You can accomplish with a click precisely whatever some programmer has written a GUI app for. If such an app does not exist then you will have a problem. And that is where the command line comes in very handy.

This is as true on Linux as as it is on Windows or indeed Mac OS 10.

..called as "compile from source":
./configure
make
make install

I wonder that whining how somebody wants to download package from internet and install it in a way its done in windows. Is there some reason why anydistros own package management can't be used? apt-get install firefox?

(quote) 
"Indeed
"IN FOUR YEARS Linux will have evolved into three basic desktop models"

To be sure.

Model 1: Ubuntu. For idiots and those easily distracted by eye candy. Also for those who want the OS vendor to tell them what programs to use. "..............(end quote)


THIS is what keeps Linux from EVER giving M$ a run for its money in the average home owner desktop market. Linux fanboys are nothing short of rude and think every computer owner is an idiot if they dont know any coding or how to type in command line interface. Are we still using DOS? I think not. If it makes you feel smarter and superior to type something out that I can accomplish with one click, then you need help. If Linux was advertised solely as a CLI it would be different. BUT, its not.... and thats the problem. While its not fully CLI, its not fully GUI either. If you want the support of the public, give them a GUI system that you dont have to take classes to learn to use. If youre not worried about promoting Linux into the home desktop area, then go back to a full CLI system and it will keep others from using it. Either way, shut the hell up with your rude comments about people being stupid because they dont know CLI. Not to mention the fact that even if they DID learn CLI for one distro, it wouldnt do them a damn bit of good if they tried another distro because you fanboys cant even agree on a damn thing and keep things uniform. Jesus I hate M$ but I get SO sick and tired of Linux fanboys bashing people just because we have a life and dont want to waste ours sitting in front of a computer 24/7 like you do. Some of us have lives

Who is the real idoit?
- The guy who wants to spend no more a few minutes and a couple of clicks to install any program
or
- The guy who spends hours reading, understanding and modifying some obscure and unnecessarily long (probably as long as the source code of the program itself) installer configuration script, then very often needs to install a different version of gcc, different version of gnu libraries and then recompiles the kernel just to install some program?

Sorry hoohoo, but that 'idiots' attitude is exactly why Linux will remain a rarified toy that still won't break 5% marketshare four years from now. Why is someone who has to waste hours/days/weeks learning to execute basic functions of an os- an idiot? aha- because YOU know something they don't. Does that mean that anyone who hasn't put in years of training in the narrowest of specialties (like me, in arse scratching and a couple of months less on a neuroscience PhD) also an idiot? Until the OS is transparent to users so that they can get on with their lives and simply install & use their applications, Linux will sadly wither on the vine.

Ubuntu is going the right direction.
Linux needs to evolve a better way.

1. Make .deb installing standard, or something else, but make it click and install!

2. Put the best of Gnome and KDE together, stop having multiple desktop-servers that are simply slow!

3. Make the desktop FAST! Use a GUI server that works direct and without a server/client model AND easy to configure.

4. Make configuration easy and system-wide, ever tired to change a keyboard in Linux?
It's a terrible process and GUI and Shell are seperated...not to mention the Login.

Simply put, create a desktop version with speed and seperate it from server versions.
Create a fast and good GUI, not the Gnome/KDE crap there is now, design a new one, at best like the PMShell of OS/2 Warp4 with a start-bar.

Ergo, make installing of drivers and programs a breeze to do if they are not in APT-GET.

Have a look at this, this guy understands it...if there where only more like him:

http://albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html

He does what even Ubuntu doesn't do.

You forgot one.

Model 2.5: Gentoo. For Ricers (http://www.funroll-loops.info/).

"IN FOUR YEARS Linux will have evolved into three basic desktop models"

To be sure.

Model 1: Ubuntu. For idiots and those easily distracted by eye candy. Also for those who want the OS vendor to tell them what programs to use.

Model 2: Fedora or OpenSUSE. For those who know what a terminal window is and can type an executable name and press enter.

Model 3: Slackware. For real women and men.

The article only states what has already happening or had already happened. There is nothing new, so a prediction to 2012? - What a joke!

Of course Linux will be split in those categories - it already is! Of course virtualization will matter - it already does!

The rest is open predictions based on problems we already know...