What's wrong with Linux?

Windows has more than 90% of the market, OS X has around 6%, and Linux has around 2%. Why is this? Of course, there are numerous reasons, but here's one: Linux just isn't designed for ordinary folk. Well, not so much Linux, but Linux developers write software for Linux developers. Linux users expect everyone to be an expert. As an example, I went to the Flock website recently to get the Flock web browser. It shows everything that's wrong with Linux and why more people don't use it.

Windows installation:
1. Download it.
2. Double click it.

Apple Mac installation:
1. Download it.
2. Double click it.
3. Drag the app to the Applications folder.

Linux installation:
1. Download it.
2. Go back to the website and search the online support for help on installing it. Eventually you'll find an entry in the FAQ that tells you what to do next. Here's what it says, (notice how it starts with "Installing Flock is relatively easy," clearly having no idea what the word 'easy' means):

Installing Flock on Linux is relatively easy. First, download the latest version of Flock and save it to your home folder. Open up a terminal window (not as root) and enter the following:

tar -C /home/yourusername -xzvf flock-*.linux-i686.tar.gz

Make sure you change the actual filename to match the version you have downloaded. This command extracts the contents of the package to your home folder. Now that you have done that, we need a desktop entry:

gedit /home/yourusername/Flock.desktop

You can use your preferred text editor, gedit is being used simply for example. Enter the following in to the new file:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=2.5
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Flock
Comment=Flock Web Browser
Exec="/home/yourusername/flock/flock-browser"
GenericName=Flock Web Browser
Icon=/home/yourusername/flock/icons/mozicon128.png
Path=$HOME/flock
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=false
TerminalOptions=
Type=Application
X-KDE-SubstituteUID=false
X-KDE-Username=
Categories=Network;Application;
GenericName[en_US]=Flock Web Browser

This creates a desktop shortcut to run Flock in your home folder. Feel free to drag it on to your panel or desktop to make it more convenient to access. There you go! You're all set to start using Flock!

This 'easy' Linux installation is only easy for Linux developers and experts. It's really irritating that it's so complicated and it's beyond most people's capabilities and understanding. It's not surprising that Linux only has a 1 or 2% market share when installing software is this difficult. It doesn't have to be this hard and it's worth comparing the installation instructions above to Google Chrome web browser: 1. Download the file. That's it. There isn't even a step 2 because it automatically installs. That's exactly how software should work and Linux won't take off until Linux developers make it easier to install and run their software.