Does Open Source Software Really Work?

reflexreaction writes "This article on NewsFactor does a decent job of covering some of the issues facing Open Source Software (OSS). It points to Linux's growth area, non-mission critical projects in mid-sized companies, and its main weakness, the desktop. It also briefly discusses Linux's potential growth into mission critical applications if scalability issues are addressed. Quick easy read. My favorite quote from the article "Linux on the desktop is toast.""

Re:Toast?

[Matts]

Take for example the configuring of USB devices. In windows you plug it in and in most cases it works (yes, I did say in most cases). In Linux you have to rebuild your kernel first. I can imagine most novice users will be scared of that.

What distribution are you running? On the majority of "new" distributions (e.g. Mandrake, Red Hat, SuSE - which covers 95% or more of new users' desktop Linux distribution) this stuff is already compiled into the kernel as a module, and it's plug and go, except that unlike on Windows you don't need to insert a driver disk from your manufacturer (it either works or it flat out doesn't - but that's a different argument to whether it's easy to configure or not - thats an issue of manufacturer support for Linux).

Re:Toast?

[rseuhs]

How do you add a new video-mode eg 1600x1200 when the install only detected up to 1280x1024?

1. Start KDE control center
2. Choose Yast2 modules -> hardware -> X11 - configuration
3. Click on the "root" button as advised and enter root-password
4. Click "change"
5. Choose resolution

Or, you could just launch SaX2 directly from the SuSE-menu in the menubar. (skip steps 1-3)

You need to be root for that, and by FAR the quickest way is to hack on /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 yourself, IMO.

IMO not.

Unless it's got a magic way of becoming root

If you don't believe the magic why don't you just try it for yourself?

Re:Wizard's First Rule:

[Anonymous Coward]

> Making everything fool-proof and real-easy-to-learn is far too often done on the cost of reduced expert usability and THAT is something none of the *nix users want.

Unless a distro takes away command shell access, how can ANY amount of ease-of-use/ease-of-learn work reduce expert usablility - the experts all use shells to do most/all of their work, and the underlying Unix/Linux utilities will still be there.

Open Source Work?

[tcort]

Yes. It offers a great deal of flexability for users. I can give an example that actually happend today. I was using the Coherent Operating System (a 486 Unix-Clone) and I typed in 'uptime'. The uptime command only lists Hours/Minutes/Seconds and I wanted to know how many days that my computer had been up, so I downloaded the source code and added support for Days. I also posted it to usenet: http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=Jgpo8.18140%2 4To6.6049162%40e420r-atl1.usenetserver.com&oe=UTF8 &output=gplain Now I have my feature and other users could have an upgraded version of "uptime" if they choose to use it. No company had to hire a programmer to enhance the software, a user did it for them. If a software company thinks a users modification is good for the software then they'll include it in the source. They only problem with giving out the sources is that someone may just give out copies to their friends. The company won't get any money for that, however an open source company has a chance to get money if they sell something that the average user can't copy or give out without a lot of work. i.e. printed manuals, support or a big archive of source code on CDs. Well, that's my two cents worth.

-TC