The 2008 Linux and Free Software Timeline

diegocgteleline.es writes "Here is LWN's eleventh annual timeline of significant events in the Linux and free software world for the year. As always, 2008 proved to be an interesting year, with great progress in useful software that made our systems better. Of course, there were some of the usual conflicts — patent woes, project politics, and arguments over freedom — but overall, the pace of free software progress stayed on its upwardly increasing trend. 2008 was a year that saw the end of SCO — or not — the rise of Linux-based 'netbooks,' multiple excellent distribution releases, more phones and embedded devices based on Linux, as well as major releases of software we will be using for years (X.org, Python, KDE, ...)."

Comments

2009

[RMH101]

...is presumably the Year Of Linux On The Desktop?

Re:2009

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do *i* want a year of Linux on the Desktop again?

It does what i what it to do and it does it well. The last thing i want is Linux to be windows. Thats why i don't use windows.

Re:2009

[Thanshin]

The last thing i want is Linux to be windows. Thats why i don't use windows.

You don't use Windows to stop Linux from being windows?

Is Linux following you?

You did give him some food, didn't you? Told you not to feed the OSs.

Re:2009

[von_rick]

You don't use Windows to stop Linux from being windows?

If you were to go merely by looks, Windows 7 is now practically identical to KDE4 interface. In fact they are so frightfully similar, you'd get the impression that they have same GUI developers.

On the positive side, if they looked alike, people would have no problem transitioning to the *nix+KDE side

Re:2009

[pembo13]

And in turn KDE 4 looks like a lot of themes that existed in one form or the other for KDE 3.5 at kde-look.org

Re:2009

[Anonymous Coward]

...occasionally taking a sip of that wonderful rose scented macchiato...

Rose and coffee??? Those flavors would go together horribly. Have you never tried anything rose flavored?

Re:2009

[Anonymous Coward]

My primary integration target asked me to recommend a "handbag PC" for her so I recommended the Acer Aspire One A150L (saving £55 by not having to pay for the Windows tax).

Her first reaction (before switching it on) was "Oh, cool, it's so cute - the colour matches my party dress! Perfect." I figured there and then I'd made fourth base.

Then I get a 'phone call belittling my IT talents because it's [supposedly] got Windows XP on it.

After attempting - and failing - to explain the bizarre decision by Acer to mickey the Windows XP theme on their GNU / Linux offerings, peace was restored by installing Ubuntu on it because "It looks decent".

There should be some baby penguins appearing in around nine months time and we can all live happily ever after.

Re:2009

[Anonymous Coward]

Lol, you're an hypocritical idiot, aren't you? I, for one rejoice when people have to invent "Linux" problems while blindingly obviously ignoring the shortcomings of Windows in order to defend their favourite monopolist. ;D

(No, I'm not going to argue the so called points, they aren't new, and have been debunked millions of times already.)

Re:2009

[LingNoi]

Why do you care about a native client so much?

Having a native client doesn't make it better, in fact it'd probably be worse because it would be a crappy port of the windows version.

If this mythical port existed then running the windows client via WINE would most likely be better because WINE is very strictly tested where as a developer doing a crappy port wouldn't take as much care. The Linux client would also most likely lag behind the windows version.

Re:2009

[w0mprat]

KDE4 and Win7 are only superficially similar in looks. There are similarities, but not enough to even justify the implication that someone copied someone of course.

Both seemed to have drawn ideas by looking at the popular themes from the OS skinning community associated with each interfaces. It's a shame that this wasn't done back in the Win9x+WindowsBlinds days when Microsoft thought Luna would impress everyone.

Re:2009

[Hurricane78]

And on the negative side, there would be no alternative to the notoriously bad interface design of Microsoft and those imitating them.

I just hope I can finish my current projects quickly and help fix this mess...

Re:2009

[ianare]

why, which years were not?

Re:2009

[Bastard of Subhumani]

Turkish delight is rose flavoured and it goes OK with coffee.

Re:2009

[stewbacca]

Such a machine is just perfect to bring along to Starbucks. You just sit there, occasionally taking a sip of that wonderful rose scented macchiato, right?

Insecure much? Your post says for more about yourself than it contributes to the conversation.

Re:2009

[Anonymous Coward]

The year zero.

Re:2009

[David Gerard]

I used to get confused between my KDE 3.5 laptop and my Windows 2000 work desktop - "oh hold on, that isn't on this desktop ..."

Re:2009

[David Gerard]

You mean, all the stuff that doesn't have Vista/Windows 7 drivers and never will, but works in Linux?

If only Microsoft hadn't deliberately broken XP drivers in Vista ...

Re:2009

[SombreReptile]

It is in Vietnam!

Re:2009

[StormReaver]

1999 was the year of Linux on my desktop. And 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, to infinity and beyond.

You got modded as funny because people who were raised on Microsoft desktops just can't imagine anything else. But remember that Linux doesn't have to destroy Microsoft to win. Linux just has to even the playing field, something that is occurring slowly but steadily. The moment that Microsoft loses its ability to dictate something because Linux provides an alternative, Microsoft has lost something. Over time, those little losses add up.

Re:2009

[oakgrove]

Yeah, but the difference is Microsoft rakes in billions yearly from Windows and they pay their UI designers good money to come up with what in all honesty is quite reminiscent of KDE4.

On the other hand, it makes sense for the KDE devs to rely on the community for some of their ideas. As a matter of fact, if they didn't, I would think something was wrong.

With all the money Microsoft invests into their OS releases, I expect to walk up to a laptop in Best Buy (the only experience I get with Windows these days) and be utterly blown away by sublimely awesome interface zen. Instead, I'm left with a supremely underwhelmed feeling and asking myself, "Is this really the best they could come up with?"

Re:2009

[cp.tar]

...is presumably the Year Of Linux On The Desktop?

No. It is not.
And why should it be?
The market is slowly moving away from the desktop and towards laptops, netbooks, embedded devices... and Linux is not that uncommon there. And is getting commoner.

Re:2009

[The End Of Days]

As Stewie Griffin once said, "apparently the razor wasn't invented until the late 80s"

Re:2009

[michrech]

There isn't any reason that software couldn't be written to standards that are already cross-platform (in this case, dealing specifically with games) to minimize any porting needed. I very much don't believe I deserved the Troll mod I received as software compatibility is very much a real issue, especially for business (I have to deal with such all the time in my job).

I care about a native client "so much" because, very often, emulation just doesn't work as well as running native code. Go ahead, try to dispute that. Yes, "calc" probably runs very well under WINE. I'm sure there are many pieces of software that run quite well under WINE. The majority of games (especially anything DX10, I'd bet) DON'T, or don't very well. Yes, there is a "hack" for DX10 for XP, but there is no telling how well it'd work in XP (for every game one might play, let alone the games I listed specifically). There's even less information about how well this would work in WINE.

Your rant about how the "linux port would most likely lag behind the windows version" is a poorly constructed straw-man -- until one exists, and the company proves that they are going to update it less frequently, you really have no argument.

Re:2009

[michrech]

I'd normally not respond to an AC, but in this case...

I'm fairly certain that a stack of stuff I have sitting in my spare bedroom (including a TV tuner and a few mainboards with built in hardware of various bits) would like to disagree with you.

Yes, hardware support has gotten *far* better for linux. I was quite correct in stating, specifically, web cams and printers for hardware. Most "host based" printers are, quite simply, not going to work in linux. Period. These printers are the cheap HP DJ3000 series (as one example) -- you know, the printers that cost less than the ink cartridges they (under)use.

The only reason you stated you weren't going to argue the "so called points" in my argument, instead belittling them, is because you simply didn't have anything to add (if you did, you certainly would not have posted as AC, now would you?).

Re:2009

[michrech]

Ummmm... What?

Of the three desktops I currently have running in my house, none of them less than a year to year and a half old, not one of them has a piece of hardware that worked in XP, but not Vista. My laptop required some downloads from device vendors (because MSI only bundled drivers for Vista), but that wasn't difficult. I actually had more of an issue getting the webcam, bluetooth, and sound working in XP (again, the OEM didn't bundle XP drivers on the driver disk the system came with). I purchased a MSI barebones 17" laptop. Once I downloaded drivers for the three items I mentioned, the laptop has worked great ever since. Even worked great in linux (though I didn't try the web cam or bluetooth -- all the games I mentioned do not work in linux, so it ended up with XP).

Re:2009

[LingNoi]

There are plenty of good reasons why cross platform is an impossibility right now. One is that major game developers have already invested in making a game engine which relies heavily in windows API calls. Oblivion's Engine was used in Fallout 3. Valve has spent millions on their Source engine which they license to other game companies.

From your post I can see you either haven't used wine for a long time or invested any real time in learning how to use it.

emulation just doesn't work as well as running native code

This is just simply wrong. WINE doesn't emulate anything. The very name WINE stands for "Wine is not an emulator".

What wine does is redirect API calls so that windows programs run.

If for example your windows program calls a d3d9 function example(x,y,z) then all wine does is implement this function as so..

HRESULT WINAPI example(x, y, z) {
(do whatever this function does on windows via linux libraries)
return WHATEVER;
}

There's no emulation (in the virtual machine sense) going on at all, it's all API redirections.

Yes, "calc" probably runs very well under WINE

I don't know about that but users of Fallout 3, Left4Dead have no problems running wine. In fact if you visited wines appdb there's a whole load of games which run.

Fallout 3, Team Fortress, WoW, are all marked as Gold.

The majority of games (especially anything DX10, I'd bet) DON'T, or don't very well.

Like I said earlier they do, so you're just lying about the majority of games not working. There are no games that I know of apart from 2 (both microsoft games) which are DX10 only and I very much doubt there will be any outside of Microsoft which are for a very long time. When that time comes DX10 will probably be almost finished in wine.

DX10 support in wine is already progressing. If you download the latest version of wine you'll see implementations of D3D10 already there, however a lot of the functions are stubbed.

I don't quite understand how you got to that reasoning however like the rest of your post, it is all based on false assumptions.

Re:2009

[Anonymous Coward]

Your rant about how the "linux port would most likely lag behind the windows version" is a poorly constructed straw-man -- until one exists, and the company proves that they are going to update it less frequently, you really have no argument.

Case in point: America's Army used to have a linux port. It had more bugs and always lagged behind the windows version until they finally canned it.

Re:2009

[scoot80]

I was raised on a Microsoft desktop. Well, on a Microsoft command line to start off with. I've been going back and forth between various flavors of Linux and Windows for years. First one I tried was Mandrake. I simply go back to Windows because it lets me play the latest games. I've been keeping up with Ubuntu releases and I even had a paid account for Transgaming. Transgaming experiences weren't the best. Poor fps, even on pretty good hardware at the time.

But certain things that you just take for granted in a Windows world take a lot of effort in Linux. Getting my wireless card in the laptop to work, installing Nvidia drivers, getting my work (windows mobile) device to sync, plus using software that I need for work which have no Linux versions available are just examples of things that pull me back to Windows.

Year of the Linux desktop will be different for everyone. Once I'm able to seamlessly switch without requiring too much effort, it'll be the year of the linux desktop for me. It may be 2009, it may be 2015, who knows. Till then, Windows is filling a gap that Linux cannot.

Re:2009

[michrech]

You couldn't have selected a worse example. That game was commissioned by our military. They have other things they need to direct their funds at than a game.

Yup. That took a whole lot of higher brain functions to think about...

Also, with the military selecting WINDOWS for their OS's installed upon warships (I can't possibly fathom what they were thinking there), isn't it just *slightly* possible that someone "higher up" decided this "linux thing" was just a fad and shit-canned the entire linux port project?

Your rant about how the "linux port would most likely lag behind the windows version" is a poorly constructed straw-man -- until one exists, and the company proves that they are going to update it less frequently, you really have no argument.

Case in point: America's Army used to have a linux port. It had more bugs and always lagged behind the windows version until they finally canned it.

Re:2009

[michrech]

You keep thinking that. I think I'll stick to the information I've received from the CGA club on campus, along with what I've experienced first hand from the local LUG/Math & CS department...

It's nice, and all, that you found a few games marked as "Gold" -- strange, however, that you decided not to mention any of the games I specifically named. You aren't helping your argument. I may as well harped on about X not working on a Dodge, to have you shoot back that thing Z works great on a Ford.

As to DX10 games working in WINE, but just maybe not in DX10 mode -- DDO doesn't *require* DX10, however, the graphics look one hell of a lot better with it (it's the ONLY reason I'm running Vista right now. Well, that, and I got it free)).

Re:2009

[bzipitidoo]

Windows support for hardware has been stagnant. 64bit PCs routinely ship with 32bit versions of Windows. If you try to do something about that such as install 64bit Windows XP, you'll find it can't even finish booting the install CD because it doesn't have suitable CD drivers. Not fun to hunt up an obsolete 3.5" floppy drive and disk and install it just so drivers can be loaded.

Not fair, perhaps, to rag on an 8 year old OS? Ok, Windows Server 2003 has the same problems. Still not fair? Then ask why MS can't seem to stay current. We all know Vista is DRMed junk. Why hasn't MS released an updated Windows XP that has a chance of working out of the box on recent hardware? It would be so easy for them to roll in a few more drivers and of course all the latest patches. Instead, they've gone down the path of preinstalled OEM versions, with cruddy "recovery" CDs, or no CDs at all and just a recovery partition on the hard drive. End users are now discouraged from installing Windows themselves. No, now you've got to violate all sorts of EULA provisions (no big deal, but still) to roll your own installation CD. If you go that far, then good luck finding 64bit drivers for all your hardware. Or you can just live with the 32bit Vista that the box came with. Or switch to Linux.

Re:2009

[Anonymous Coward]

There won't be a single decisive victory for Linux just like there won't be a single decisive cure for cancer. It will come in small steps and by the time we realize something happened, we'll already be there.

Re:2009

[michrech]

What are you talking about? You know MS doesn't make the majority of the drivers in Windows, right? The OEM's submit them to MS for inclusion in Windows. Anything not there will have to be provided by the computer OEM or downloaded yourself (which is what I had to do with my laptop).

I have a feeling the "recovery CD/partition" is mostly an issue caused by the OEM's themselves. Buying/providing the CD cost money (however little). ANY pennies they can save helps them against their competition. The only reason I can see MS hoping for this is that they see it helping curb piracy (ignoring all the OEM/retail CD's that are int he wild, and that's *assuming* they're dumb enough to even believe discouraging OEM's from providing them would help at all, anyway).

Re:2009

[wrook]

I understand what you are saying. But Windows is often filling a gap of it's own making. For instance synching a windows mobile device -- of course it works well with Windows. It's specifically designed to.

It's not so much that Windows is filling a gap that Linux cannot, is that some popular devices are not designed to work with Linux. Of course, they could be, but the developers choose not to do so. As consumers we have a choice of what devices to buy. If we buy devices that work with Linux, then there is no gap to fill.

What's frustrating for me as a Linux user is that it isn't always obvious what I can buy without difficulty. This is more a problem with my vendors than with the Linux kernel -- obviously no OS works with *all* hardware (not even Windows). But with Windows, almost all of the vendors will tell you reliably what will work.

And this is where these small victories are necessary. One by one if we can convince vendors that our money is desirable, then it makes life easier for us. And really, for the most part it's pretty easy right now. I can easily buy a laptop or desktop computer mail order that is guaranteed to work.

Where we really need work is in accessories (although I've not personally had problems in the areas you mention -- not entirely sure what difficulty you've had). Also, you're right that we need to keep writing free software to replace proprietary software.

Re:2009

[bonch]

There are plenty of good reasons why cross platform is an impossibility right now. One is that major game developers have already invested in making a game engine which relies heavily in windows API calls. Oblivion's Engine was used in Fallout 3. Valve has spent millions on their Source engine which they license to other game companies.

Oblivion and Fallout 3 both use the cross-platform Gamebryo engine, and Source is coming to Linux. Source is derived from Goldsrc, which was derived from Quake, which itself rendered both Direct3D and OpenGL. Given the current climate of releasing for PC and console platforms, not retaining some amount of cross-compatibility is a dumb design move.

As for Wine, every time I've tried running something meaningful, it's usually a subpar experience. I don't understand why you argue in favor of an API translation layer over a direct port that could fully take advantage of the target platform (for example, the Mac version of World of Warcraft has iTunes keybinding support and built-in Quicktime video recording).

Re:2009

[LingNoi]

Oblivion and Fallout 3 are windows only and that's not going to change.

The same for the Source engine. You cite a link however its a rumour at best. Looking for a system admin that knows linux doesn't mean they're going to port their games. Did you even read the article you supplied? I know I did months and months ago, oh look! It hasn't happened.

It sucks that you have problems however lots of people don't hence all the good ratings in wine's app db, all submitted by users.

I argue in favour of wine because touting a native client as the only solution is stupid and unrealistic.

Re:2009

[David Gerard]

The trouble with Linux hardware support is that an incredible range of stuff Just Works ... but if it doesn't Just Work, you're basically buggered.

This is incrementally improving, but it'll take hardware makers treating Linux as a first-class platform they can't get away with not supporting. Like server makers - no-one would be insane enough to make an x86 server that doesn't support Linux immaculately.

I suggest you keep using the platform that serves your purpose - the right answer to "which OS should I use?" is always "what's it for?"

Re:2009

[LingNoi]

It's nice, and all, that you found a few games marked as "Gold" -- strange, however, that you decided not to mention any of the games I specifically named.

I didn't realise I had to however ok..

Age of Empires 3 - Gold rating
D&D Online - Platinum rating

I think I'll stick to the information I've received from the CGA club on campus

Blind leading the blind. Good luck with that.

Re:2009

[michrech]

I laugh at people like you, especially when you don't do your homework:

D&D Online. Platinum rating?! HAHAHAHAHA!

"However, one major thing is simply not working, and it is not generating any errors. I can not send or receive guild chats or party chats, and my client also never joins voice chat." - Oct 2006

"I had the chat server drop and reconnect, and saw guild chat no prob, but party and voice didn't work. Anybody know if that's being worked on?" -- January 2008

"Party chat still does not work. I can recieve party chat most of the time (especially right after a disconnect-reconnect), but I can't actually send chat to the party." March 2008

Those are the newest posts for DDO. So, it obviously doesn't tale a whole lot to get a Platinum rating. If something simple like text based chat and voice chat aren't working (yes, voice chat seemed to be having issues as well, though I didn't put those quotes in there), what *else* isn't working?

AOE3 has even MORE issues than DDO does. I actually have to copy .dll's from a Windows installation into my WINE installation?! I have to manually add registry keys? I have to manually register .dll/.ax files? NO MP3 PLAYBACK (there go the majority of the games sounds)?! I have to turn off the 'pixelshader' in the Graphics options?! There are MANY MANY more steps that have to *manually* be done just to get AOE3 to work, let alone the expansions. Hell, there is even a post in it's "problems" thread that suggests it doesn't deserve its Platinum rating (WHAT?!?! It was rated PLATINUM?!!?!?), that instead it should be rated BRONZE! This was back in late November 2008! What's even more funny is that you listed it with a gold rating when, according to your own link, it's a silver!

So, Thank You!! You have proven beyond anything I could have said/done that WINE, while it may be a wonderful product for some things, it is NOT a good alternative to Windows (yet, especially for gaming), and you have proven beyond any doubt that the "Troll" rating I have received as a result of this line of dialog was completely undeserved. Again.. Thank you!

Blind leading the blind. Good luck with that.

Yes. Having listened to you would have fit this quote perfectly. Unfortunately for you, I can read.

Re:2009

[LingNoi]

I laugh at people like you, especially when you don't do your homework:

Again, you're digging yourself into a hole. It's getting pathetic that you are trying to find anything to fault, even last years posts from months and months ago.

(WHAT?!?! It was rated PLATINUM?!!?!?),

Age of empires hasn't been rated platinum ever so I don't really understand what you're talking about.

With that said, this will be my last reply as I can see you're the type of person that is "crazy stupid" and will try anything to "win" an argument.

Good luck with your "native ports" lol..

Re:2009

[Elektroschock]

It is the year of "Desktop Indifference". It doesn't matter anymore which operating system you run for the desktop of the future. Exit costs are getting lower. It is natural now for new software to support Mac and Linux users as it is coded platform independent.

We will see new Linux desktops as LXDE or XFCE gain ground that focus on key functionality and simplicity. 2009 is also the year when KDE4 gets usable.

On the timeline

[Icegryphon]

Do they show when Linux Kernel Surpasses 10 Million Lines of Code?

Re:On the timeline

[Anonymous Coward]

Because Linux operating system has now over 10 million Lines of Code, it is so remarkable thing it should be listed there!

As always

[betterunixthanunix]

Just a funny way to phrase it: As always, 2008 proved to be interesting... It sounds like 2008 happens all the time, and it is usually interesting...

Re:As always

[ryzvonusef]

---As always, 2008 proved to be an interesting year--- ??? WTH? Its like as if this is the Groundhog day, and 2008 keeps repeating it self... The n+1th iteration is always more interesting than last time...

Re:As always

[carlmenezes]

As always, we live in interesting times.

Re:As always

[Tweenk]

"For every year y where y = 2008, y is interesting" - this makes sense in the mathematic sense, but in the language sense it doesn't.

Correction

[Anonymous Coward]

It is _Linux-powered_ netbooks, _not_ Linux-based netbooks.

Re:Correction

[CannonballHead]

I am fairly certain that they still run on electricity... I could be wrong, but last time I checked...

Re:Correction

[betterunixthanunix]

Actually, they are based on electricity, and powered by Linux.

Re:Correction

[Fri13]

Actually they are based to silicon, powered by elecricity and run by Linux-Operating System when controlled with Gnome-desktop environment and plastic keyboard and mouse.

Re:Correction

[CannonballHead]

Ooooooh! So that's what the three E's refer to in the netbook by Asus.

* CannonballHead runs off to tell all his friends that his laptop is based on electricity but is powered by (wireless!) Linux

Re:Correction

[sakdoctor]

I'd pay extra for one powered by Linus

Re:Correction

[abigor]

when controlled with Gnome-desktop environment

Actually, the Asus EEE and the Acer Aspire One, probably the two most popular, use KDE. Not sure about the others. Sorry to be so pedantic.

Re:Correction

[meringuoid]

Actually, the Asus EEE and the Acer Aspire One, probably the two most popular, use KDE. Not sure about the others. Sorry to be so pedantic.

I think they use XFCE out of the box, but with a lot of KDE applications and the Qt libraries. Couldn't confirm this, though, I installed Ubuntu on my Eee :-)

Re:Correction

[PrescriptionWarning]

the EEE has KDE sure, but the launcher it has sitting on top of it is what is shipped and used by default, so I imagine it wouldn't matter to most if it wasn't KDE. Of course eeebuntu is my preferred choice for the EEE, with the sexy netbook remix :)

Re:Correction

[jd]

Actually they are based on planet Earth, based around silicon, based in semiconductor phenomena, powered by electricity, controlled by the Linux Operating System, regulated by I2C-based feedback mechanisms, presented by a Framebuffer- or X11-based interface, fed by inputs from electro-mechanical devices and operated by geeks and freaks.

Re:Correction

[David Gerard]

They have a little penguin running in a wheel.

Re:Correction

[Tubal-Cain]

He even admits to needing to lose some weight...
Have we come up with a new source of funding for the Linux Foundation? Linus on an exercise bike attached to a generator?
"Have your laptop batteries charged by the Benevolent Dictator himself! Only $1000 per Kwh!"

Re:Correction

[CarpetShark]

Electricity is based on Linux.

Re:Correction

[Anonymous Coward]

At least my EeePC 701 came with IceWM. It has a lot of KDE applications installed, but it's not KDE only environment. I don't know about later models.

Now when I have enabled the taskbar command line and some other stuff Asus had disabled, I actually prefer IceWM to KDE. It is much more out of my way, use the screen better and just feels more logical and consistent. One thing Asus screwed up is the font rendering, but it's easy to correct. Oh, and of course I installed Opera, Firefox is just to slow and use to much screen estate on a modest computer.

Re:Correction

[Anonymous Coward]

I actually switched from KDE to IceWM when version 4 was released. By far my favorite stacking window manager, too bad it rarely gets the attention it deserves.

Fun fact: KDE can actually use IceWM themes. It's a small world, isn't it?

Re:Correction

[Elektroschock]

Asus ist looking to switch to LXDE as Mandriva has done. However, they contracted MS-Xandros for the operating system.

"time" is a heathen concept

[Anonymous Coward]

Jesus is the LORD and computers are your GRAVE for DEVIL WORSHopping mastorbaots. Only hamburgers for me sir!

Stand back, we're doing science!

[girlintraining]

Yes. Our community has made excellent progress this past year. We created our first undead corporation. We shall now replicate this process to form legions of unkillable tech companies that are immune to lawyers, governments, and fanboys. And Microsoft outdid themselves... We thought Microsoft Bob was their rock bottom, but Vista proved that our expectations were, perhaps, not low enough. Wonder twin powers of Vampirism and Suck unite!

most exciting thing for me: Wine 1.0

[je ne sais quoi]

The most exciting thing for me that's happened in free software in the last year was Wine 1.0. The "1.0" is not itself as important, but the usability in wine of many apps has improved dramatically in the last year. I can remember that wine in principal was a fantastic idea, but in practice it was so difficult to get anything to run your time was better spent dual-booting. E.g., this time last year, I was still having to run a patched version of winex from cedega to get the map editor in neverwinter nights to run and even then it still crashed periodically. This year, that app runs using the stock wine code.

The thing is, I'm no longer playing nwn because I can run Civ IV, Medieval 2 and a bunch of other newer games using wine instead. Yes, I still have to dual-boot into windows to run the newest games at high resolutions and good frame-rates, but older games are getting very playable using wine and the number of hacks you have to do to get them to run is decreasing. It's great! Just about the only one that you have to install on a regular basis is the no-CD hack, but that's a useful thing to have anyway. Some stuff just makes me laugh, like when punkbuster runs for Far Cry 2 and bitches at you because it thinks you're a punk, you just close the window and the installation continues. (Unfortunately Far Cry 2 is one of those that doesn't run very well at high resolution.)

Re:most exciting thing for me: Wine 1.0

[CannonballHead]

E.g., this time last year, I was still having to run a patched version of winex from cedega to get the map editor in neverwinter nights to run and even then it still crashed periodically. This year, that app runs using the stock wine code.

The NWN map editor wasn't released as a Linux version like the NWN client was?

Re:most exciting thing for me: Wine 1.0

[je ne sais quoi]

Nope, never was. That was incredibly annoying for me because it basically meant I was shut out of any developer stuff on my server until I managed to get the map editor running using winex.

Re:most exciting thing for me: Wine 1.0

[CannonballHead]

That's pretty weird. I had nostalgic fun running NWN in Linux when the client came out, but I never tried using the map editor.

Re:most exciting thing for me: Wine 1.0

[Anonymous Coward]

Fuck you. Because of you I now have to reinstall a large bunch of old games on Wine to see if I can make them work again.

I hope you are proud of yourself now, asshole.

Re:most exciting thing for me: Wine 1.0

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a shame that Linux distros don't take wine seriously.

On desktop distros, wine should be installed by default so that installing a windows game is as easy as in windows (run setup.exe automatically - or at least ask the user, etc).

And it's not impossible to have a database of "hacks" which automatically detects (hashes, file names) which game is being loaded, and applies automatically the required hack.

Re:most exciting thing for me: Wine 1.0

[Hatta]

And yet, bug 6971 is still outstanding. It's the second highest voted bug on their bugzilla, and it's been open since 2006. They call it a "normal" severity bug, yet it clearly meets the definition for a "major" severity bug. That is: "Major loss of functionality for a wide range of applications." Just about every Unreal engine game is unplayable because of this bug. It was supposed to be fixed for 1.0, but it keeps getting deferred. I don't see why this isn't a higher priority for them. It obviously affects a lot of users, just look at all the duplicate bug reports for this one!

Re:most exciting thing for me: Wine 1.0

[David Gerard]

The answer is, of course, "so code it please kthx." Or buy Codeweaver Games and ask they get onto this one.

Re:most exciting thing for me: Wine 1.0

[Ginger Unicorn]

Reading through the comments on that bug, it seems that a fix relies on a change in Xorg which they said happens at a glacial pace, and this bug is deferred till that change is made. Not a lot they can do about it really.

Re:most exciting thing for me: Wine 1.0

[Elektroschock]

All that is needed basically is more Wine development. Wine development does not scale very well. The future will be probably dedicated development. E.g. a team that will just work on getting a popular application X work and is funded to make sure the application does not break under wine and all bugs get smashed. I guess many users would be willing to pay 20$ to fund a stable running of MS Office 2003 under Wine. Some software manufacturers can find it useful to make their applications run unter Wine or issue bounties.

I also believe that governments should find ways to crossfinance Wine as to get more flexibility and reduce exit-costs for Windows infrastrutures of their markets and pressure Microsoft to fully lay open application interface documentation.

Hacks should not be required at all. It is necessary to make Windows applications run out of the box.

Re:most exciting thing for me: Wine 1.0

[Elektroschock]

It is less useless than it used to be. Now you can simply always add the latest version to your repositories. Progress is beeing made and bugs happen to get resolved over time.

Re:The U.S.A. Collapse Timeline +1, Interesting

[fprintf]

Too bad you posted AC. That was a very interesting read. I'm not sure I believe everything in that article, but the point about the U.S. economy being a giant pyramid scheme, built currently on the foriegn economic investment, seems right on.

My hope

[Anonymous Coward]

I hope that Windows 7 will help the open source community as already it did (a bit) with Vista!

Re:My hope

[KasperMeerts]

I'm afraid Microsoft will have felt the warm breath of the FOSS community in its fat neck, so I predict Windows 7 will actually be pleasant to use.

Re:My hope

[kiwimate]

I'm afraid Microsoft will have felt the warm breath of the FOSS community in its fat neck, so I predict Windows 7 will actually be pleasant to use.

But that's good, right? After all, the point of all of this is that competition leads to improvements all around, and anything which makes something better for the consumer is a bonus. After all, this is about giving the consumer more and better choices, yes? Not just some arbitrary ego-massaging war...

Re:My hope

[KasperMeerts]

Of course it's great!
But part of me wants Microsoft to fail again, because that could drive them over the edge.

Competition's great and that's why without one monolithic company controlling 90% of the OS market, the consumer would be better off.

Re:My hope

[Tubal-Cain]

warm breath of the FOSS community

Are you saying we are full of hot air?

Ah Yes...

[lymond01]

As always, 2008 proved to be an interesting year

Yes, I remember the last time 2008 rolled around...we celebrated until dawn, frolicking in our pantaloons, firmly supported by our onion-garnished belts...

Re:Ah Yes...

[Anonymous Coward]

And why I was not invited to your "pantaloon party"? It's my garlic breath isn't it?

Re:Ah Yes...

[u38cg]

I'm 4032 years old, you insensitive clod!

linux kernel: a year of standing still?

[petes_PoV]

Looking at the changes to the kernel over the year, there have been a few minor releases. The change notices for these summed them up as

".. most of it really is one-liners, and mostly not very exciting ones at that."

So it seems to me that all the advances have been in products and peripheral applications, rather than in the fundamental core of Linux: the operating system. This is a rather ominous sign as it makes me think that the development initiative has pretty much stalled - since nothing new in the way of functionality or features appeared. Support for new hardware and bug fixes are always nice, but they indicate a "support-phase" project rather than new developments.

Re:linux kernel: a year of standing still?

[betterunixthanunix]

This is a GOOD thing. A major issue facing Linux concerns the availability of drivers, especially for obscure hardware, and one of the reasons that smaller hardware vendors shied away from driver development early on was that the kernel changed too many times, and those changes required constant work on their drivers. The Windows driver API was static for so long that small hardware vendors became comfortable just releasing a driver for Windows and not touching it much for years on end. If we finally have a stable Linux kernel that just gets maintenance fixes, that will go a long way toward increasing hardware support and Linux use.

Re:linux kernel: a year of standing still?

[Anonymous Coward]

http://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_2_6_24
http://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_2_6_25
http://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_2_6_26
http://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_2_6_27
http://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_2_6_28

Those are the 2008 kernel releases. They look exciting to me...

Re:linux kernel: a year of standing still?

[jd]

News of a new, fully-integrated real-time patch seems exciting to me. But, then, I'm weird. However, I want to know when Sun acquired the Lustre filesystem and if it was this year, why it wasn't mentioned anywhere. Sun's debacle with MySQL isn't boosting my confidence any, Lustre no longer post their development snapshots or news on what's being changed, resulting in one of the premiere open-source distributed filing systems becoming distinctly less open. THAT bothers me.

Re:linux kernel: a year of standing still?

[petes_PoV]

yes, I agree that instability in the interface is a bad thing and makes vendors stay away from Linux. However it's not impossible to design a decent ABI (or API, even) with enough flexibility to allow for future developments.

What I'm concerned about is that Linux seems to have stalled - if minor point releases, bug fixes and new hardware are all they're doing, then I think it will be hard to keep developers interested in doing kernel work - it will seem too much like real work, but unpaid. Linux used to be exciting and cutting-edge, now it just seems to be in the doldrums.

Re:linux kernel: a year of standing still?

[betterunixthanunix]

Many Linux kernel developers are paid -- they work for companies like Red Hat or IBM, which have a vested interest in a minor releases and bug fixes. Linux has come a long way since the days of arguments among volunteers on Usenet...

Re:linux kernel: a year of standing still?

[ianare]

The Linux code base has done anything but stall, it is growing, and has been growing even more rapidly in the last couple years.
looky here

As far as quality of code, good news there as well, 2008 saw some nice updates to kernel scheduling, better virtualization, a completely new kernel-level graphic manager, and the EXT4 filesystem. These are all 'big deals' in both difficulty of coding and improvements they bring.

Re:linux kernel: a year of standing still?

[Anonymous Coward]

News of a new, fully-integrated real-time patch seems exciting to me. But, then, I'm weird.

Yes. It's not really of interest to desktop or server users, is it? Only a certain segment of embedded developers. On the other hand, we've got a new scheduler, tickless, a new stable filesystem, usermode driver support, and other cool stuff.

Re:linux kernel: a year of standing still?

[jd]

Real-time desktops should play DVDs more smoothly when also browsing the Internet or ripping a CD at the same time. Real-time servers - yeah, those would not really have any added value. The new scheduler is definitely cool, tickless is cool, a new stable filesystem AND TWO possibly-superior new experimental filesystems - all definitely cool, usermode drivers I'm not sure on but the ingiuity involved is most certainly cool, new I/O schedulers (now those ARE cool for servers), a candidate for a better DMA allocator (good for anyone who fragments memory - ie: most gamers and most database users), and yes, lots of other cool stuff.

Re:linux kernel: a year of standing still?

[Hognoxious]

Maybe there's no major changes because it's almost finished? (insert your own Duke Nukem joke here).

Re:linux kernel: a year of standing still?

[David Gerard]

Ticklessness is very interesting to me, because it's why I get 3.5 hours' battery life in Linux on the same laptop that gets 2 hours booted into Windows.

Re:linux kernel: a year of standing still?

[ThePhilips]

[...] then I think it will be hard to keep developers interested in doing kernel work - it will seem too much like real work, but unpaid.

Well, it was well advertised before that kernels have little to no interesting challenges - all problems are well known and 30+ years of research is easily available.

Frankly, I'm pretty happy that Linux reached such level of stability. Perl is in the same state: after 5th release, there were very very few major changes. But why to changing anything if it works well already??

Also, stabilization of core Linux means that developers have a chance to rethink many design decisions and correct them. Before, Linux was like in haze to catch up to the level of many commercial OSs, with much much longer histories. Now it firmly stands above most if not all kernels, though as OS (GNU/Linux, distro, etc) there is lots of work ahead - work which can be done now because there is such good stable foundation.

Looking back, I think change of development model during 2.6 series was genius decision. Linux had grown up and doesn't need pampers^W version changed every year anymore.

My Contribution To the Time LIne

[kenp2002]

Jan 3rd 2006 - Installed Gentoo Linux as a firewall+tarpit\snort\IDS\reporting server. Set up scheduled Emerge update world in Crontab
Sept 11th 2007 - rebooted said server moving to 2.6 kernel. Some issues with with portage after reboot but nothing the Gentoo Wiki didn't answer.
Sept 12th 2007 - Went to bar with friends.
Today - no reboots yet, 99.9% uptime for all reported services.

Re:My Contribution To the Time LIne

[Anonymous Coward]

So running Gentoo is somehow related to only going out with friends once in a three year period?

Re:My Contribution To the Time LIne

[Stoian Ivanov]

I call B.S. last time I checked - emerge did not restart any service nor auto merge settings changes! so you could easily go without that crontab line! Gentoo is great for desktop dev-station but router - there is more suitable project - Debian. atp does restart and aoutomerge settings.

Significant events that did not happen for Linux

[sundarvenkata]

1) Unified API for interacting with the umpteen number of desktop environments like GNOME, KDE, Englightenment, ad nauseam. 2) Decent voice chat clients (no please do not tell me Skype Beta works in your *picked for linux* hardware) 3) Unified package management system. 4) Decent IDE for Python that does not suck balls (Anjuta, Pydev do not cut it). 5) Google Chrome 6) Default system fonts that do not make you puke.

More Windows XP Based Netbooks than Linux...

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been seeing more and more Windows XP Home based netbooks out on the market than Linux based. This is a shame. I'm not even sure why this happening, but I was personally hoping for the netbooks to be mostly Linux based and leave Windows for those who want to pay the premium for less storage and RAM.

More Linux programs, amaaaaaaazing ^^

[Yfrwlf]

Yes, programs were updated, "distro" isos bundled those updates, another fun year of Linux software development indeedy. ^^

Politics and such can be interesting sorta, but the most interesting things to me are the best new software features, and great new Linux software in general. IMO, Linux software projects should be much more of a focus in the media, and less politics. New features and new software, especially that which is cross-distro so everyone can have access. (was going to say cross-platform too, but that's not the point of the Linux section) ^^

Ninnle has always been free

[Anonymous Coward]

...and always will be. Ninnle Linux, NinnleBSD and NinWM too.

Re:Significant events that did not happen for Linu

[petes_PoV]

7) a killer webcam application that "just works"

8) a desktop based on "what do you want to do?", rather than "guess which one of the cutely named, but obscure application with far too many overly-complicated and poorly explained options, might just do half of what you want"

When did Sun buy Lustre?

[jd]

I must've been asleep when that was announced.

2008 timeline

[Quiet_Desperation]

Jan: Linux conquers the desktop!
Feb: No, wait...
Mar: OK, now!
Apr: Nope. Hang on...
May: Linux conquers- no, wait.
Jun: Vacation
Jul: Staycation
Aug: OK, conquering in 3... 2... wait...
Sep: Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnn...
Oct: ...nnnnnnnnnnnn...
Nov: nnnnnnnnnnnnow!
Dec: No, wait...

Re:2008 timeline

[Anonymous Coward]

lol!

Re:Significant events that did not happen for Linu

[PeterBrett]

1) Unified API for interacting with the umpteen number of desktop environments like GNOME, KDE, Englightenment, ad nauseam.

I'm not sure what you're actually asking here. Could you expand a bit?

2) Decent voice chat clients (no please do not tell me Skype Beta works in your *picked for linux* hardware)

The Skype client works just fine on my bog-standard-off-the-shelf hardware. But I agree that a free software client would be nice. Have you tried Ekiga?

3) Unified package management system.

You're making a classic mistake. Linux is an operating system kernel. Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu and SuSE are operating system distributions. Windows is an operating system distribution and an operating system kernel. You should compare Windows to Ubuntu, or compare Windows to Fedora, or compare Windows to Debian, not compare Windows to Linux. What this means is that the idea of a 'unified package management system' doesn't mean very much. Do you mean that you should be able to sit at any Linux machine and use exactly the same command set and package names to manipulate the software load? Do you mean that you should be able to take package of binaries from a vendor and install it on any Linux machine? The latter is perfectly possible, as long as the vendor statically links all of the required libraries. They can even wrap it in a nice executable install script for you. See for instance the Quake 4 installer. And if the distribution you're installing it on top of complies with the Linux Standard Base, you might even get desktop icons and file associations. But it sounds like you're pouting, stomping your foot and insisting that every distribution use <insert your favourite package management system here>. And, as far as I can tell, that will never happen: each distribution has chosen a system which suits them, and to move to a different one would require there to be a significant technical advantage to doing so. In my opinion, none of the major distributions have any glaring deficiencies in their package/repository systems today, and I don't expect them to change any time in the next 12 months at least.

4) Decent IDE for Python that does not suck balls (Anjuta, Pydev do not cut it).

Once again, complaints with no substance. What aspects of Anjuta and Pydev make them 'suck balls'? I get on very well editing my Python code in Emacs, and it works well for me.

5) Google Chrome

Why would anyone want this anyway?

6) Default system fonts that do not make you puke.

My system fonts don't make me nauseous. I doubt yours do, either. Maybe if you stated what your grievance is with the fonts, someone could explain how to fix the problem or explain why the problem can't be fixed in more detail.

Anyway, I think that's enough trollfeed for now. Feel free to return to your bridge.

Re:Significant events that did not happen for Linu

[PeterBrett]

8) a desktop based on "what do you want to do?", rather than "guess which one of the cutely named, but obscure application with far too many overly-complicated and poorly explained options, might just do half of what you want"

When click on the system menu here I get a list of applications called, 'Web Browser', 'Text Editor', 'E-mail Client', etc. This on a Fedora 10 KDE 4 desktop. I think that if I wanted to do something like take a screenshot, I might click on 'Graphics' and then 'Screenshot Capture Program'. Compare this to Windows, where if you want to carry out a task you usually have to remember which company wrote the piece of software that you intend to use.

You're either a troll or an idiot who hasn't touched a Linux workstation in years.

By the way, what would you guess each of these does from the name: Outlook, QuickTime, Skype, Safari, Excel, or Cubase?

Re:Significant events that did not happen for Linu

[ianare]

what's this new python IDE you speak of ? The new netbeans implementation ?

Debian

[mcubed]

Sept: "The Debian project runs into problems with firmware (again) along with an unclear general resolution ballot which causes discord, eventually leading to the resignation of the project secretary"

2008 was a typical year for Debian. By the time Lenny is released, it'll be retro-cool.

I switched, that's worth something, right?

[Palal]

I switched, that's worth something, right?

IDE for Python.

[Balinares]

> 4) Decent IDE for Python that does not suck balls

You want Eric. Great piece of software, very complete, great debugger integration.

Re:IDE for Python.

[Internalist]

Or WingIDE...(yes, yes...non-FREE, yadda yadda)...it's a great IDE that does all the good stuff you want (great code completion, good customizability, good VCS integration, good project management, etc). Has been rock-solid on my Kubuntu (6.10-8.04) boxes.

AND, if you're a Linux developer working on a project, it's free-as-in-beer...yup, they'll give you a license for the Personal (maybe even the Professional?) version.

Re:Significant events that did not happen for Linu

[David Gerard]

The purpose of freedesktop.org is to solve 1., and a lot of stuff is now in fact working well between the two (and others).

If you say so

[ClosedSource]

"You're making a classic mistake. Linux is an operating system kernel. Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu and SuSE are operating system distributions. Windows is an operating system distribution and an operating system kernel. You should compare Windows to Ubuntu, or compare Windows to Fedora, or compare Windows to Debian, not compare Windows to Linux"

Joe Sixpack: I've heard of this new OS called Linux. Should I get it instead of Windows?

Linux guy: No, Linux is just a kernel, you can't do anything with it.

Re:If you say so

[PeterBrett]

Joe Sixpack: I've heard of this new OS called Linux. Should I get it instead of Windows?

Linux guy: No, Linux is just a kernel, you can't do anything with it.

Linux guy with a clue: "Well, it's not as simple as that... believe it or not, you probably already have a computer that runs Linux, you just don't know it! You see, ..."

Re:Significant events that did not happen for Linu

[cp.tar]

By the way, what would you guess each of these does from the name: Outlook, QuickTime, Skype, Safari, Excel, or Cubase?

Outlook: either for looking out the window(s) or for estimating the odds for something. So maybe some kind of spreadsheet?

QuickTime: something to make the time pass quicker. Something to do on a boring day at work? Maybe one of those programs where you detect hidden mines?

Skype: begins like a sky, rhymes with type... maybe one of those old-style text processors like WordPerfect which let you type on a sky-blue background?

Safari: roaming in a car and looking at wildlife. Sounds like browsing. Especially when there are trolls around.

Excel: sounds like a platform game. Something where you have to get to the top.

Cubase: a cubic base? A LEGO model builder/designer?

How many did I guess?

Re:Significant events that did not happen for Linu

[Tweenk]

Except there is a bit of stagnation around the specifications. For example, no standard suspend and hibernate icon names since 2 years. This is rather annoying, but I hope they will add them soon.

Re:Significant events that did not happen for Linu

[cp.tar]

Do you mean that you should be able to sit at any Linux machine and use exactly the same command set and package names to manipulate the software load? Do you mean that you should be able to take package of binaries from a vendor and install it on any Linux machine? The latter is perfectly possible, as long as the vendor statically links all of the required libraries. They can even wrap it in a nice executable install script for you. See for instance the Quake 4 installer. And if the distribution you're installing it on top of complies with the Linux Standard Base, you might even get desktop icons and file associations.

I don't see why that would be a problem, as the same thing is used in OS X .app bundles. Therefore, the GP is just whining.

Re:Significant events that did not happen for Linu

[Tweenk]

7) In Gnome that would be Cheese, but it depends on the drivers. Most webcams are based on the USB Video class or on GSPCA, and both of those types are supported on recent kernels. I haven't used it much (I don't have a webcam myself), but it looks OK.

Re:Significant events that did not happen for Linu

[Anonymous Coward]

7. Nautilus still doesn't align icons properly
8. Gnome panel still shifts widgets around inexplicably
9. Kde still is better but atrociously ugly and difficult to configure
10. Ubuntu still explodes after I make a mistake editing xorg.conf

Linux netbooks - The rise AND fall.

[Xest]

I was quite impressed by the Eee PC when it came out and it was fantastic to see Linux on a system selling large amounts of units.

I haven't yet got a netbook but I do want one, I'm just not sure if I'd use it enough.

Last weekend whilst out shopping I had a quick look in all the electronic stores to see what was available, there's suddenly so many netbooks there.

The problem is, not one of them was Linux based anymore. To make it worse, they were all XP Home, not even professional.

Of course, you can install Linux on them but what the hell is the point in installing an OS that can actually do nothing of much use? The fact Home can't be connected to a domain even and such always left me feeling like it was kind of a trial version of Windows.

Selecting XP Home over XP Pro, Vista or Linux strikes me as a bit like selecting Windows ME over Windows 2000 or 98 8 years ago. I specifically will not buy a Netbook with XP Home on. I did make the point of seeking out the manager of each store and asking him whether they had any plans to stock an OS that was useful to professionals and business users such as Linux. All 4 managers across each store tried to convince me that I should just buy an XP Home one to which my response was along the lines of "At the end of the day, if it has a Microsoft OS on it, part of the cost of the system includes the cost of the OS. If I am going to pay for an OS, I will not pay for an OS that doesn't let me do half of what I want to do, therefore I either need XP Pro or one of the higher end Vista editions or even better, I need Linux, where the Netbook wont have any added cost built in for the OS". They all said they have no plans to bring in any new Linux based Netbooks, that they were all due to be XP based.

So unfortunately it seems 2008 was the year of the rise of Linux on Netbooks, but unfortunately shortly after was the fall of Linux on netbooks. Let's just hope there's a second rise at some point.

Re:Linux netbooks - The rise AND fall.

[Elektroschock]

The netbooks run XP. A cool device with a old operating system that happens to be more reliable than Vista. XP which they wanted to abandon customer support for. XP which is good enough for most users.

Linux based netbook systems will beat windows xp because they will look better and be more modern. It is just a matter of time when hardware manufacturers will realize that Xandros was a poor choice and you need to focus on performance.

[OT] Your sig

[Schraegstrichpunkt]

"If it seems too easy, you're probably doing it wrong."

Heh. Sounds like doing PHP development.

Re:The U.S.A. Collapse Timeline +1, Interesting

[Elektroschock]

US == Economy by Ponzi? Show me your evidence.