Linux won't ever be the desktop OS of choice unless it's easy for average users. I'm running Ubuntu Feisty, and it's been a wrestling match to configure it the way I want.
Take my struggle to get my Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 working with it. I did my initial install using the onboard graphics card (no HDMI to VGA converter :P.) When I switched the graphics option in the BIOS to "AUTO" to enable the card, Ubuntu wouldn't boot!
After about 10 hours or so of searching online (and a couple patches less of hair), I finally found this thread on ubuntuforums. I had to do lots of weird configurations to make it work just right.
So now Ubuntu uses my graphics card. So I went to turn on the ultra cool desktop effects...CRAP!!! With the desktop effects enabled, all title bars disappeared! Oh, Ubuntu's telling me that they're experimental. That's disappointing. Oh well...here's hoping it's fixed in the next update. (Gloomy Goldfish?)
Anyway, I'll finally get to my point. With Linux, there's a catch-22: The difficulty of configuring it makes me love using it. I'm extremely pleased with myself that I got it working. And by association, I love Linux even more now. Linux is fun to us geeks because it's not friendly.
But its user-non-friendliness is precisely what will always drive standard users away from it. It can either appeal to tinkering geeks like me, or it can appeal to standard users. It can't be both.
Now come along and prove me wrong, Google OS!
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