Originally posted by Aristotle
But until Linux can run games and other cutting edge applications, it just will never be a true desktop contender.
I believe it will get there. The trouble is mainly lock-in: game developers are accustomed to coding for DirectX, and the only change they want to do is move up a version to get more speed (or performance or whatever). Switching to OpenGL or another engine would be just way too much work. Porting DirectX itself to Linux would run into copyright issues. Writing a wrapper to let a D-X program funnel through to OpenGL would probably have serious performance issues, AND might still get slammed by the Microsoft legal team.

However, as more people move to Linux for their business apps ("hey, why should I pay $XXX for Windows when I can pay $0 for Linux and still run Open Office?"), the incentive to write games for Linux will grow. And if lots of people play their favorite games in Wine on Linux, and especially if the developers start testing in Wine, there'll be people saying "Why bother with this layer? Let's code for Linux!". And that's what's going to drive the final nail in the coffins of both Windows and Microsoft... although they'll linger for a long time even after their deaths are confirmed.