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Lycoris Desktop/LX update 2 Released
David writes "Redmond Linux Corp has just released Lycoris Desktop/LX Update 2 (build 46 final). Relatively user-friendly, loads of goodies and nice features. Should give Lindows a run for its money. Who says Linux is dead on the desktop? ;-)"
Q: Who says Linux is dead on the desktop? ;-)"
A: Everyone who isn't a Linux chauvinist, OR who doesn't believe that before Linux can be dead on the desktop, it has to first be "alive" on the desktop first. I don't think that Linux even registers as being on the desktop in the orthodox sense.
N.B. I believe this even though I am writing this from Linux.
The overwhelming numbers of BSD users do. As I always say, Linux for serving, OpenBSD for firewalling and Mac OS X for when you got to get things done.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
I don't know, but to me it seems that while the current state of the linux desktop leaves a LOT to be desired, it is continuing to make improvements. If groups like Redomnd Linux keep making improvements, the linux desktop will keep getting better and more compelling. I admit I only use the linux desktop to toy around right now, but I can definitely see it being viable in the future. Why does everyone have to say that linux on the desktop is dead? Obviously if you don't like it, you don't have to use it. I'll bet that there are pleanty of people that do use it and welcome any improvements. (Okay, I'm starting to rant)
- network neighborhood
- control panel
- sofware installer/updated
- general ease of use of windows
While I think that for the average linux user, this will be far too bloated, I wish that something like this existed when I first switched to linux.I currently use Mandrake (no surprise), but I am finding that I enjoy more and more the customizability of editing things by hand. I try to modify settings by hand whenever possible, and stay away from applets. Mandrake has done well by not confining you to applets.
Although I would try this distro (if I had an extra comp.), I enjoy mounting filesytems by hand, as well as modifying XF86-config and compiling by hand. Something that other distros could learn from them however, is creating similar network neightboorhood client for browsing smb servers. I use Linneightborhood and Komba2, but it would be nice to be able to browse a server without needing to mount it first.
All in all, kudos, I hope everything works as you claim, keep up the good work!
I don't know about you, but Mum wants to write letters and she wants to see one word processor, not vim, emacs, AbiWord, OpenOffice Write, Kate, [...]
Remember that Lycoris is a desktop distribution. As far as things go it seems that is the best there is right now. The fact you KNOW that there are multiple word processors (or that Letters To Nana != Microsoft Word) instantly says to me you know enough to install whatever your preference is.
I can't wait till either Gnome/GTK or KDE/Qt are at a stage where either apps from one look completely in place under the other, or one of them is so good that it provides exactly one good everything, and I don't need to use the other one. I think it's important to have both, but I only want to use one at a time.
Given the improved uptime, decreased exposure to virii, bundling in of things like terminal emulators and office suites, and reduced/removed licensing fees (yes I know any business will be buying a support contract, why do you THINK IBM's so big on Linux?), even factoring in retraining it's still likely you'll see a nice ROI.
Unfortunately, Linux is perceived as an engineers tool. We tell people, "Damn I use it at home so I don't HAVE TO WORK on computers at home (no crashes)" All they see is "I told you, the engineer uses it, it must be impossible" I am the senior (and junior) admin at my company. I would love not to buy 100 copies of Office 2000 but they "know" it is too tough. Trust me, I do side with you. I feel that economically, I could play with more and better servers if we didn't spend so much $$$ on bad user apps.
I don't understand it. Everyone constantly says that Microsoft does everything wrong and lately there seems to have been endless breast beating about the absence of Linux on the desktop as a viable alternative. Lycoris may not be the best distro for the experienced user but that's the point! Ask yourself this - if you Grandmother had to use Linux would she be able to use your distro? Could she use Lycoris'? Lycoris may be noddy but if that is what it takes to enable the average user to be productive quickly on Linux then great! Lycoris' success can only be good for Linux as a whole so show some support!
If this were really true then nobody would ever upgrade MS Windows either. Note the GUI changes between Windows 3.1 & 95, and again between NT & XP.
Windows is kept on the desktop by inertia. Under inertia I also include a host of custom applications that most companies have built up over time.
The thing is that most of the companies I've seen are gradually reducing their dependance on Windows. The new apps tend to be more and more browser based and will work anywhere. It's not gonna happen overnight, but there will be a shift away from Windows over time.
It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail. - Abraham Maslow
It's not Konqueror according to their page - It's 'The Desktop/LX Network BrowserTM'.
That seems a bit shabby to me - calling a standard application by a completely different name, and then trademarking it.
Linux is already easy to use. Linux with X and KDE or Gnome is as easy to use (maybe easier) than Win2k etc. That's not the issue.
Linux will take off on the desktop when it is dead easy to install, easy to configure, easy to add new hardware, easy to get X installed, and easy to add new software.
In my mind this implies the following:
- A separate setup procedure for home users. Their needs are different from sys admins.
- If users are dedicating the machine to Linux, don't bother them with partitioning. If sharing with Windows, give them some reasonable defaults.
- APM, Sound cards, USB, scanners, printers, modems, dial-up ISP, email, web access, and GUI all have to work out of the box with minimal intervention on the part of the user.
- Installing new software can't put users in shared library hell.
When these things happen, Linux will become usable by the average user. Not before.
Maybe Lycoris has all this figured out. But I didn't see it on their web site the last time I looked. They're still showing off their GUI. Which, as far as I'm concerned, indicates they don't understand the real issue.
My other Slashdot ID is much lower.
Well, first off, this product is targetted at the relatives of people who like Linux. Is the average person going to wontonly switch to a totally foreign operating system based on ideals he or she may not care about? Probably not. But I've seen several posts today along the lines of, "this would be great for my mom..." That being the case, the only people who are really going to buy or download this product are the people who will be doing the actually installation, i.e. geeks.
So, a geek decides to free his mother from the oppressive hand of The Man. Given the choice of a $30 OS with 60 days support and a free OS with no support, which is he going to chose? If something breaks he knows he's going to be the one driving to his mother's place to fix it, so support be damned. How likely is he to buy the product? Even if he's fairly honest he's probably got it in his head that he is a contributing member of some altruistic community and this company owes him a free distribution.
So he downloads the ISO and burns it to disc, as will every other geek. Lycoris can no longer afford to pay its developers (who, in my opinion, have done a damn good job of integration), and they go under.
Or they can comply to the GPL only in the ways that they need to, and they can make you pay for the ease of having the product on a handy CD (as opposed to the hefty task of downloading the snapshots). They don't have to hand you the code; they just have to make it available. And technically it is.
This is the same tactic SuSE uses, and I'm 100% behind it. It allows companies to hire talent and addt some profit motive into the Linux industry, which results in better products and cooler jobs. There's a lot of free software developers scratching their own itches, but to get anyone to do anything revolutionary (as in complete, integrated, bug-free, and usable) you have to pay them (witness OS X).
I find it very interesting that people would declare Linux on the desktop dead when it seems it is just barely begun life.
Consider, for example, the difference between a person in a developing country (say Thailand for example) and a person in the inner-city in America.
The person in the inner-city has, on the surface, a hugely better life - easy access to clean water, health care, they probably own a TV, eat three meals a day (I won't go into the fat content of those meals...) and they might even own a car.
But, this person sees the wealth all around them. They have always been poorer than their SUV driving suburban neighbors and recognize that their quality of life has not changed much.
The Thai person grew up in a time when no one they knew owned anything more than a few water buffalo. Tap water (if they have a tap in the house) is undrinkable, electricity is still spotty and paved roads are still years away. This person may even have memories of famine when they were children. However, due to the rising economy, this person now lives in a nice house with a tin roof (thatched roofs, although pretty also make a great home for rats which carry the plague) and might even own a motorcycle. Compared to his childhood, he is styling .
Although our Thai friend's life is still much harder than the poor American's, it is much better than in the recent past and improving. He has never known or seen the wealth his American friend has.
Having never had dominance of the desktop and only now beginning to penetrate this market (much like our Thai friend discovering the thrill of racing his shiny new motorcycle), Linux has nowhere to go but up.
It is all in your point of view...
Linux on the desktop is not dead by any means.
Clearly Microsoft wants to put out the phrase hoping that the weak of mind will believe it.
But, it is just getting started.
Lindows and Mandrake have just now shown up on the Wal-mart web site. Sure, DELL was beaten up by Gates and forced to beg off the market for now, but they will return. It may not be until the idiots at Microsoft are forced to comply with the appropriate laws, but it will happen.
How can you help?
Help distribute OpenOffice and even help promote StarOffice. Contact your local "beige box boys" and suggest they preload at least OpenOffice with every PC that goes out the door. They can even charge a few dollars extra to have it installed. Windows or linux, it does not matter. It is the benefit to the custom that will help alternative products and linux included.
If Wal-Mart can sell PCs preloaded with Mandrake and Lindows, then so can the rest of them. And, once competition knows what is expected of them, they will comply. What is gone are the days when an extra $700 of Microsoft software is bundled with each PC that sells. That is no longer necessary. And, the vendors who figure that out will get the business.
Have you compared Xandros or even the old Corel Linux with the windows explorer? Maybe you should.
Corel Linux (several years old by now) is just as easy to use as windows ever was. And, currently Xandros is taking it a bit farther. Even farther than Mandrake with its "switch screen" features. It allows the user to log on another screen without logging off the first one. And then, of course, switching back and forth between users.
Does it matter that Xandros puts out that kind of feature?
Yes, it does.
Linux will provide the platform for a whole series of very useful features. A single entity such as Microsoft simply can not and will not do so. Neither will just Mandrake. But, putting RedHat, Mandrake, Corel, eLx, Xandros, Lindows and others all into a highly competitive marketplace will greatly expand that marketplace and provide real benefits for all kinds of consumers.
Linux on the desktop is not dead. Microsoft might be.
NexuSys - Linux support by the best
My only gripe was that so much software I'm used to finding on a unix-like OS was simply missing. Unless you knew better, you ended up after the initial install with out a compiler or make or anything to roll your own software. This of course became a hastle when wanted to install new software later.
Lycoris is Debian-based, which means you have apt-get, which means you have no-fuss, no-muss ability to install anything that didn't come with the default install, just apt-get install <package>.
The only thing is, you may have to use a Lycoris-specific sources.list, which isn't such a bad thing, it's much like the way Redhat users upgrade through red carpet.
Though I personally prefer the real thing - straight up Debian - I see a lot of value in the extra integration work done by distributions like Lycoris, which saves an infinite amount of time and frustration for beginner.
Life's a bitch but somebody's gotta do it.