And by “win”, I mean gain a respectable market share and become an actual competitor to Windows and Mac OS. Perhaps one of the most debated topics in the tech world these days. I have my own opinion: 1. Programs. Software developers have to start coding their programs for Linux. Even if it’s not free, people won’t fully switch until that happens. Emulation sucks. Also, they need to be easily installed. As in, clicking on the package you just downloaded, following the few setup steps, and voila. Even better… let’s make it a drag-and-drop affair a-la OS X! 2. Looks. Linux just isn’t marketable. The average consumer is going to choose whatever looks better. That’s why Vista will do well and OS X does well… because they look good. KDE is currently Linux’s best chance for this. Until it can directly compete out of the box, nobody is going to risk pre-packaging it on their systems. 3. Drivers. You’ll always see a driver for Windows, and almost always for OS X. Linux is currently about half and half. That must rise to at least 90%. Nobody wants to do the research to determine whether or not their hardware will work on an OS. They’ll go for the safest bet.

There are other notables, but those 3 are what I believe would skyrocket Linux’s popularity high enough for it to have a chance on the average desktop PC. Once that happens, the sky’s the limit.