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Linux on the Desktop

News.com ran a story today titled Plugging the Linux holes, which discusses how there are some serious problems with missing apps in Linux that make it difficult for some/many users to switch.

The article touched on the big three app gaps: Tax software (Quicken, Intuit), games and Photoshop.

A good cursory overview of what we've all read about before; nothing remarkable, really.

However, one sentence caught my eye:

I just don't agree with this. There are three issues, to me:

• Photoshop is a killer app. While GIMP has some tools that Photoshop doesn't have (or are part of the not-yet-integrated ImageReady), such as batching, it's not Photoshop. And until that Photoshop functionality is there, it's going to be a tough sell.


• People don't like learning: This is where OpenOffice has done well - while the interface is a little clunkier than MS Office, it's similar enough. The GIMP, however, is different enough to scare folks off. This is huge, even though it seems trivial. Mozilla is - again - enough like IE with a slightly different look (but very similar functionality - type in address and page displays) - to not scare the average user.


• I'm not sure about the whole GIMP installation process, but I think PSD support is a plug-in. WTF? What's a plug-in? Where do I plug it? How do I use it? Translation: Until GIMP supports PSDs [quasi-]natively or the GIMP becomes the de facto standard Photoshop is today, it's going to get beat up by Photoshop. Really. Not for the average Linux user - who, today, is pretty geeked out - at least. But we (the few, the pimpled, the Geek) are not the real target of the desktop Linux supporters: The non-geeks (in other words, the masses) are desired, as they are the largest group, and they haven't been convinced yet.

My two cents.