lol, i'd +1 funny your post if i could. you certainly have a way around trashtalk. its actually quite funny the way you write it. you also seem to have an unhealthy relation with piss possibly? :-)

how to get linux widely adopted as a desktop solution.

i have been using both windows and linux for some time and i have to say im not ready to switch 100% because of the lack of quality apps but also that linux just can't match some of the things in windows that are very handy and very easy: such as remote desktop. its so easy to use and so handy. with linux, i still struggle getting a vnc connection run smooth, stable and easily. also, linux just isn't as convivial. windows and linux are exact opposite: windows is a gui first and a patchwork command line second. linux is a solid command line first and gui second. so long as people still HAVE to know about manually editing the configuration file and such you know that linux won't be going mainstream. its getting better though. so, how to fix the desktop? well, to begin with, make the desktop itself a managed experience that doesn't require the least bit of command line.

second, in my opinion, the way to fix the linux desktop is by making people want to switch to linux, use whatever mcguffin that works... gaming is one of them, get good games on linux and not thru wine! once people (young first) starts spending $$$ on linux games, the rest of the industry will follow, they just go where there is good money to be made after all. facebook and smartphones have this in common that they benefited from games to expand. perhaps linux could have a unique twist on its app store?

Third, make it clear that not all software on linux needs to be open sourced. Free (and more importantly, open) just isn't a model that works for most private companies yet, so if they cannot sell their software on the linux platform, they just won't go. Most people associate linux to free and open source, so if they want to develop a software they intend to sell, linux is not the obvious choice.

Fourth and not least, stop the elitism. Granted, Linux communities have evolved but it is at least still composed of 50-50 between genuinely helpful people and those thinks newbs are simply intruding on their turf, are clueless and stupid - even on help communities. Because, again, not everyone has an interest in getting up close and personal with sudo, nano, ls and chmod many help request end up with very common replies such as "Search the forums" or "man up".

On a closing note, given all this, i think the linux community needs to answer this question: do you really want to be mainstream? Is it in Linux's best interest to become even more popular /user friendly, going this road obviously leads to a heavier OS, more complex, more bug-prone... I think linux's popularity to those that can handle it is the level of control it provides and inherent's security model. As linux works toward mainstream acceptance, its going to have to let go of some control precisely, to the detriment of its original user base. is this what linux wants?

lol. out of ideas for a good rant on this fine day are you?

surely the name of the OS matters less than its performance and ratings in general.

i couldnt possibly care less for the name, except for a good joke on it, they might as well have called it pissful penguin and make for some controversy.

you know, that would be a very cool thing to see (or do!)

well, i agree with your postting, but i dont think you're right on what RIM's main problem is/was.

RIM suffered from executive indecision. they just couldn't agree on what the playbook should be like, what features it should sport. Aim to sweep the young adults market or focus on pleasing its already existing business clientele. Ultimately they went for middle ground and they failed because 1. Their first version arrived almost at the same time as the ipad SECOND generation arrived, almost withing the same month. and 2. they failed because the device isn't competitive enough for the ipad, so forget mass consumer market and the device failed to meet the business clientele market and they failed there too.

Mostly, i would wager that RIM would have made it out alive if they had entered the race within the same month or two as the first ipad. people wouldn't have had expectations of what a proper tablet should be and mass consumer market could have been swayed either way. i think ipad still would have come out ahead, but perhaps RIM wouldn't have bitten the dust so hard.

There is still hope for RIM and their playbook if they decide to remain in the tablet business. It remains the only tablet certified with the FIPS-140-2 (encryption) standard, and therefore makes it the best tablet for business models. But they got to screw their heads tight and stop trying to get both markets. Their new playbook 2.0 os has potential, the support for android as well. modifying their Blackberry enterprises software (bes) to support android, blackberry and itunes is a move that very well could save them.

RIM's not done yet, but clearly their boat is heading toward the niagara falls (they're canadians, get it?? :p) so they need to make their next decisions right.

I agree, but to play devil's advocate i would reply:

in pretty much the same way people can actually defend creationism vs evolution. in spite of all the scientifical artifacts, findings and proofs pointing toward one direction.

men will find deeply defend what they think must be true, despite all evidences.

What's keeping me on windows. almost everything. And get me right, i really really want to get off windows, I've tried at least three times to convert completely from windows for i've always had to revert for a reason or another, but it is unfortunately still the best OS (for my needs) at the moment.

What works with windows that others don't (have as good as):
* broad industry support
* (recent and cool) games
* De facto standard for office files,
* In the general sense, there's always a software to help me do what I'm trying to do that i can download, it may be clunky, or expensive or whatever, but the fact remains that for whatever i want to do, there's an app for it (not wanting to steal someone's line)
* broadest hardware support
* Windows Media Center. Not perfect, but the easiest and free for live TV with recording and integration of all other media types. (if only we could have netflix and internet tv in it now... I'm in canada)

What i don't like with windows (but gotta live with):
* Most targeted platform for cyber-attacks
* constant security flaws
* the price of windows is ridiculous, how they sell their "windows upgrade" cheaper but doesn't let you do a clean install. You would think that upgrade would mean thanking you for buying all other versions so you'd get the next one half-off.
* having to reboot when i install a software, or almost with any configuration change
* having to mess-up with codecs

What others do right (namely Ubuntu and Mint):
* Making the linux transition easier
* nicely priced
* fair hardware support
* power to the user
* generally more secure than windows (inherently but also because there's much less people trying to hack it up)

What they do wrong:
* Irritating linux users that keeps saying RTFM, to "man" it or "google it" when googling is what led you to the site where you are asking as question. (and i need to say this the community is maturing but where it gets ugly is when you have a difficult problem (for a converted windows user) and you end-up having to talk to hard-core dudes that know linux in and out and have utterly no patience for my ignorance) or when your question thread gets closed because you didn't post the the right sub-forum?
* Giving you the ability to completely screw up your entire system without you knowing what you just did (like a single missing digit, typo or wrong path in a chmod command. Get me right, i love the ability to go in terminal and edit stuff and tweak it but if you're going to be a windows-user friendly OS, do expect the worst from me and give me a "history" or "tracker" where i can rollback if i do screw-up.
* Not quite linux-related but Open Office is not capable of handling all MS Word files as nicely and since MS Office is still the standard in the world out there, it makes it difficult to operate with confidence that everyone will read your files as intended.
* Video drivers. I know, its not exactly linux's fault but they're still missing and i still gotta fight to get 3D on my desktop, not acceptable in 2011.
* Making things more complex than it has to sometimes (grub2!)

ok, so i admit that some of these items are just me having had a bad experience and perhaps does not reflect the broader opinion. However, one thing remains, Linux and Co. is not ready for Families with the daddies, the mommies and kiddies who just want to convert videos, browse the web, book an appointment, play the Dora the explorer game with Flash! Its almost there, its getting there but there's always *something* that itches to be fixed.

The downside of open-source software is that generally speaking, you're on your own. you have the community to help you but only so long as someone is willing to take the time to answer your question. i understand how irritating some people may be with their silly questions POSTS IN CAPS and general cluelessness, but in the end, the community's frustration is reflected even on people that did try to find the answer and did google and did post logs, etc. and that gets irritating too. There needs to be a website or something to receive paid, on-demand support. Here's 20$, now SSH on my PC and help me figure out why its not working right, lets call it Cloud Debugging, or Debugging-as-a-service (DaaS!)

Anyway, hopefully i haven't set the entiry /. community in an uproar, some people will most likely not agree in part or completely with me but that'll just be because we don't come from the same background, what I've stated here represents my experience as i reflected on what caused me to convert back TO windows again.

Like everybody said, now would be a good time to seek a new job.

My advice would be to take it to the next level and it has been my path. I've been a programmer for most of my career and at some point it started feeling bland, re-hashed, always the same thing, in different color, like you, ive always been pretty decent at my job but it really came to a point where i didn't give a crap. lots a thinking after i realized that its not that my job was boring or that i wasn't being challenged but rather that i had changed as a person and programming didn't feel so compelling. i would still love software design in general, but my programming cup was full.

so my advice? move up the ladder my friend, start seeking to be a software architect, all design, no code, or whatever branch related to software. all you need is to find something that your job as let you dabble with while not being your official functions. Then you take that, whip it up in a resume and there you go, you can now be a software architect, or database modeler, sharepoint designer even, whatever fits your book.

oop sorry, me no anonymous coward, just a forgot-to-login bastard.

Thank you for suggesting genocide as a long term solution to overpopulation and pollution and earth's warming. its good to know that good ole techniques still works. and you know, while we're at it, let's also celebrate the fact that we could all go back to IPv4 since there would be enough IP for all inhabitants of the world to have a static ip. im sure we can think of a long list of other positive side effects to genocide.

why, you clap your hands of course.

welcome in the world of he 10% of people trying to resist mass media manipulation. truth of the matter is that many people who just want to be kept up to date on whats going on in the world prefer to be spoonfed and be told what to believe, blindly thinking that media are impartial.

i manage to avoid most of the crap by simply stopping bearing credibility to medias such as pop radio and private tv channels like ABC for instance, i prefer (in my canadian case) sticking to CBC radio and television that have a much more impartial mandate.

i see what you did there.

I think this just goes to show the dual morality of entities such as the government when even they wont frown on hiring hackers to protect their interest despite all the government laws, motions and acts layed by said government to stop those said hackers when they're not working for them.

Go wikileaks! not that we had any doubts that shit is taking place just about everyday, but its nice to have some proof and poor some clear water into that mud pool.

i dont know about that. having a storyline is part of success factors but its only one ingredient.

one very recent proof is Heavy Rain, as stated by the OP, is a very engaging story and very movie like. but just that wouldnt have been enough. the controls were right, camera angles werent tedious, close to no bugs. all in all its a polished game and thats what makes or breaks a game.

What about WoW? across all the MMOs out there, those that were there before, those that are still here today, what makes them good or bad? Blizzard observed what makes a good MMO and concentrated on just that, its hard to spell out what it does that others dont, it does the same thing, just better, more polished.

BioWare. same thing. In the action rpg style, they're the masters.

i dont think its really fair to pitch Asteroids or Pac man in the lot beacuse they're from a very different era were it was just about getting more points or doing the same thing but faster!

I think the real recipe to a good game is taking a genre, observing what makes it interesting and capitalize on that. The experience of the maker in that genre will also play in the success or failure.

in my opinion its about going for a developer that knows its stuff in the genre, find the key players in the genre. thats how you're going to find really good games. And thats not to say they're the only ones, emerging genre like Minecraft are really great. But if its Insurance of Quality you want, stick to the leaders of the pack.