6 years ago, Linux never got mentioned

[ade234uk]

I remember using Mandrake about 6-7 years ago, and Linux never got a look in. Nvidia, ATI, Adobe, Google, Dell none of them where interested in supporting.

Look at the landscape now, Linux is here to stay and I can only seeing support getting bigger and better.

[eternalnewbee]

Amen to that.

[mike1772]

I remember using Mandrake about 6-7 years ago, and Linux never got a look in. Nvidia, ATI, Adobe, Google, Dell none of them where interested in supporting.

Look at the landscape now, Linux is here to stay and I can only seeing support getting bigger and better.

Six years ago Loki was porting Windows games to Linux and it was very common to be browsing my local EB Games or Future Shop and see six or seven quality linux games on the shelf beside windows games. Many of the sames stores had more than one Linux distribution available for sale in the store. (I owned purchased copies of Redhat 4.2 - 9). Local book stores were loaded with linux books of all sorts - this is still the case today but no where near as much as about 6 years ago. Six years later - I've not seen a Linux distribution for sales in any local store in quite a few years. Granted - you can download Ubuntu which I do - but it's not as easy to show your support as buying a commercial version of Redhat was. Also - commercial versions of Linux didn't have the same hangups about freedom that free versions had. A DVD player could be included when you are making money as you can license the required codecs. Linux games along side windows games are a thing of the past (at least around here). I can buy Neverwinter Nights - but I have to download the client separately. Same with Doom and Unreal. Even Star Office used to be available in local stores (both Linux and Windows versions).

In some respects it really seems like a step back to me. I agree we've come a long way - but I miss the days of seeing software for my chosen operating system for sale on the same shelf as windows software.

[toupeiro]

Six years ago Loki was porting Windows games to Linux and it was very common to be browsing my local EB Games or Future Shop and see six or seven quality linux games on the shelf beside windows games. Many of the sames stores had more than one Linux distribution available for sale in the store. (I owned purchased copies of Redhat 4.2 - 9). Local book stores were loaded with linux books of all sorts - this is still the case today but no where near as much as about 6 years ago. Six years later - I've not seen a Linux distribution for sales in any local store in quite a few years. Granted - you can download Ubuntu which I do - but it's not as easy to show your support as buying a commercial version of Redhat was. Also - commercial versions of Linux didn't have the same hangups about freedom that free versions had. A DVD player could be included when you are making money as you can license the required codecs. Linux games along side windows games are a thing of the past (at least around here). I can buy Neverwinter Nights - but I have to download the client separately. Same with Doom and Unreal. Even Star Office used to be available in local stores (both Linux and Windows versions).

In some respects it really seems like a step back to me. I agree we've come a long way - but I miss the days of seeing software for my chosen operating system for sale on the same shelf as windows software.

I remember these days. I bought RedHat 5.2 this way because i had a 33.6 modem and did not want to download it. Do I miss them? eh, not really. Truth is, I really dislike physical media. I have a 17MBit internet connection to my home network. The consumer software market is undergoing a change for the better in direct download purchases. You know what I missed about the commercial linux packaging? The awesome admin and user guides included with the Distro, and the stickers! SuSE was exceptionally good at providing this.

As for the linux games, I never saw those at my CompUSA's, egghead software, Software ETC. or any of the other places that sold software around here. So, I can't really share that sentiment, but I would like to see more commercial linux games, Direct Download or otherwise....

If you want to see something truly remarkable when it comes to Software and/or OS distribution, look no further than WUBI or Debian's web installer... That method of OS installation and software distribution is the right direction I think.

[Vince4Amy]

The awesome admin and user guides included with the Distro, and the stickers! SuSE was exceptionally good at providing this.

Yes SuSE 9.1 came with an awesome sticker and a good guide to getting started. I liked 9.1 when I bought it.

[grotto]

And 8 years ago Linux was immensely popular.

[Thelasko]

Yes SuSE 9.1 came with an awesome sticker and a good guide to getting started. I liked 9.1 when I bought it.

I bought SuSE 9.2 once upon a time. I hated it. It was my first experience with Linux and I found YaST completely unusable. Apparently I'm not the only one to think so.

IMHO the existence of SuSE in stores hampered the progress of Linux. People like me bought them, installed them, hated them, and went back to Windows. Ubuntu changed all of that.

Edit: More on topic, I remember Linux being mentioned all the time in the late 90s. That was when Windows was much more unstable than it is today and people were looking for alternatives. Had Ubuntu been around back then, most of the market share might be Linux today.

[mike1772]

You know what I missed about the commercial linux packaging? The awesome admin and user guides included with the Distro, and the stickers! SuSE was exceptionally good at providing this.

Over time - the documentation went downhill - as did most software documentation really... But I did get a lot of use out of the stickers!

As for the linux games, I never saw those at my CompUSA's, egghead software, Software ETC. or any of the other places that sold software around here. So, I can't really share that sentiment, but I would like to see more commercial linux games, Direct Download or otherwise....

I used OS/2 in the 90's. I was always impressed when I found native OS/2 apps on the shelf along side windows apps (even if it was an IBM owned store!). What amazed me about 6 or so years ago was that Linux had far surpassed anything I'd seen on the shelf for OS/2. These days - for most tasks I prefer free software - but most people are still of the mindset that good software must be purchased. I think it would really help our platform if everyday users could see such a selection in their local stores.

[mike1772]

Edit: More on topic, I remember Linux being mentioned all the time in the late 90s. That was when Windows was much more unstable than it is today and people were looking for alternatives. Had Ubuntu been around back then, most of the market share might be Linux today.

It's all about timing. I remember when Windows 95 was late - and OS/2 warp was already out. But Microsoft is a Marketing machine and IBM was not. Bill Gates had the Rolling Stones singing Start me up and IBM (despite their window of opportunity) had some nuns talking about OS/2. Anyway - I have used Linux since around 1997 - if Linux was as advanced then as it was today I agree that things likely would be quite different in the market.

[Thelasko]

Bill Gates had the Rolling Stones singing Start me up and IBM (despite their window of opportunity) had some nuns talking about OS/2.

I seem to remember hearing some crazy commercials for OS/2 Warp on the radio. I had no idea what they were talking about, or what OS/2 Warp was.