It's a good debate, Matt, but to me, a pipe dream to think that eventually Linux will "win" the desktop wars. Once people get comfortable and decide on a standard it would take something truly extraordinary to make them switch. The only reason why I think Apple will have more success than their current 3% or so market penetration now is by their ability to dual boot into Windows (and eventually likely have it preinstalled along with MacOS with swtich-on-the-fly. Hardcore computer users and Microsoft haters don't like to hear it, but Windows is here to stay for a long, long time. There's no compelling reason for 90% of the computing population to ever switch. It runs the majority of software that's out there, the majority of hardware that's out there is compatible, it's on the majority of new machines sold, etc. It's the OS you work with if you want to have the greatest access to resources and be software and file compatible with your buddies and the business world. That's VERY difficult to overcome, and certainly a fragmented operating system like Linux can't possibly do it.

For Linux or Mac to take over the home, they'd have to start to take over corporate desktops. Again, that's not going to happen. It's easy to shift on the server side, but for the average user, it's Windows and Microsoft Office.

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Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
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