Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Agenda, Not Hidden

Posted by timothy on from the promise-last-one! dept.

A nameless reader writes: "There is a very favorable and detailed review of the Agenda VR3 at O'Reilly's oreillynet.com site. Unlike many previous reviews, this reviewer is a developer himself, and appreciates the benefits that a full Linux/X windows on a PDA can offer to a knowledgeable user. He also has obviously done his homework, and provides a lot of useful supplementary information." The "Consumer IR" port is one feature I predict will soon mysteriously end up in a lot of other similarly-sized devices as well. Funny, weren't we just reading the obituary of Linux on the desktop?

2 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. Oh please by Sc00ter · · Score: 5
    "Based on their projections of unit sales of 500,000 and 750,000 units for this and next year, the savings in licensing expenses could be in the millions of dollars."

    PocketPC (aka WindowsCE) JUST hit 1 million units (http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-6004696.html ?tag=mn_hd and they expect this obscure device that's just black and white with no email app to sell that many units in a year!? Not in this lifetime...


    --

    --
    Free Mac Mini
  2. Re:Linux advocacy: VR3 framework for the Desktop? by Arethan · · Score: 5

    I couldn't agree with you more.
    The biggest problem with linux is not the lack of software, it's the complexity to operate it. Gramma isn't going to run linux because she doesn't even know what this "Windows" thing is. She just knows that if she pushes the button on the box, then in 2 minutes she can check her email and turn it back off.

    Create a user friendly distro of Linux, and applications will follow. The key is to make enough apps to make managing the computer easy.

    Microsoft has a huge lead of most opensource developers, and I don't mean manpower wise. I mean layout wise. Go download 5-10 open source applications and look at the interface. Try to learn them all to about 80% efficiency within an hour or two. Now if you were to go out and buy 5-10 name brand applications for Windows and try to learn then to equal efficiency, you'd find it much MUCH easier. Why? Because Microsoft, IBM, and all of the others employ people that do nothing but design user interfaces! They design it, and then have a group of users test it. They collect feedback, and then they try it again with a new group. After a few iterations, they have a really easy interface for their application. They've cut the learning curve in half. All because they put more effort into making it look pretty rather than making it do something.

    Anyways, enough rambling. The point is, Linux is too complex for the average user. The average user wants to be able to put the disc in, and have the OS ask them if they want to run/install the application. It's sad, but that is exactly what Linux will have to do in order to go mainstream.