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? ;-)"

Comments

Umm

[tmark]

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.

Re:Umm

[zangdesign]

I would hardly call that "using Linux" - I would call it using a browser. Kudos to your wife for not even pausing to take a breath, but really - the mozilla UI is pretty much standardized on all platforms.

Re:Umm

[Ami Ganguli]

N.B. I believe this even though I am writing this from Linux.

Funny, so am I. So there are at least two users who have to switch to away from Linux before it dies on the desktop. I have reason to believe there are a few million more out there like us, so Linux isn't even close to dead on the desktop.

Linux is making steady, but slow progress. As long as it isn't going backwards (which certainly is not the case) then I don't see anything to worry about. There are enough developers today to keep my Gnome desktop looking cool, and that's all I need.

Now when will Linux go mainstream on the desktop as it has on the server? Dunno. The conditions keep getting better, but the inertia in the Windows market is incredible.

What's the rush anyway?

Re:Umm

[Hard_Code]

"So this 'Linux on the Desktop' thing is less about Linux and more about having screen furniture. File menus, browsers, printing, etc, working in a consistent and normal way."

For a coherent GUI to work in a "consistent and normal way" it is imperative that the operating system also work in a consistent normal way which hopefully reduces the impedence mismatch between the GUI and actual operating system abstractions. AFAICT, Linux, and Unix in general, is horribly horribly inadequate to match a decent GUI. Linux/Unix has no component model and everything feels like a one off - APIs are flat, configuration files get dumped into the /etc ghetto, and applications are broken up by content (binaries go here, man pages go there, configuration goes elsewhere), instead of staying atomic wholes. This is entirely different from how a GUI presents an application, as a whole, with help and configuration integrated. Mac OS X seems to have overcome this hurdle with a workaround called "bundles". The user experience is not provided solely by "screen furniture". This is an elitist idea. The OS has to have the desktop user in the picture from the start. Unfortunately since it is "good enough" for most Linux/Unix users, who have themselves already learned to work at the command line, and have spent a lot of time (often painful)accustoming themselves to Unix, there is little impetus to "fix" anything at the OS level. I certainly do not begrudge the KDE or Gnome projects, I think they are valiant. But grafting wings to a tank does not make it a fighter jet. I never understood why the open source crowd decided to hop on the Unix horse. Proprietary Unix is no better than proprietary Windows, or proprietary Mac OS. So why do we persist in insisting that Unix should be the basis for a desktop OS? Fortunately there are projects like Atheos, Open BeOS, Cosmoe, etc., which are trying to tackle these problems. Microsoft will keep laughing to the bank if we continue forcing Unix on users without trying to meet them half way (well, ok KDE/Gnome is probably half way, but if we really want to have an open source OS on the desktop, we will certainly have to go way further than that to displace Windows). That's the end of my rant, flame on. And send some flamage to that know-nothing Miguel de Icaza for writing "Let's Make Unix Not Suck" while you're at it.

I know who...

[toupsie]

Who says Linux is dead on the desktop? ;-)

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.

Re:I am tired of this...

[gosand]

Linux is dead, linux will never be useable on the desktop. Linux is too hard, linux doesnt have games, linux doesnt do X or Y or even Z.

Huh? Linux does X.

Lycoris Reactions

[jaaron]

I tried out Lycoris a while ago when I was exploring other distros. I was really pleased with the overall experience. Generally user friendly, clean interface, network browser worked well for me, and the forums on the company web site were very friendly and helpful. All in all, I think Lycoris is probably the best Linux desktop available for an average [windows] computer user (not the average linux user that is).

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.

My point is, Lycoris is NOT for the linux power user out there (or maybe even average linux user), but then, it isn't targeted to be. For it's target audience, I think Lycoris makes an excellent choice of a Linux desktop (although, one might wonder how much of such an audience exists).

in its infancy

[Lewis Mettler, Esq.]

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.