Walter Mossberj, one of my favourite columnists, writes this week on the type of users whom the Apple Mac is suited for. It would be good to do a similar article for Linux. That probably won’t happen, because most of the world has given up on using a Linux desktop.
There’s the world which can afford to pay for it, and then there’s the world which just pirates it. Either way, its Windows everywhere. So, the solution is not to just create another OS, but to change the game from the hardware side. Think disruptively about dramatically reducing the cost of the system on which the OS runs, and then create an OS for that low-cost hardware. That will make people stand up and take notice. That is what creates a new market. That is what we want to do with the Thin Client-Thick Server approach. That is the opportunity for Linux on the Desktop. This market doesn’t exist today, but will be at least 500 million (the current installed base of PCs and Windows) by 2007.
