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What Needs Fixing In Linux
An anonymous reader writes "Infoweek's Fixing Linux: What's Broken And What To Do About It argues that the 17-year-old open-source operating system still has problems. Leading the list is author Serdar Yegulap's complaint that the kernel application binary interfaces are a moving target. He writes: 'The sheer breadth of kernel interfaces means it's entirely possible for something to break in a way that might not even show up in a fairly rigorous code review.' Also on his list of needed fixes are: a consistent configuration system, to enable distribution; native file versioning; audio APIs; and the integration of X11 with apps. Finally, he argues that Linux needs a committee to insure that all GUIs work consistently and integrate better on the back-end with the kernel."
How about the fact that there are way too many distrobutions, some of which are separated by nothing more than ideological lines?
while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
To follow this up, the *real* problem is that Linux lacks a stable binary kernel driver interface. When a driver build on Linux 2.4.XY-foocrap won't work on a system running Linux 2.4.YX-horsehockey, the only kind of drivers that are ever practical are open-source part-of-the-kernel-source-tree drivers.
This leads to a very annoying duality of Linux driver support... Either it JFW out-of-the-box, or its a royal PITA to ever get it to work. Rarely is there ever a middle ground. Meanwhile, in the Windows world, users can (*gasp*) download *and* easily (*gasp*) install device drivers made and distributed by the hardware manufacturer. Sure, less hardware works out-of-the-box on a clean Windows installation, but you can actually get it working in a fairly straightforward manner.
Of course this really isn't a "Linux vs. Windows" argument, as much as it is a "Linux vs. Everything Else" argument. Having a stable binary kernel driver interface is the STANDARD, not the EXCEPTION.