The abject failure of Linux on the desktop

I remember back in the 80s hearing how UNIX on the desktop was the future but I didn’t understand what it meant until the late 90s when I first started dabbling in Linux. By the end of the 20th century, I was running SuSE Linux with KDE on X and I thought this really had a future once they’d ironed out the parts only a geek could love. Then I got MacOSX Public Beta and the rest is history.

Back then, before MacOSX 10.0 was released, there was much discussion as to whether or not Apple would release it with Terminal.app as part of the standard install. This scared me as I had transitioned my career to being a Sysadmin and I knew I needed a command line to manage remote servers and run local shell stuff. Looking back, this was the moment that Linux was doomed as a Desktop OS. Never would a distro get to the point that serious consideration was given to simply not shipping a terminal.

Linux is the best choice of OS for servers, hands down, and I’ve built a career installing, maintaining and managing these servers. However, on the desktop, it’s a fractured mess. The GUI is … let me rephrase, the GUIs are all hacks on top of patches on top of cludges. I remember hours of hacking XF86Config just to add a bloody mouse, so I seriously hope the X.org system works better. I know a lot of work is being put into making it easier, but almost every install story I hear involves command-line hackery of one kind or another.

In this respect, I have been shouting this claim for years, and think it may be too late. Still, here is my challenge to the Linux Communities if they want Linux to ever succeed on the desktop:

Linux will only ever succeed as a Desktop Operating System if it can ship without a terminal.

I’m not saying that it shouldn’t have a terminal, but that it could ship without one. Until that happens, it’s always going to be a geek’s toy.