Maybe the reason why we can’t get any traction with desktop Linux is because so many of the people using it don’t even know it. For example, Android users hardly ever know their smartphone or tablet runs on top of the Linux kernel, they just know they’re using Android. Tell them it’s Linux and the only reply you’ll get is a deer-in-the-headlights stare.
That never bothered me much because I figure that mobile users aren’t very likely to want to mimic their mobile experience on their laptops or desktops anyway. I can also understand why Google doesn’t do handstands to associate their OS with Tux, since Linux has an outdated reputation as a hard to use operating system that’s best left in the hands of geeks. The average shopper at the Verizon store is just looking for an easy to use phone with lots of useful apps available. Besides, Android doesn’t look or act like any other flavor of Linux, since there’s nothing GNU there (pun intended).
Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux