Ubuntu Plans Eye Candy for Desktop Computers and Beyond

[Dashken]

What would it take to get the hundreds of millions of desktop computer users to switch from Windows to Linux?

Low cost and armies of devoted techies have not been enough. So the people behind Ubuntu—a dialect of Linux— have a new idea: eye candy.
Ubuntu

Wednesday, a new version of Ubuntu—code named Gutsy Gibbon—will be introduced sporting the sort of three dimensional effects that are the trademark of Windows Vista and Apple’s OS X Leopard.

Until now, according to Net Applications, a group that tracks operating system market share, there has been no dramatic uptick recently and Linux desktop share may still be less than one percent.

But there have been recent signs of new life. Dell Computer, for example has begun offering both a desktop and a portable computer with Ubuntu pre-installed as an alternative to Microsoft’s operating systems. At the same time, there are some signs of resistance to Microsoft’s Windows Vista, with some corporations moving back to Windows XP.

Ubuntu, moreover, is looking past computers to other devices that will likely be developed using Linux, said Mark Shuttleworth, the South African entrepreneur — and astronaut — who founded the Ubuntu Linux project in 2004.

“What’s really interesting is that a lot of consumer electronics products that are being designed now are essentially a little PC,” he said in an interview “We’re not there yet, but we’ll be there by mid to late 2009. Your impulse buy will be running Linux.”

“Once you can take that kind of capability and stick it in your pocket, it will get interesting,” he added.

Mr. Shuttleworth, who is also the chief executive of Canonical Ltd., a company that does business by offering service and support for Linux, said he believes the community of people developing Linux can keep up with the major operating systems and even be more innovative. There are about one hundred full time developers for Ubuntu and thousands of part time contributors.

What he’s not certain of is whether three dimensional effects will have any impact on user productivity.

“The really interesting question is whether there will be productivity effects,” he said.

Source: Ubuntu Plans Eye Candy for Desktop Computers and Beyond - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog