No Real Market for Linux Desktops

Jason Hiner of TechRepublic, in an article titled The market has rejected Linux Desktops.  Get over it shows that Linux market share in desktop computing has hung in the +/- 1% ranger for a decade and suggests this is unlikely to change very much.

He cites a number of reasons, but I think the most basic one can be demonstrated from my own business.  I’m sitting here typing this on a Linux desktop (Ubuntu 9.10), and I’ve even converted my wife’s machine over to Linux, which she likes better than Windows.  She’s not a technical type person, but she has me to fix the little things that get in the way.

At the same time, I have yet to have a single client adopt Linux as a desktop operating system, even though I stand ready to support such installations.  There are a couple of quite good reasons for this:

1. My clients value their time more than their software costs.  They’re willing to spend the money.  Each office I work with has some professional software for their specific industry or profession that is designed for Windows.  They’d prefer to be able to go straight to the vendor for that software using an installation that’s approved.  I’m afraid I have to agree with them.  I probably could get their software working under Wine.  I have researched it and found that others have managed in many cases, but it’s easier and cheaper to put the support load on the vendor who is already obligated.
2. My clients don’t really want to spend time learning to use a computer.  They want it to work the way they think it should.  They should probably buy Macs, but most of them have experienced Windows for years, and don’t want to go through the process of becoming acquainted with a new system, even if it’s very similar.
3. Finally, as a lone support services tech, I can’t guarantee them that there is another company out there to support them should I be unable to continue, whereas they have dozens of options if they stick with Windows.  That could be important if I fall over dead at some point.

Other open source software has been a different story.  I have been able to get a number of folks to adopt OpenOffice and even more to adopt Thunderbird for e-mail.  Gimp is installed in a number of places that need some intermediate level of graphics software.

So open source is working for me; Linux as such works only for me personally, but not for my clients.