Believe me, I know linux isn't cut out for a mainstream desktop. That's one of the things I like about it. If they dumbed it down enough for joe-user, it wouldn't be what I liked anymore. Same way I'm glad that science fiction is a sort of outcast genre. The average would-be writer has very little chance of making it in mainstream fiction. But I actually know people who get published in sci-fi magazines.
Actually, I found it quite amusing senior year of college. I had a prof for creative writing, and for about a week or so, he gave talks about how to get started as a writer, how the industry works, etc. Basically the whole thing was "don't get your hopes up, it's almost impossible to break-in to teh industry." One of my favorite things was how he was explaining how "No publisher of any fiction periodical pays by the word anymore" and how that concept was obsoleted 20 years ago, etc. I tried to point out that every single magazine I'd want to get published in still paid by the word. He basically told me I was mistaken. I told him the highest-paying publisher in science fiction (scifiction.com) still pays by the word and he pretty much told me that wasn't a real publication, nevermind the fact that they publish new material from some of the most famous sci-fi authors around. So I pointed out that Analog, Asimov's, and F&SF pay by word too. He said he hadn't heard of those, and so therefore they must be some sort of fan-fiction magazines, because no real publication paid by the word anymore. "Issac Asimov's magazine is a cheap fan publicaiton?" I asked, shocked. "Oh, that Asimov? He has a magazine?"
It kinda irked me at the time, but as I said before, I realize I'm glad. Having hopes of publishing a science fiction book are actually reasonable. It's still a small community, and it's still in run by people that actually LIKE writing!
