I get really annoyed by random articles/blog posts written by Linux/Ubuntu evangelizers that all talk about how they had to use their friend’s Windows laptop and it was slow and had all this crapware, etc.
What they forget, is that if it actually became easy for 3rd parties to ship software on Linux, then you’d see a whole bunch of crapware floating around on Linux as well. At some level, it is up to the user to be discerning about the software that gets loaded onto the machine. It’s unfair to blame it on Windows. If you look at the industry as a whole, the benefits of Windows providing such a good software distribution platform have far outweighed the costs.
Of course, it’s not really accurate to compare Windows and Linux as equals. For example, Linux distros come with more software in the default install. The distributors can usually test this software, and ensure that it isn’t crap. So you can make the argument that if you install Ubuntu, then you’re less likely to need to install some external piece of software, and therefore, you’re less likely to install crap on your system.
Then there’s also the fact that it’s really hard to ship any software (let alone crap) on a Linux system. My friend Ramesh argues sometimes that it is actually this “high bar” to entry that keeps the awful stuff out. That may be true, but it weakens the argument that Linux is the platform of “choice”.
A seasoned power user can easily keep a Windows system running well and free of crap. I do it. A bunch of my friends do it. It’ll be funny to see the day (if it ever comes) where you’ll have to go clean the crapware out of your relative’s Ubuntu box.
And a final note. Microsoft could fight back by trying to integrate more useful software directly into the default install.. but we know what happened the last time they tried to do that. Apple gets away with it for now, since they’re the underdog, but sooner or later, people are going to start complaining about them too.