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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."
It's not a mess at all, it's infact very organized and you have a lot of foundations and organizations ensuring this. What is however a mess is blindfolding. How can you force proprietary applications upon people, MSN Messenger is a good example, and then expect that Linux should flawlessly reverse engineer it. Before MSN Messenger we had ICQ (also proprietary but relevant to the argument) which was very popular. It could, by the time that MSN Messenger bloomed, do almost (if not completely) the same thing. The difference? MSN Messenger comes with your OS, thus you don't need to even know about a 3rd party supplier. MSN Messenger works, it's so simple that you would be a total dickhead to fuck it up, but for a long time IE had big troubles (and frankly I left that scene long ago so I don't know about the current status) and thus Firefox got it's space to roam, not because it was a killerapp, but because the included application was worthless, thus people became forced to learn about the 3rd party. Similair to the MSN/ICQ scenario. The difference is that IM applications where back in the days still not widely used, as in by the common users. And this is the only reason why Firefox lives today, simply because MS lost their credibility when it comes to their browser, and people are still sceptical about IE, because they remember what a piece of shit application it once was.
So don't give me that crap about breaks/fix. It breaks because some dickhead chooses to put his money where he can almost certainly gain profit, no matter the product in hand, leaving no space for improvement/competition.
I am the lawn!
since Linux is just a kernel, you're saying only certain privileged groups can put utilities and libraries around it to make an operating system? you're qualified to say which one I must use?
only one answer to that, fuck you.
Not to mention if you release a deb/rpm/targ.gz/pkg you only have to recompile 4 times (plus 64 bit, etc) and they will typically work forever. But with windows, you may only need to compile once, but you are REWRITING the entire program's bottom layer every fucking time a new version comes out!