Why we[The helios project] insist on Linux on the desktop

I feel that linux has reached parity with other OS's in all ways but these:

1 - Continuity of applications. For example, in updating Ubuntu on a laptop I use for compiling embedded kernels, I lost the swanky power management window that could tell me things about battery charge/discharge rates. No idea where it went. Then the next version changed the interface again. Adding and removing apps between versions causes problems, if only from jarring users from how things used to work. This is the main reason that I don't support Linux on the desktop as much as I could - I can't more than a few versions of "how the GUI works for program X" when X seems to be replaced frequently.

2 - Hardware compatibility at the edges. The core works great - the problem is with weird/proprietary things (binary drivers, etc...). I don't have a solution for this, other than proper hardware choices at purchase, which is harder than you think.

3 - Microsoft specific formats. I'm talking .doc/.xls/etc. These are the biggest reason people "can't" switch - they have too much rolled up in these old crappy formats that don't convert perfectly to OO.org. 90% of those problems are formatting/fonts/printing/interchange related. The BIGGEST win Microsoft ever had was getting their XML formats (.docx/.xlsx/etc.) approved - had the standards bodies and governments rejected them, everyone, on all platforms (Windows included), would be in a much better place now.

yes, windows has a lot of virus. ok, we get it. we get it for over ten years. every year i hear "this year linux will be on every desktop". But it never happened. Just be more realistic please.

data source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_system...