but it doesn't necessarily hold true. Those next four posit that Bug #1 isn't a "Microsoft" issue alone. After all, no one forces companies to only support Windows. Some do support Linux, but those that don't choose not to.

As for point #2, Microsoft's dominance isn't what's stopping people from knowing about Linux. After all, everyone knows about Mac computers despite Microsoft's 80-90% market share. This is because of Apple's advertising. If Linux had a national TV ad campaign, people would know about it too, but it doesn't because Linux doesn't have millions of dollars to throw at advertising. You can't blame Microsoft for that one.

[RiceMonster]

It needs to be more user friendly, and more stable. Backwards compatibility needs to be improved a lot too, but that's more Linux at large, rather than Ubuntu specific.

[Viva]

People are scared of any changes when it comes to computers. Using an entirely different operating system often puts them off. That and the unfair reputation of linux as a geeks-only OS.

[asddf]

The biggest bug is simple, hardly no one knows about Ubuntu.

[Paqman]

Bug #1 is that Linux development is highly fragmented, with no strategic leadership, and patchy QA. The end result is widely variable software quality and conspicuous gaps in the software catalogue.

I'm very happy to see Ubuntu attempting to address both of those directly, but its going to be a long slog.

[madnessjack]

Good poll- so hard to choose...

Went for unstable/poorly designed. If the interface was more consistent and there were no errors, then it would sell itself. Problem is Ubuntu needs support from software and hardware manufacturers to achieve this, so it's a catch 22.

[Random_Dude]

I think it's the software.
At least it's the only reason why I haven't gone 100% Ubuntu. Everyone that I know that doesn't use Linux, does it for the same reason.

You have to admit it, you can't just tell other people who work with you to change all their software to open-source alternatives just because you want to use Linux.

But one thing leads to another. The main focus should be to continue to improve compatibility between open-source and proprietary software, so that more people start to see past the software issue and start to use Linux. That way, companies start to see Linux users as big enough market to invest.

Cheers :cool: