kdeAt the end of last month Kool Desktop Environment (KDE) announced the release of version 4.2 and the best way to get it is with Kubuntu. Pretty much everyone knows about Ubuntu as it has been featured everywhere including the New York Times.
Kubuntu is the little brother of Ubuntu that features the KDE interface and while it may not be the most popular it does have a very loyal fan base. KDE has now been around for more than 11 years since it was first introduced on October 14 1996.
I have personally been a user of KDE on and off since about 1997 and always found it to be a pretty comparable to the Windows interface. It makes it more comfortable for users to switch from Windows to Linux with as little trouble as possible.
KDE vs. Windows 7
Now with Windows 7 coming out there have been a lot of comparisons between it and KDE 4 claiming that Microsoft stole a lot of KDE’s ideas. ZDNet Australia decided that they would even try to pass off KDE as Windows 7 in demonstrations to customers. Basically what they found is that customers like it simple and have no idea what Windows 7 or KDE looks like.
All of this is good for KDE for one rather large reason, exposure. It has always been in the background shadowed by other interfaces but now it is starting to come into it’s own and getting the exposure that it really needs. You can use it with any flavor of Linux and even Windows but by far the best distribution is Kubuntu.
Ubuntu over the last couple of years has been taken for granted by the old-school Linux community as they see it as too “simple”. But isn’t that point of it? Canonical the guys behind Ubuntu have struck gold by making the first distribution of Linux that normal people can use and love. KDE added on to it then makes it even more simple and beautiful.
Enterprise Possibilities
One of the biggest reasons that enterprises have stuck with Windows for their workstations is learning curve. Training takes time and money, both of which can be difficult to extract especially in today’s economy. But one of the most time consuming aspects of any operating system switch is the time it takes to configure the new OS images to deploy to the workstations. But with Windows 7 coming isn’t that time that will need to be spent either way?
In the last couple of weeks Microsoft has been pushing for enterprises to really dig into their pockets and upgrade to Windows Vista so they are ready for Windows 7 when it is released. The Ubuntu community should be pushing this same message right now so they don’t miss the boat on this one. They can tag along and use some of Microsoft’s own marketing dollars to benefit themselves.
Linux is extremely customizable especially the Ubuntu/Kubuntu distribution. Many IT departments love to lock down machines and make it difficult for users to change anything. Switching to Linux is an excellent way to do that as most users are not familiar enough with it to screw anything up. The spyware and virus risk is also substantially reduced if not non-existent. Malware is a huge time waster for IT departments right now as they continuosly have to re-image machines to ignorant users “click OK on everything” mentality.
Learning Curve Opportunity
With all of these new operating systems coming in and impacting everyone isn’t there going to be a learning curve either way? The vast majority of users today are using Windows XP but in the next year with Windows 7 being released there will be a massive switch to Windows 7 which is basically a service packed Windows Vista. But everything is in how you spin it and Microsoft is spinning Windows 7 correctly and people will buy it.
All of this however comes back to a huge opportunity for Kubuntu. With it being visually appealing and to be honest much simpler than Windows 7, they need to be advertising it with everything they have. If they can get it into more peoples hands their popularity will open up and maybe even make an opportunity for themselves in the enterprise market. If they are able to get consumers comfortable with it they could start to make that push into the enterprise market and win over users by droves.
It’s All About Simplicity
At this point in the operating system market it is all about simplicity. People are realizing that when an OS such as Windows Vista is complicated (sorry but Windows 7 is too complicated as well) they lose time and only get frustrated. KDE is simple and just needs that media attention to bring it into customers hands.
Windows 7 might be loved by the Geeks of the world but they have not had to start supporting it yet. When they do I have a feeling that the love is going to fade pretty quick. It’s overly complicated and not getting any simpler. Microsoft is not listening to those that say KISS or Keep It Simple Stupid but it looks like the guys at both Kubuntu and Ubuntu have been listening.
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