Microsoft's dismissive attitude of VDI, or virtual desktop infrastructure, is very similar to Red Hat's stance toward the desktop as a viable Linux commercial offering. Red Hat has said it has yet to figure out how to capitalise on the Linux desktop as a product, but now seems to be finding a way.

Many people now believe that Linux represents a viable alternative. Today, with mainstream hardware vendors like Dell offering Linux installations and some folks thinking a major shift is about to happen, it's time to take another look at Linux on the desktop.

SAM Linux Desktop, an Xfce-fronted distribution based on PCLinuxOS, aims to be a complete and modern desktop operating system. Though it has problems that need to be worked out before it will match the competition, it offers an easy install, a 3-D desktop environment, and a flurry of programs to suit your needs.

For all its flaws, Flash (or on of its incarnations like AIR or Flex) is still one of the few ways to create fully fledged desktop style applications that can be run in a web browser, mobile device, or as a traditional desktop application.

On the 4th of August, 2009, the KDE community released KDE 4.3.0, delivering its user base the first iteration of this next-generation KDE desktop environment. It boasts a modern and beautiful desktop, with over 10,000 bugs fixed and close to 2,000 features implemented over the older versions.

KDE 4.5 brings to the table plenty of useful, functional, innovative features. One of those very features is the Desktop Activity. The KDE Desktop Activities feature is a great new desktop metaphor that takes the Linux desktop to new levels of organization.

"...Two new technologies, which has been recently introduced, suggest an online direction for Eclipse. While it's possible that none of them is adequate, this is a strong indication on the future of the platform. I don't think that the desktop version will fade away in the near future, from the same reason that desktop office applications are still with us.

KDE keeps the desktop relevant and powerful as it doesn’t force an interface designed for phones or tablets on desktop users. KDE offers different GUI environments for different form factores. There is Plasma Desktop for desktop computers,Plasma Netbook for netbooks, and "Plasma Active" for smartphones and tablets. So a desktop or tablet user doesn’t have to make any compromise.

To me its apparent that trying to develop the Linux desktop marketplace using traditional ideas and avenues simply hasn't and isn't going to work. We've been waiting for a decade for the year of the Linux Desktop to happen. I think thats proof enough that using proprietary ideas to drive the Linux desktop market forward is not working.