Winning Strategies for Linux Desktop

There has been a lot of debate over several blogs on why Linux desktop would score over others and why would it not. The discussion is undoubtedly going to last long. The Linux desktop has also undergone many a polls, criticisms and appreciations alongside. Unique features and robustness over old hardware along with performance benchmarks that this desktop provides has always led to Linux enthusiasts being very optimistic about the advantages of the same and is a reason for a strong belief in the operating system.

Few strategies and tips that make Linux desktop score over others and compete in the target segment include the following cases;

• Windows and Mac have had a strong hand in the community of novice user as well as designers over a long period of time and it would take Linux community to put in quite an effort to score over them in the all purpose category. The smart thing to do here would be to measure up where these desktops lack, measure up the grey areas and build a desktop which serves these niche usages. That is what distributions like Ubuntu are doing today.
• Most Linux desktops aim at casual computer users to use and get acquainted to it. However, targeting certain features and performance bottlenecks shall help getting more Linux fans, be it computers or mobile applications. The key lies in selecting a particular target market and delivering the best to them in order to satisfy and surpass the expectations of these users.
• To get Windows users move their baggage to Linux club, a Linux desktop should ideally be designed considering the extensive features such as hibernate, sleep, power saving options and instant on/off options. Another important feature which Linux takes care of is the battery life of a laptop while running a Linux distro.
• The form factor is another front which needs to be changed and worked on really well for the Linux desktop to succeed. It should be different from a generic laptop in more than one way. Key things to work is to change the perception people have towards GNU/Linux by highlighting features which make it stand apart and taking care of issues which create a dilemma in a user’s mind to switch to a free operating system for any good.
• The pricing strategies for the same need to be spot on. May be at times, the free factor suppresses the value of the product. Often, it is better to serve a niche and be the leader than try and imitate features of a different operating system which has a higher follower count. The aim should be to make it of being more value to the users and if this makes a distro a paid affair, the value for money shall be quantifiable.

I found that Joe Brockmeier phrases the entire scenario very precisely. He says that the three important things that Linux desktop actually needs are applications, multimedia and polish. These three things have it in them to add more value to the users. The Linux desktop more than anything else needs an extensive support of its die hard proponents which will be helpful in creating a buzz and hence serve the purpose by establishing a strong word of mouth.