- Linux still cannot compete on desktop. Much larger competitor to MS is OSX, and even then MS does programs for Mac too.
For me it competes pretty well. I used Linux desktop (Gnome on Fedora) both on my desktop and laptop. After the web era I never need a Windows OS for any reason. I don't say Windows is obsolete, of course it has niche stuff for some people. But it's non-sense to say Linux can't compete on desktop. I have to say that using a Gnome desktop (and I'm sure KDE is on par) is a lot easier than using Windows' interface. That's even true for those got used to Windows way of doing things. Currently Linux desktop is best of both worlds, they get useful concepts from MacOSX or Windows, and it gets mature and mature every day due to open source nature, and beats on stability thanks to Linux. Application support is pretty decent and has all the recent technologies on desktop from 3d acceleration to smart network integration.
Desktop on Linux is improving in a lot faster pace than Windows even Mac, but I don't understand why people keep spreading 'Linux can't compete on desktop' FUD. I got money to pay for Windows, and I actually paid for Windows several times without using it on my computer purchases, (so what market share are we talking about?) and even though I'm not a Free Software purist, I find Linux Desktop much more productive than Windows all the time.
Maybe year of Linux on desktop joke will never get old, but that doesn't change the fact that Linux was on my desktop for years.
Memory fault - where am I?