I had used Linux on and off for a few years until last year when I decided to try out Ubuntu (7.04 at the time) and fell in love with the ease of use. I haven't tried Red Hat since about 2001 so I'm sure it has changed a lot, but back then it was really complicated...at least for me since I had used Windows since 3.1 and so the learning curve was pretty obvious.

I used Ubuntu exclusively for about a year...I did a hard switch and forced myself to learn it...lol. Then recently after building a new system I made it a dual boot of (at first) Vista Ultimate x64 and Ubuntu 7.10 64-bit and found Vista to run smooth (with full effects), but it wouldn't support my All in one printer (Lexmark 6150)...at least not fully. The nag screen people complain about so much really wasn't that bad since Ubuntu does the same thing and it was nice to know that at least the OS was paying attention to what was going on rather than just anything install in the background. In Ubuntu printer is a paperweight as well so I figured I'd install Windows to use it (I don't print too much, but like to scan). Vista limited my scanning to 300 dpi and so I "downgraded?" to XP Pro and now I have full functionality :)

I've heard a lot of good things about Fedora 9 (haven't personally tried it) and then there is also Ubuntu that make great desktop OS's for almost everything. So just because Red Hat has given up doesn't mean Linux has...Red Hat isn't Linux...it's just another distro so I find the title really misleading. Maybe it should be "Red Hat Submits to Windows Desktop Dominance" since there are plenty of other (in my oppinion...better) distros out there.

Red Hat and Novell don't give a crap about the Mobile OS. They are in the enterprise business, and that's where they'll stay. It's going to take the manufacturers to promote linux on their hardware before it's any popular. Sure, Vista won't run on the mobile platform, but no one knows that there is an alternative.

Like I've said before, Linux is unknown to most people, and when it becomes known, that's when we'll see it penetrate the Desktop market. It's ignorant for you to say Linux is submitting to Windows. It's not. It's actually better and more popular than it has ever been. So please do your research before blogging nonsense.

WHen will people stop whining about Vista? It's been over a year.

I agree. vista is not bad at all. It's a good OS. yes it takes good hardware, but if you don't have it already, you need to upgrade anyways.

"but if you don't have it already, you need to upgrade anyways. "

the 512/1gb requirement is a joke. you need 1.5gb - 2.5gb to get a decent performance

Red Hat and Novell are both SERVER companies. They don't care about desktop space...calling on them to jump into a market they aren't even involved in just because Windows Vista sucks is short cited and smacks of your inability to see the forest for the trees.

Upgrading to Vista mean you need new hardware. Window XP doesn't really eat up much resources like Vista do. So to keep the existing hardware you either use Window XP or migrate to Linux which is the cheaper alternative if you can live without the eye candy on Window.

Since this post started RedHat started pushing systems that can manage 10K thin client desktops. Novell and IBM are doing the same. GNU/Linux is mainstream on business desktops now. These guys are distributing desktop GNU/Linux because their customers want it.

see http://www.redhat.com/rhel/desktop/

see http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/28649.wss

see http://www.novell.com/solutions/enterprise-linux-desktops/

2009 was the year GNU/Linux became mainstream on the desktop in business. Everyone takes it seriously. Small business and consumers may still have limited choices because of lack of expertise/manpower/resources but that should change in 2010 with the explosion of ARM and netbook devices and thin clients. The cost per-seat just keeps going down with GNU/Linux and the cost per-seat keeps going up with that other OS.