Stardate 20010703.0641 (On Screen): Now that the Revolution ("Up against the wall!") has created a free operating system, the easy part is done. The next job is to get a substantial body of applications running on it, and that effort is running up against the limits of what is possible with volunteer labor.
One of the big problems the Linux effort has had was the huge number of different versions which have spawned over the years. Last time I heard, there were over 200 of them, all of which differed to some degree or other. Unfortunately, they are sufficiently different to make it so that a single installation procedure for a major commercial application couldn't run on them all, requiring those commercial applications to be tailored multiple times. This is one of the big hurdles preventing wholesale (ahem) support of Linux by commercial software developers, which is essential to the process of getting Linux used broadly on the desktop.
Now a standard has been developed which should cut way down on the woes involved in supporting multiple flavors of Linux. It is, needless to say, freely available. But it demonstrates the Achilles Heel of the Linux effort, because it was developed primarily by paid engineers working for IBM and HP and companies like that. Why paid engineers? Because some jobs are necessary but unromantic, and when you depend on volunteer labor everyone wants to work on things which are fun. Work which is essential but boring won't get done unless people are paid to do it. (discuss)
