Linux is becoming such a craze nowadays that not even a single day passes without one or other distribution releasing a new version. But why is it failing so miserably in the desktop arena. The answer lies in three reasons.
1. The plethora of distributions - Redhat,Debian,Ubuntu,Suse,Gentoo,Knoppix - everbody and his uncle is coming out with new ones.
2. The lack of backward compatibility - I had Redhat 7.3 running. I upgraded to Redhat 9. Many applications had to be recompiled. You ask my mom to recompile applications - She will throw out Linux and take Windows anyday. She is not concerned more about usability than about security. Security is required but not at the expense of usability for most users.
3. To add a new hardware or install a new software, you need to be a geek. In most cases, to configure new hardware such as adsl modems, you have to edit configuration files manually. Not what home users want to do. Even the people who come and install the stuff are no aware about Linux. Infact once I had to educate the tech support fellow on how to configure something in Linux. OK the tech support was not good. Still it speaks a lot about Linux.

Until these factors are resolved, there is no way anybody can even think about Linux competing with Windows for the desktop market. Only in dreams.

I think one other aspect where linux is not good at is the GUI (I used Mandrake when I started programming). I just think it sucks. Yeah it's too geeky, dull and boring. I don't know if it's just me and that I have gotten used to Windows GUI. Either way, the windows feel is still better.

I don't know much about the technical issues you're talking about but yes I'd have to agree that it's such a downer to recompile applications and reconfigure hardware. I mean how user unfriendly can you get?

When I mounted my usb drive in one computer that had linux, I couldn't figure how to unmount it. Then in another desktop I could, so it speaks of how linux is so inconsistent.

You have to give windows the credit, they've set a, more or less, a good standard for operating systems, security problems and other things aside.

As much as i do love linux i agree fully. Firstly i think they should try to release a few editions such as mandriva and redhat into shops. I know linux is pretty much totally free but i would be happy to buy linux on an easy install disk with a manual for £20, they dont even need to charge that, only enough to cover their costs such as packing and delivery etc. That way many people will get to see linux and as they see only a few distros they will be more inclined to try hopefully then progress onto lesser known distros.

I cant speak about backward compatibility scince i have only tried knoppix live and mandriva and used differnet software on each! But i take your word for it. Although Windows tends to do that to try and keep the market moving. If everyone decided they only wanted xp then MS would run dry so by making things like aero only avaliable in Vista many many people will upgrade to vista. So i think both linux and MS have the same issues there and i guess macs are no different!

And all i can do is laugh about the installation of hardware and software, it is a NIGHTMARE! it took me a week to find a video card driver then i tried to install it for 2 days and gave up leacing my widescreen displaying normal width resolution. It seemed impossible. I think the main thing here is that linux is muxh more suited to a fully networked environment and excels as a server platform. And servers are normally controlled by technicians and so the user friendliness isnt so important. Although i found mandriva to be have a very good GUI the user friendliness was zilch when it came to software, although my usb flash drive worked perfectly so did my usb mouse, both without installing additional drivers.

Maybe if some hardcore linux coders programmed some automated installers it would help the masses to adopt it. Which can only be good! If i could code in linux id give it a go but using linux is hard enough let alone coding it!

but i still think linux is great once its setup correctly Though i havent used it in a very long time! Once a support center find out youve got linux aswell as windows and you have a problem its instantly linux' fault and all you hear is "uninstall linux and phone me back". Which could be another pitfal, the support!

Anyway im droning on so ill make my way out now!

Linux is excellent, I use linux everytime I use my computer. My windows gives me the craps and becuase I am running a low spec system, I started to use Linux Live disks (you know the ones you put in your CD drive and boot up and you can try linux without installation or anything) Well I tried a few of the live CD's incuding; Ubuntu, Knoppix and one of my favourties, Damn Small Linux. Also I downloaded Suse but it wouldn't work for some reason so I just gave up.

I personally liked the Damn Small Linux the best because it was small in size, took up very little space, and looked great, the GUI was excellent although I did have problems with it booting up and showing very little color, but it was just a problem which was sorted out easily.

Now Knoppix I liked but plain and simply, ran slow.

Ubuntu had to be my 2nd favourite, I ordered it from their website and they sent it to me FREE, took about a month but didn't matter . Anyway I really liked Ubuntu and installed it onto my second harddrive with windows still on my first harddrive. Now it all works fine but as you say the hardware and software installation is very challenging but then again there are plenty of people willing to help you out on forums and that, but I guess if you are good enough you could try to do it yourself.

Another thing about all the different distributions of Linux is that when I was looking for one to get which I liked, I went through hundreds at www.distrowatch.com and still didn't find one I liked so I just gave up and asked around in forums and was reccomended some which I tried.

Anyway, what do you guys think is the best and most used Distributions?

There's one very important thing to remember everytime you complain about Linux' user-friendliness - Among most of the people using Linux, there is no such goal as to get Linux installed on all desktop PCs (as, for example, Microsoft has for Windows) but a rather simple goal: Make Linux as easy to use as possible.
Yes, easy - Let's say you wrote a text but when you're finished, you realize that you have to move one line to a place five lines down in the text. What do you do in Windows? [many people I know delete this line and type it again but that's plain stupid so let's forgetabout this way] You mark the line, hit the "copy"-button [well ... I rarely meet people who know about ctrl-c], move the cursor down to where you need it, hit the "paste"-button [the same goes for ctrl-v] - done.
In vi [a text editor on many Linux systems], you can do this with one command [right, since I don't have a linux installed anmore, I don't remember it :/]...

...so Linux is actually easier to use than Windows - but way harder to learn.

another mistake many people (including me) make is to try as many distros as possible, hoping that there's one among them which they can use right from the box. As there is about no such thing, it's better to pick one, maybe two [ask some Linux geek about which one to use] and stick with it. This way, you'll learn at least this/these two distros, that's easier than trying to find some config file and trying to find it where it was in the last distro you tried and take a long time before you realize that you're trying to do it the Mandriva way on a gentoo machine...

Yes, Linux can be very easy if you took a lil' lesson to learn how to use it. Sometimes Linux is even userfriendlier.

However, about Red Hat 7 and Red Hat 9, is because one is using the 2.2.x series (7.0) and one is using the 2.4.x series (9.0). However this has been resolved between 2.4.x and 2.6.x. You can run 2.6.x programs on 2.4.x and vice versa.

xboxrulz

The only reason I will use linux is because I don't want to be ripped off with windows. I saw (in a computer shop) Microsoft Office Student Edition going for over R1000 (around $166). Where is a student who is probably working night-shift, supposed to come up with that sort of money? And another thing: if people don't like linux they can code it themselves - problem solved.

Well I'm a new linux user (kubuntu 6.10) and after two weeks of pulling my hair, I can finally say that now I can use Linux for almost everything I did in XP. I managed to install real player, opera and vlc player which really made linux much more pleasant for me. However I've started hating google (no picasa, no gtalk) and find myself going back to xp for web development. The real reason for me to go the linux way was Vista. I tried it and found it didn't live up to expectations and then I saw Beryl + XGL on a friend's comp and I knew then and there that I was gonna install Linux on my pc.