It passes the Mother Test

Shooting the Kids - » Yo Mamma Likes Ubuntu

I've been saying for months that the real test for an OS is the "Mother Test" - can your mother run it successfully? Turns out the answer is yes. Not only is this guy's mother much happier with Linux than she ever was with Microsoft, but she's been telling her friends. Now the moms get on the phone and chat about how cool Linux is.

Not only that, but the second comment on the blog entry is from another mother who had the same thing happen: her son installed Linux in order to fix her computer woes.

Passing the Mother Test means Linux has come of age. It is now ready for the mainstream desktop. As I've said before, in many ways Linux's job is harder than Microsoft, because people were willing to accept a learning curve for Windows but they're not willing to accept a learning curve for Linux. So Linux has to actually be EASIER. It has to come with all the software you need pre-installed (unlike Windows). It has to instantly recognize and run all your hardware and peripherals (unlike Windows).

The one advantage Microsoft still has is that it's a huge corporation with a large advertising budget and distribution agreements with every major computer manufacturer. And it's already demonstrated its willingness to use its monopoly powers to crush the competition in illegal ways. Did you know Microsoft's stock actually went up after it lost its antitrust lawsuit with the US Government? How is the open source community going to comepte with that?