Asking the wrong questions

Every so often, someone will ask me ‘is Linux ready for the desktop?’. The implication of this is that there is some consensus that whilst GNU/Linux has established credentials in the server market, it isn’t suitable for desktop use.

But these are the wrong questions.

When someone asks ‘is Linux ready for the desktop?’, they are asking ‘can Linux do all the things my existing OS can do?’, ‘will it work well with all my existing hardware?’, ‘will it open Microsoft Office documents?’, ‘will it feel familiar to me?’…

The answer to these questions is ‘probably not’. Your GNU/Linux system will probably work with most of your hardware, but not all of it. Your Microsoft Office documents will open in OpenOffice, but maybe some functionality wont work, maybe it won’t look the same. The desktop environment will probably not work as you expect it to, it might feel different.

But these are the wrong questions.

When someone asks ‘is Linux ready for the desktop?’, they are asking ‘is Linux a usable operating system?’, ‘is it accessible?’, ‘is it visually appealing?’…

The answer to these questions is ‘probably not’. If you use the ‘right’ desktop environment, and the ‘right’ software, and have things configured properly, and the system is a good fit for how you think, then a GNU/Linux system can be a usable, accessible, delightful user experience, but it isn’t always.

But these are the wrong questions.

The point is that GNU/Linux is different. It is different to Microsoft Windows, it is different Mac OS X, it can do different things, and works in a different way. GNU/Linux will work with different hardware to your existing system, it will sometimes perform better. It will open documents that are different to Microsoft Office documents, and sometimes these documents will look better. The desktop environment will look and feel different, and sometimes it will be more usable.

When someone asks ‘is Linux ready for the desktop?’, they are really asking ‘can Linux do all the things I can already do with my existing system?’. The answer to this question will always be ‘no’. If you want to use all your existing software, with your existing hardware and keep using the same applications, then you don’t need Linux. It doesn’t matter if it is ready for the Desktop, because you don’t need it.

So is Linux ready for the desktop?

The real answer is: ‘who cares?’ There are many interesting questions to ask about Linux, and this just isn’t one of them.