Can the home PC user escape from Windows?
There are a lot of things not to like about Windows but what’s the alternative? Microsoft has such a grip on the market that most people will end up with Vista or its successor no matter how much PC users may gripe. Let’s look at why it looks like the Microsoft desktop monopoly will continue no matter what brickbats are being thrown at Vista and Windows in general.
Apple could be a real contender with the Mac; consumer electronics writers like Walter Mossberg enthusiastically recommend it. However, the company seems content to be a niche player in computers while concentrating on consumer products like the iPod and iPhone. The New York Times has some interesting commentary on Apple; an article, A Window of Opportunity for Macs, Soon to Close, points out how Apple’s absence from retail stores is a problem for gaining market share:
If you’re the owner of a Windows PC who is looking for a replacement computer, the choices are grim. You can step into the world of hurt that is Vista, the latest version of Microsoft Windows that was released in January. Or you can seek out a new machine that still comes loaded with the comparatively ancient Windows XP.
Maybe, you might say, the moment has arrived to take a look at the Mac. You can easily order one online, of course. But if you’d like to take a test-drive before you commit, odds are that you’ll have to look far and wide for a store that sells it. The Mac’s presence in the retail world remains limited, a shame given the rare opportunity for Apple to gain market share that opened up when Vista arrived.
Others, including Scot Finnie, a Windows expert who switched to a Mac, have also noted how Apple has an opportunity that it seems to be passing up.
If the Mac doesn’t become a real challenge to Windows for the desktop, how about Linux? There has been a lot of talk about the newer distros like Ubuntu. However, in contrast to the ease of use present in a Mac, even the more friendly versions of Linux may still be too geeky for many average PC users. Walter Mossberg has done an assesment of Ubuntu and writes:
My verdict: Even in the relatively slick Ubuntu variation, Linux is still too rough around the edges for the vast majority of computer users. While Ubuntu looks a lot like Windows or Mac OS X, it is full of little complications and hassles that will quickly frustrate most people who just want to use their computers, not maintain or tweak them.
Do you see any end to the Windows hegemony? Or do you think Windows isn’t such a bad system anyway? Comments are welcome.
Update: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes writes that he thinks Mossberg’s poor experience with Ubuntu is Dell’s fault:
To me, most of these issues sound like omissions on Dell’s part rather than Ubuntu, and they’re all issues that Dell would have had to solve on a Windows-based PC. The touch pad needs a better driver/control app, the volume control software sounds broken and Dell needs to buy bulk licenses for a few commonly used codecs and preinstall them. As to video playback being poor, this has to be a configuration issue or a hardware issue – I’ve not come across this problem on any Linux install I’ve carried out. The bottom line is that Dell has failed to deliver a machine that works out of the box. It’s not Linux that has failed Mossberg, it’s Dell.
Any Ubuntu users out there want to comment?
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