Tag Archives: Products

Why Desktop Linux Will Not Take off

I am getting a new computer and will use Ubuntu (a Linux flavor) as the operating system. I find this article interesting though I don’t necessarily agree. I think there is a decent chance that desktop Linux will take off in the next 3 years. Why Desktop Linux Will Not Take off, and Why You Don’t Want It to, Average computer buyers:

worst nightmare after melting in a lava pit might be to have to compare between distributions, desktops, window managers, file browsers, web browsers, mail clients, instant messaging clients, music players and movie players before they could do anything with their brand new desktop computer—or before they had a mental breakdown.

the Linux desktop has been designed and implemented by technology enthusiasts, for technology enthusiasts. If they were to seriously try to make it appealing to the masses, the effort would collapse halfway because they would be dismayed by the result. My take is that things are just fine the way they are, and the Linux desktop for Dummies an utopia.

The option is for a cover to be placed over the operating system that is easy for most to use. That is what Apple does. And that is what Ubuntu does (and Ubuntu is free). For me the likelihood of Linux desktop taking off is great especially when you consider how many of the new desktops will be placed in India, China, Brazil…

Related: Give Children a Computer and Stand Back – $100 Laptops for the World

Large-Scale, Cheap Solar Electricity

Photo of solar sheet manufacturing

Large-Scale, Cheap Solar Electricity by Kevin Bullis

This week, Nanosolar, a startup in Palo Alto, CA, announced plans to build a production facility with the capacity to make enough solar cells annually to generate 430 megawatts. This output would represent a substantial portion of the worldwide production of solar energy.

According to Nanosolar’s CEO Martin Roscheisen, the company will be able to produce solar cells much less expensively than is done with existing photovoltaics because its new method allows for the mass-production of the devices. In fact, maintains Roscheisen, the company’s technology will eventually make solar power cost-competitive with electricity on the power grid.

Nanosolar also announced this week more than $100 million in funding from various sources, including venture firms and government grants. The company was founded in 2001 and first received seed money in 2003 from Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Information on the nanotechnology involved from the Nanosolar site.