Apple Versus Linux

By Jim on June 12th, 2010

Can Linux really compete with Apple for consumers?

Does Linux have a shot at challenging Apple’s dominance? We’ve seen this movie before. There was an Apple of the business computing market not so long ago. Sun Microsystems’ high-end servers made the company a darling of information technology departments, Internet startups, and Wall Street investors in the late ’90s and 2000. Linux was the underdog. A decade later, Sun no longer exists and Linux and Windows rule the data center.

The control and flexibility that hardware vendors and network operators gain with Linux, plus the ability to share research and development costs and move faster, make Linux a powerful choice for mobile computing development. The computer industry is seeing a seismic shift wherein longtime Microsoft partners such as Intel and Hewlett-Packard are making huge bets on Linux, relegating Windows to a lesser role. This was inconceivable a decade ago.

Apple has set a high bar, no doubt. But if you don’t believe Linux can beat an entrenched market leader, just ask the folks who used to run Sun.

The problem with comparing Apple to Sun is that Apple has different skill sets and is selling to a different group of people. Apple shines at providing a great consumer experience, which is the exact opposite of what Linux has been good for over the years.

True, Linux has gotten a lot better. But it’s really going to have to shape up if it’s going to go head to head with Apple in the consumer arena. If Linux doesn’t get its act together, Apple will rule the tablet roost. And that will be a sad thing for consumers. Microsoft is utterly hopeless and can’t compete with Apple at all in the mobile space. So it’s either Linux or nothing.