While most of you points are valid, I have trouble believing that Windows users “Trust” windows. I use Windows, but I do not trust it any more then any other operating system. It’s not a matter of trust. It is a matter of comfort, not trust. They have used Windows in the past and stick with it because thats what they know.

Also, “unanticipated flaws”? In my opinion, Windows will have just as many unanticipated flaws (maybe not flaws, but more “Why the heck?”) than a different operating system.

Those are my only complaints, your other points are very true. Compatibility, Windows only software, and the fear of the unknown are the major barriers. But I see casual computer users (Email, word processor, internet, and the occasional game) start switching before the corporate workforce. They don’t have to deal with evaluating or testing, only transitioning (which, according to what read, is not that hard).

I was a windows user since the beginning. This year my year to stay completely away from windows. I looked at many option to see if i could do it. My first choice was Ubuntu, best decision that i have ever made. I have yet to have a problem. and have yet to experience “unanticipated flaws”. Does everything Windows does only faster, smarter, better. Linux will rule the day, well maybe not but as long as it take out Apple i know i will be happy.

NO.

Windows is too entrenched.

A billion Windows PC’s boot everyday without issues, deal with it.
Even if Windows had zero bugs/issues/security flaws people would still look for the “alternative”.

People tend to prefer the devil they know (in this case XP) to the devil they don’t. That will work against a switch.

XP volume license agreements will probably also slow the switch. My company doesn’t plan on shifting to Vista in the foreseeable future, but they won’t have to switch to Linux because they plan to keep installing XP on all of the new machines. I don’t know if all license agreements are like that, but if they are I suspect most companies are going to just ride with XP as long as it is supported. Now if Microsoft does something incredibly stupid like not renewing XP agreements or jacking up to Vista pricing then the switch to Linux would be a lot more attractive.

Personal Example of a reason to switch

Windows is a great OS, but to be honest, I find myself stealing to much when I use Windows. I would get a ripped copy of Windows XP or Vista. then I would get ripped software for DVD Burning, Photo editing, you name it (don’t forget winzip). I would have justification for it too: ” I already bought Nero and lost the serials, I’m entitled to a hacked serial.”

I can only imagine what the total software cost would be.

Since Using Ubuntu Linux full time this has stopped and I have thrown out all those crappy old versions of hacked software. Its funny cause friends assume that since I work in IT that I have software just laying around for them.

Nope..

And for lack of games,(you would think that would be incentive for Corps to swich) I got a wii.

even more.

I noticed something very special the other day. my friend who I setup with Ubuntu last year had a wireless problem with his router. He used to work in IT but has went onto other endeavors. I was able to help him out and fix it, but the amazing thing is, is that he new nothing on how to fix his computer. If you think about this. The reason that he didn’t know how to fix it was because it never needed any maintenance. He would just turn it on and use it. It was a 1gig computer, slightly slow but good enough for him. It was all he needed.

My neighbor, on the other hand, was having some computer problems. I went over to her place and he computer was getting “slower and slower”. She said “I’ve only had this computer for two years and it slowly dying”. Her anti virus was out of date and she told me how he had been defragging it once a month and its still slow. she wanted to know if she needed more ram. And she wanted to know if I had an extra copy of Office. I help helped her a little bit but told her that she needs to re-image and start over. There was just too much crap going on. Her computer was some 2gig Toshiba thing (ugly too).

and it a freaking pride issue too.

Heaven forbid! Someone who’s the big IT MAN at a company look like they don’t know what they are doing. I have never seen so much dragging of the feet and stupid commie comments when my IT group took some Linux classes. To get them to understand the power of using the shell and not using a gui was a failed effort.

Good night

People, stop torturing yourselves! Linux is great for providing network services, but there’s no where near the cohesion needed to move to the desktop. Its not just about MS Office, there are loads of custom applications designed around Windows, that would be prohibitively expensive to migrate to Linux. And think about it: Why would a company spend millions of dollars and years of development and testing to end up where they already are? Linux will have redefine what desktop business computing is before you’ll see large scale adoption in the corporate world.

For home use.

But the problem, as many people pointed out, is that businesses have many custom applications that cannot easily be moved to Linux without the vendor’s help.

But what the vendors probably don’t realize, is that it’s most likely easier to recompile their current .NET application on Linux under Mono than it is to get it to work on Vista. Once companies start figuring this out, they should start offering Linux versions. And once this starts happening, you’ll start to see large-scale migrations away from Windows.

But with SharePoint and other OS-tying technologies, Microsoft will continue to lock many people in, no matter how bad their OS is.

why wouldnt they? it makes people spend more money, c’mon! look back in the past years, microsoft has basically no competition so why wouldnt they?

I have been using Ubuntu for nearly 6 months now. I used to use XP and still keep it running on another family machine because he doesn’t want to switch (not least because some of the websites he needs to use for business won’t function in anything but IE). What I love about Ubuntu is its ease of use even for the ‘beginner geek’. I also use Open Office (have done for 2 years now) I think the main difficulty for people to switch over is simply getting used to something new. The person who said they used windows because it was comfortable was right, I think. It doesn’t take much to learn to use Linux and I love that it’s so much harder to screw things up permanently in it!

yes, open source = less bugs, because anyone can edit the code and “re-submit it”