I figured I'd try to make this photography lark start to pay (or at least try to). First step for the person who wants to make something pay and wants to feel like he's doing something without actually doing something? Business cards, of course, fresh from Moo (click to embiggen).

(They do have a phone number on them, but it's blanked out for the purposes of this image. I'm working on sorting out a number that I'm happy to disseminate to the whole wide web).

Jorge Castro just sent me a link to this story from El Reg. From TFA:

"The desktop market suffers from having one dominant vendor, and some people still perceive that today's Linux desktops simply don't provide a practical alternative."

So now you know. Hardy comes out next week, by the way, so feel free to go and download an RC ISO and help with the testing :).

Incidentally, in the comments to that article was this:

"Linux is intolerant of users who do not hold a BSc in Computing and who dislike hacking wads of configuration files by hand; and we don't care because we are elitist arses."

The above is true for all versions of Linux (including Ubuntu). It is a real shame that the Linux world doesn't seem to want to create anything which can actually be used by normal end-users.

I really, really wish that this opinion wasn't as pervasive as it so obviously is. So here's a question for you: what can we, the Linux users and developers of the world, do to help make it more accessible for John and Jane Q. User? What is it that you need the most?

Why not go and grab a copy of the Hardy Live CD when it comes out (or use the release candidate if you prefer) and bung it in your PC. You can reboot into Ubuntu without making any changes to your computer and you can give it a road test (bear in mind that running from a CD doesn't make it the fastest thing in the world). If you like it, why not use Wubi to install it through Windows so that you don't have to worry about things like managing your bootloader (which you should never have to worry about unless you want to)?

Go on, give it a shot. You've nothing to lose and lots to gain.

[Edit]

It's been pointed out to me that this isn't really news, since RedHat have never really taken the desktop all that seriously. Also, they're still apparently offering some desktop distributions, though I haven't yet read up on the what and whys of that.

It's also been pointed out that there are a number of comments in RedHat's press release that are pretty clear swipes at Ubuntu, which is a shame but not unexpected.