A Glimpse at the Linux Desktop of the Future

hisham writes "Every now and then we see articles pointing out "what's wrong with Linux on the desktop." This one gives a nice overview not only of the problems we all know, but also where to look for solutions (app dirs, smarter filesystems) and what's out there (projects trying to change the face of Linux, like Klik, Zero Install and GoboLinux). Still, it usually boils down to things that Mac OS X already has or that are/were touted for inclusion on MS Longhorn. Fortunately, the major desktops stopped playing catch and are focusing on forward-looking Linux projects, like KDE Plasma and Gnome Beagle. Interesting times ahead."

Comments

Comparisons with OSX and Windows

[maxi_taxi]

People keep on comparing linux desktop with Windows and OSX in this thread. Well, a few things you are missing:

- both of those OSs have single desktop environments (IMHO, both unusable compared to X desktops). Linux provides at least three different desktop environments (Gnome, KDE and XFCE) and a plethora of window managers. It is only natural that there are problems in keeping the desktop unified, however this is becoming much better with the adoption of freedesktop standards. And finally, try one of those single-DE distributions, such as Ubuntu. They do a good job of keeping everything nice and unified.

- OSX and Windows are primarily aimed at the desktop market. Heck, OSX even works only on proprietary hardware. The point is: desktop Linux has never been the focus of Linux developers (at large) as Linux has always been superior primarely in the server market. I still can't see the argument behind entrusting your server to a non-modular, secret/proprietary architecture.

- Finally, Linux is Free. There is no money from Microsoft and Apple to finance developers making pretty GUIs. However, you are welcome to come and help if you do not like the present status of desktop Linux.