I left Bolzano back for Munich this morning. Here are a few quick thoughts on the Linux Desktop.

• Every year I read four or five magazine articles claiming that this year will be “The Year of the Linux Desktop.” Every article so far has been wrong, but I’m starting to think that this year and coming years will be “The Year that Millions of Users Switched to Linux and Didn’t Even Realize.” After Dave Richard’s talk last year in Boston, I realized that there are some governments and large offices using Linux, but I just didn’t grasp how many. This past week I spoke to a few people about the topic, including Sebastian Faubel, a few employees of the South Tyrol Free Software Center, and others. All of them spoke about the push to switch to FOSS for financial reasons and how Linux is now being used in places that one would never expect.
• If we want this year to be the year of the Linux then we need to start developing differently. Linux needs to stop being the domain of geeks. We need to start targeting older users who are intimidated by computers. This means that we need to stop making assumptions about what users do and don’t understand. We need to focus on simplicity and usability.
• It’s a critical moment right now. As crazy as it sounds, lets stop focusing on 99% of all computer users. Sure, they’re important- and we definitely shouldn’t do anything to stop them from switching- but they’ve already had their “Year of the Linux Desktop.” Lets focus on the remaining 1% of all computers- some of the computers found, lets say, in government offices. We can get Linux installed on them if we develop with those computers in mind.