Ok, so it took a while, but I think I had an epiphany.  How many posts do we read about that lament "Sooner or later, Linux will be the big cheese, el numero uno, A number 1, the top dog"?

Too many, but I say, now, after about 1 year as a total convert, this is wrong.  Linux will never be number one.  Not "like Windows is", anyway.  But, why would I utter such hypocracy just as certain bastions of the Linux community seem poised to grab center stage (not to mention a good portion of market share)?  Simple, I realized something quite special about Linux, that I should have understood all along.  Likely, most Linux users can relate to this realizaton, there's not just one flavor PC.

Sounds almost ludicrous, doesn't it?  Of course, there's not just one flavor of PC, so why would any one OS or worse yet, any one setup be optimal for everything?  The same sanity we all use in applying laptop information to the uninformed "Well, the ultimate laptop is diffeent, are you looking to just do email and simple web browsing, are you a hard core gamer, or are you looking for an entertainment powerhouse, or ease of portability"?

You see, all these questions beg different answers.  Sure, someone that can put all their eggs in one basket, spend a ton of maney, can make a very great and very costly gamer machine that can really perform well at about anything you throw at it.  Most of us wish to better focus our resources regarding costs to needs.  I don't do games, not in a gamer's sense, anyway.  I really don't much care for 3D, but don't even think of prying GUI from my cold hands...

So, I save my money, and spend my treasure elsewhere.  Linux is just like that, and that's why it can be just so satisfying as an OS.  Because there ARE different flavors.  Years ago, I loved Mandrake.  I was impressed how functional and easy it was to have a working running system on my laptop.  For the basic email and web browsing, it filled my needs of the time.

A year back, I was smitten with Ubuntu.  Such polish, functionality and ease of use.  It's still much more mind-centric to my current idea of what a OS should look like and perform like than anything else I have seen.  Mainly due to ease of use, though, I have came again to a changing point, and Debian is my current resting point. 

What I have, is a PC that does everything I want.  Fairly fast to downright spry, I enjoy the lack of a lack of response I was becoming accoustomed to from "Windoze".  But more than anything, I want a PC where everything I need just works.  And once I have it working, it just keeps working.  No filling up all the cache till it's crawling, no spyware to fight for CPU resources, no dribble I don't need or want, just a fully functioning PC.  As Charlie Brown would say "That's It!!!"

Now that you have your chair back under you, can you also see why Linux will never really become MS?  The community of Linux is about empowerment OVER the machine.  Windoze is a wonderfully remarkable foray into almost getting what you want, but accepting what others wish you to understand if the going gets rough.  With Linux, if Debian isn't right for you, try Mandrake, or Ubuntu, or Fedora, or SUSE or...  I don't think any one of them needs to be any bigger or stronger or wipe out the fleglings or anything like that.  I think they will all grow, because they all empower the individual, hence the experience is enhanced. 

I do believe the horizon is currently tilted, but as the world turns, that axis will reset, to a more equal and even distribution.  Do we as a Linux community really wish to take all our collective power for the good of all, and compile it into the deeds of one OS?  Not likely, that sort of runs against our grain.  So, don't fret that we don't "overtake" MS as the number one operating system, instead, focus on ensuring we meet our ideals, not some other organization's desires.

To the community...

ezsurfer