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ESR's Desktop Linux 2008 Deadline
jesboat noted Eric S. Raymond and Rob Landley's essay about what the Linux community must do to achieve dominance entitled "World Domination 201". It says
"Idealism about open formats will not solve our multimedia problem in time; in fact, getting stuck on either belief in the technical superiority of open source or free-software purism guarantees we will lose. The remaining problems aren't technical ones, and none of the interesting patents will expire before the end of 2008. We've got to ship something that works now. If we let this be a blocking issue preventing overall Linux adoption during the transition window, we won't have the userbase to demand changes in the laws to untangle the screwed up patent system, or even prevent it from getting worse. It's a chicken and egg problem, demanding a workaround until a permanent solution can be achieved. We can't set the standards until after we take over the world."
The various Linux GUI toolkits and APIs are technical and ascetic(hideous to look at) abominations.
e xdesktop20060807.jpg
The silly myth that having multiple desktops is some sort of advantageous competition driving the Linux desktop forward is utter bullshit.
Just clone the fucking major OS X desktop APIs and UI elements and LET'S GET ON WITH MORE IMPORTANT THINGS. And then clone the major iApps.
When you boot Linux, it will look and function as good this:
http://images.apple.com/macosx/leopard/images/ind
The tiny, hardcore 'not invented here' Linux crowd can still waste their time with their oh so productive KDE vs Gnome flamewars and making useless but flashy GL accelerated desktop effects.
So if people can't make money on linux, people will magically stop developing for it? See, if you had actually READ THE FUCKING MESSAGE you'd know that's what we were talking about. That's precisely why I don't care if anybody 'develops' for linux -- there will always be people motivated to solve problems for free. I don't care if you or anyone else fails to make money on it or not.
Why do you care if anyone makes money on this or not? You shouldn't. It's not about staying on message, and it's not 'pathetic' either. The only thing pathetic here is you being a judgmental ass because the world refuses to bend over and allow you to profit at our expense. Too bad. So long as there are people willing to develop things essentially for free, I support them, and will show them all the preference in the world. Thankfully, I'm not alone.