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IBM Releases Desktop Linux Presentation
An anonymous reader writes "DesktopLinux.com, in coordination with the Desktop Linux Consortium, is making select presentations from Monday's groundbreaking Desktop Linux conference at Boston University's Corporate Education Center available. Sessions from the well-received program included talks from key companies and open source projects bringing Desktop Linux into the enterprise. The first presentation available is from IBM's Sam Docknevich, Linux and Grid Services Executive for IBM Global Services and is titled "Open Source Desktop - Directions for today... and Tomorrow". His presentation discusses IBM's push into the Linux desktop market, an initiative from inside Big Blue."
It annoys me that Linux developers try to compete with commercial companies. Listen: you are destroying bussiness! Sun will probably be the first casualty. With no commercial companies left, there will be no innovation. I propose the following "constitution" for open source developers:
1) I will freely license my code for use in commercial products (ie, use BSD license not GPL.)
2) If a commercial equivalent exists for what I'm developing, I will not try to market it as a replacement for the commercial product.
3) My software will not be targeted at the average consumer (read: no easy to use UI, no easy installation process).
So basically, you can develop research software, specialized software, etc. But please, if no-one buys MS Office and d/ls openoffice instead, innovation in word processors and spreadsheets will stop. We do not want this.
I really liked this picture. (Bill Gates getting bitten by a penguin.)
Peace and love, y'all
Sun has the Java Desktop System, which will be both Linux and Solaris. How come they aren't there?
Fortress of Insanity
Blogzine
Linux Desktops are commercially available (e.g. Ximian) is written on one of these slides. I feel so abused for my volunteer work on GNOME.
What's to prevent IBM from releasing an all in one Linux desktop solution? Linux + IBM Power PC + a IBM reference desktop motherboard? Something with AGP, built in sound, USB 2.0 and firewire.
Why woudn't IBM want to do this. Could mass adoption of these chips drive their prices down and make them competetive with INtel and AMD chips?
Would that make sense? If not, why so?
-
1) You can't buy a IBM Thinkpad unless it comes with Windows. That 'old "Microsoft tax"
2) IBM can't be bothered to support FreeBSD on their laptops. Public case in point - the use of Type 165 for the partition that held the backup info. Private case - IBM staffer claimed they'd help with a USB implementation issue on one type of Thinkpad. (The USB doesn't work at all with FreeBSD and the only way Linux works is if you force the probe order in some wonky way.)
3) Many of the new style Thinkpads come with the Intel wireless - the one only supported under Windows.
I'll believe IBM cares about Open Source when they address the 3 above. Otherwise its the swapping of one corporate master for another.
1. Fix X to be fast, non-bloated.
2. Fix KDE to be fast, non-bloated.
3. Fix Gnome to be fast, non-bloated.
4. Fix Mozilla to be fast, non-bloated.
5. Fix OpenOffice^W^W Write a new Office Suite.
Not trolling: Go install Fedora and see how it runs on a three year old machine. There's quite a lot of work to do.
Also:
6. Standardize on one version of Solitaire.
Looks like linux has more heads on the desktop than Apple. Time for hardware companies to take linux seriously, seriously,
The next time some hardware company excuses the missing printer driver with linux small userbase point at this new info.
I assume most businesses arent aware of this and many of them probably only needs a pointer to some stats.
HTTP/1.1 400
... from a Linux desktop is bundling by a major distributor. People use apps. Apps are available for Linux. Worst case (possibly apart from games) you can use crossover or wine...
Simon.
(Who's been using Linux on the desktop for the last 3 years...)
Physicists get Hadrons!
So not having IM would be a selling point.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
If you think things are bad with SCO, wait till we start to hurt Microsoft's revenue stream, then all hell will break loose. With that much at stake, things are bound to get violent.
1. IBM has over 15,000 existing internal Linux clients and this is rapidly expanding.
2. There is no attempt to gloss over potential issues, such as browser incompatibility with IE and weaknesses so far in supporting knowledge workers. These are accepted, but demonstrated to be applicable only to certain categories of users.
The general message, which is convincing, is to look at each user segment separately and objectively and use Linux where it makes sense at the time.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
I'm thinking the point is more. "If your going to have to do all that retraining anyway, why not do it with us.
Jesus saves, everyone else takes full damage from the fireball.
the path to the desktop is through the enterprise. sure, there are HUGE differences in needs, but, this is where windows started. wince it was used at the office, you needed it at home. now, with open source desktops, it is even better. sure, for many users, linux can do most things, but where it fails, i.e. video editing, plugging in a usb camera, etc. is crucial for the home users. but it does suffice for many though. now, go back to the office. linux is perfect. far better security, far easier maintanance, lower costs, etc. so, joe user needs to work on something at home, the boss says, here's a cd, install this on your computer. then linux makes headway into the home. and as that happens, drivers will be written, and maybe the bundled software will be written in cross-platform toolkits (QT, gtk, etc.) rather than win32/.NET. the tipping point my guess is somewhere around 5%.
My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
I have to say that until recently, there was one thing MSIE had that nobody else did: WYSIWYG editing.
As a developer of web software, I'm glad I can finally support all platforms including Linux (and Mac) with the new Mozilla.
Sunny
Be my Friend
I think the major failiure with OpenSource (I'm saying open source because theres more than just gnu/Linux) on the Desktop is Gnome. In fact, Gnome 2.4 was awful. Gnome 2.2 was better though, and I'm glad that Sun and Ximian are sticking with that tree for now.
Anyway, now that the LG fiasco was solved, I downloaded the Mandrake 9.2 ISOs. Such a relief from Debian with Gnome 2.4. All my hardware 'just works', no typing commandlines and Lots of sources that are easier to set up.
I never want to touch Gnome again until they dump gconf-editor for a real configuration editor, similar to KDE control centre or TweakUI, fix the file dialog, and replace that FOOT with something tasteful. According to Section 9 of the HIG, the Gnome logo is a violation of the HIG, since no body parts are allowed in ICONS.
So, if you want to see what a Linux desktop SHOULD be like, try Mandrake 9.2, and don't forget that KDE 3.2 is around the corner, I tried the Alpha and its FAST!
Sun have had a number of StarOffice customer wins for over 10,000 seats, and a few for the Linux desktop bundle it seems (reading around a bunch of press articles). However, most of this is outside the US - see this article:
Here's another quote from him, from this article:
TrollTech is also vulnerable to takeover by companies hostile to Free software
So what? If Troll Tech or its successor discontinues Qt Free Edition, the last published version remains QPL/GPL licensed. In fact, there is an agreement in place that makes it BSD licensed under these specific conditions.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Why not kde?
/gnu/celeron gnu/packard gnu/bell gnu/box.
Gnome translate-o-matic
Ever since Gnome 2.4 was released, I have found more and more gnome zealots who MUST absolutely advocate GNOME at every possible moment. Here is a guide to some of their claims, and what they really mean.
Unlike KDE, Gnome is free
Translation : GPL is freerer than LGPL. LGPL allows corporations like Novell and Sun to have propeitry forks and lock away their changes from the user. Now that Novell has taken over Ximian you can expect Gnome to get put under corpirate lock. With KDE you have the choice, you either PAY UP or pay with your source code.
Nautilus is much better than konqueror.
Wrong, if your using nautilus for anything more than a simple finder clone you can forget it. No split screen, no ioslaves and forget about being able to have a decent file dialog, not to forget that it is as unstable as hell and is STILL slow on >3 Ghz machines.
Gnome is easier to use
Yep, nothing like using gconf-editor to edit all except the most trivial of settings. Want tear off menus? Want a useable file dialog? You won't find it here.
Gnome has eye candy
Yes, my pirated Win32 fonts with the patent infringing font renderer. Bit stream vera sans looks like Tahoma put through a shreadder! Of course I still reboot into windows to print using "Comic Sans MS.
Gnome has a new web browser
Yawb! Along with Galeon, mozilla, thunderbird, konqueror, atlantis, lynx, netscape and w3m. Yes I need another browser! Not to mention that its got a religiously offensive name and it dosen't allow bookmark folders. It also crashes like a crazy! Apple chose khtml for a REASON! its stable and light!
For newbies, Gnome is the ideal choice
Despite the fact that the only mainstream Gnome based distro has been EOL'd, and all the newbie distros such as Mangadrake, Lindoze, $u$E, Lycoris, Xandroze, Gentoo use kde default, the Local unix geek showed me Debian, which installed Gnome 1.4 by default, so it must be good if he uses it.
You KDE guys must be sick of the K
Our G's and monkeys are SO MUCH better, gedit, glib, gconf, bobono, ghex, gless, same-gnome.
Gnome is themeable
Yep, choose from High, low and medium contrast, default, and clean ice. Wan't to change the colour scheme? USE GCONF NOOB, plus if you complain about it we will tell you to fuck off and go back to Windows or KDE.
Gnome has multimedia framework
Its a kludge of esd combined with broken xine libraries. No wonder it crashes all the time and dosen't work on 95% of video files
My Gnome work station
My 1.1Ghz Packard Bell box my mum bought for me from PC world, that is made of made to break components, but it has a GEFORCE RADEON 9000 card, so it must be good.On the other hand, no-one (well, nearly no-one) is suggesting that GTK+ is a replacement for Qt...
Gnome allows mac like operation.
x86 compatible 1 button mice are almost impossible to find, and it dosen't copy the whole macbar concept. Not to even mention their auto apply implementation is broken and dangerous! Plus if they did actually come anywhere close to copying the Mac the C&D letters would come flying up their asses.
Gnome is GNU software.
gnu/Yay, gnu/gnome gnu/for gnu/my gnu/debian gnu/linux gnu/500mhz
Inspired by the gentoo translate-o-matic.
Linux is still not ready for the desktop. Before people pull out their torches, flamethrowers and other impliments of death seeking my head, lets have a look at why.
1) X - This was a neat idea, and has had a lot of time and innovation put in to it. However, it's still ununified, clumsy, confusing and bulky. When X works, it works great. When X doesn't work, it's a nightmare.
2) Lack of standardization. Simple things which should work and operate the same over many applications sometimes do not. Such is the case with cut & paste, which beyond not being 100% universal, is a really lousy implimentation. If you're like me, and you highlight the text you want to replace with what is in the clipboard, you'll know what I'm talking about.
3) Very basic things which should be autodetected and configured by XWindows are simply not. How long have scrollwheel mice been around? How about mice with more than three buttons?
4) Lack of proper native support for popular applications. Ok, so perhaps this is not linux's fault, or Xs for that matter. However, wine and crossover office are poor substitutes to running windows applications under windows. While it is good that linux software has sprung up to try to fill the void, much of this software is nowhere near as good as their windows counterparts. See: MS Office vs Openoffice or Gimp vs Photoshop. Before Linux is viable, big names need to port applications over to run nativly. Otherwise, you may as well just run windows.
5) Regardless of the advances made with the Linux desktop, it is still not user friendly. More to the point, it's confusing. Having a lot of choices can be a good thing, and a bad thing. For us gearheads, it's great. But for the average user, it's a tedious hassle that takes too long. I can set a windows box up from start to finish in about an hour. Linux almost always takes the entire day.
6) Package management in linux sucks. Installing something in windows is almost always hassle free, and fast. Installing something in Linux is sometimes hassle free. Library conflicts, bad software and things that just don't compile for whatever reason really hurt linux as it increases the complexity of the whole process.
In short, Linux is not really a good desktop operating system. It lacks standardization and most popular modern applications are not available for it.
Lastly, how is a conference on Desktop Linux solutions groundbreaking? I'm sure many have been held before.
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
That linux isnt for the desktop... Who should i belive.. big red,or big blue...
( as i sit here submitting from Konq running on FBSD 4.9 )
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I bought a Thinkpad for a relative in China, who wanted a Thinkpad because of IBM's reputation. (I had to agree with her; I've never had any problem with them hardware-wise, unlike many other laptops.) I tried to get one without Windows, not because she's a Linux user but because she would naturally prefer a Chinese-language version of Windows and the sellers in the US only sell English-language editions.
The IBM ordering website had a bewildering list of models, all of which were very specific as to CPU speed and other features. (For example, two machines with different CPU speeds but identical in every other respect.) There were about 20-30 models with minor differences between them. It was a lot like the way cars were sold before standard options packages. So much for the excuse that vendors don't want to sell preconfigured Linux systems because they only want a few models to simplify manufacturing and inventory. simple.
I called IBM's ordering department and asked if I could get one with Linux pre-installed. The saleswoman said no. I asked why they have so many models with trivial differences between them but they offer no choice of OS.
"Oh, but we do have choice. You can have Windows 2000 or Windows XP." ("We have both kinds [of music]: Country and Western" -- The Blues Brothers.) And no, I couldn't get a Chinese version either.
Next I asked if I could get one without an OS. "No." "Why not?" "Because Microsoft won't let us."
Now, to be fair, her info could've been out of date. Maybe she couldn't thing of anything else to say, Or maybe that's what they told her to say. But if she's telling the truth, wasn't the anti-trust settlement supposed to put an end to this?
The end result was that M$ gets paid for 2 copies of Windows on one computer. (Well, my relative was paying for it, so that's her choice. I would've gone to a Linux laptop vendor, though I don't know if any of them are as reliable.)
for now, I dont see linux converting the common power user, who wants photoshop, macromedia flash, flashy lights, easy game creation utilities, games and more games, and various other frills. microsoft will have those people for a while longer.
another BIG need is the push for scanner compatibility, SANE doesnt cut it, at all. sane is more of a hassle than it's worth. someone needs to come up with a better, more kernel integrated scanner system, so all you need to do is install a kernel module when you want to add a new scanner driver and voila! it works.
with sane.. you sometimes need a kernel module, and the sane module... which can be troublesome.. and not to mention the whole interface is buggy at times, very few people I know actually have working scanners on linux, this needs to be changed.
We live in interesting times as far as the Linux desktop is concerned. We saw two great desktops emerge for Linux: GNOME and KDE. We are also witness to a paradigm shift in the approach to development under Linux, brought about by the different needs and demands of the desktop environment. The server space has its own, well rooted developers. Most of them cannot switch to developing under a desktop environment successfully unless they too notice the paradigm shift.
If you outlaw the law, only criminals will have laws
The IBM and Novell connection just seem stronger now with slide 17.
1. the number of buyers for thinkpads with linux is tiny. IBM has in fact shipped some models with linux pre-installed but as a general move, linux on laptops is still pretty chancy, why should they put all that effort into somthing that obviously will generate no return.
... we almost certainly are ... but it is important to realize that, despite offering a particular model with Linux preinstalled, IBM's own marketing statistics significantly understate the number of hardware purchases made with the intention of running Linux and not Windows.
That number however is quite deceptive. I work in a Linux shop, and we run GNU/Linux on virtually every machine we own, including our IBM laptops.
However, Linux only shipped on a few low to medium end models, and of course we wanted the best model available at the time. Furthermore, those models which came with Linux preinstalled did not have my company's distribution of choice installed (Gentoo isn't exactly a likely choice for commercial vendors just yet), so there really wasn't an advantage to buying Linux preinstalled.
Net result: we've bought half a dozen or more IBM laptops solely for GNU/Linux use, each and every one of them with Windows preinstalled. Despite the fact that Windows was removed forthwith and Gentoo GNU/Linux installed in its place (and in use ever since), the purchase shows up in IBM's sales statistic as a Windows laptop.
Linux users tend to be power users. It is very unlikely that a significant proportion of them bought low-to-medium end machines with Red Hat preinstalled when they could buy nicer machines and install their own distro anyway.
This isn't to say Linux users aren't a minority group of purchasers of IBM laptops
BSD, while an even smaller market segment, is almost certainly similiarly understated in their data.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
comparing installing mozilla on linux and windows.
One could be done by a bird trained to peck at pictures, the other requires hours of reading. Then trying, failing, and trying again another way with little if any indication as tho why it crapped out the first time.
Ok, installing Mozilla on linux is one command (apt-get install mozilla, emerge mozilla, up2date mozilla, urpmi mozilla, etc). Sorry if I got any of those commands wrong, but you get the point.
Installing on Windows, you have to go the web page, find the link for downloading, click on link and download to a directory, execute the exe, click through a few windows, and then you've finally got it installed.
Ok, so in Windows its a little bit longer, but I wouldn't say that it "requires hours of reading." Installing software on Windows can be tedious, and sometimes its not entirely straightforward (nor is there a standard process, each software is different), but its really not that bad, and most people can figure it out.
#!/