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Should Being Competitive With Windows Matter For Linux?
An anonymous reader writes "Is Linux being held back by distributions bent on competing with Microsoft Windows? This article argues that it's a real possibility. Quoting: '... what was apparent early on during my Linux adoption was my motivation for making the switch in the first place — no longer wanting to use Windows. This is where I think the confusion begins for most new Linux adopters. As we make the switch, we must fight the inherent urge to automatically begin comparing the new desktop experience to our previous experiences with Windows. It's a completely different set of circumstances, folks. ... The fact that one platform can support a specific device while the other platform cannot (and so on) doesn't really solve the problem of getting said device working. You can see where this dysfunction of thought can become a big problem, fast."
Linux must compete with Windows if there is ever going to be a "year of Linux on the desktop."
That would force manufacturers to release more compatible products, perhaps even contributing drivers to the kernel. It would spur the release of more commercial software, and gather more interest in the open source software that already exists as well as fostering new growth there.
Computers would be cheaper, as there wouldn't be a Windows tax, and additionally there would be more form factors available. How about ARM laptops with 30-40 hour battery life? Oh, sorry, that's not really happening now because manufacturers are afraid their customers will be confused, and they are afraid of losing their partnering bribes - I mean "incentives" with Microsoft.
Linux on the desktop, from the store, for average people, with first-party support, is extremely desirable for the future of computing. One thing that would be nice is to see some Linux games. Oh sure, you can run Wine or one of the commercial variants of Wine, but most people are just going to stick with Windows.
While I am more techy than most of the people I worky with (Hence I am sitting here reading this at work) most of the folks around me look at PCs simply as a tool. Can't teach them new tricks? Bollocks. A lot of my time is spent working with business teams who are looking to improve their way of doing business and teaching them about how different programs can be used to get the information they want.
Want to find your current sales trends in a way that you haven't been able to before? Okay, well, we have the data in this thing called Datawarehouse. Our reporting team will be able to provide you a set of reports, but they take a long time to develop and check. If you want to do some quick nasty analysis to fend off a crisis, there is a program called TOAD that will let you directly query your data. Look difficult? Lets go through how it works and how you write a SQL query.
Result: In the last Two years, I have introduced around 100 users who are NOT tech savvy at all to the wonders of SQL queries. They are now in various stages of competence, but they are using new things.
My (belated) point here is that while something like Toad (or now replace with Linux) isn't something that they can just pick up and run with, if people see a benefit to it, they WILL make the effort to learn how to use it.
In my mind, Linux really needs to advertise the benefits it has to the ordinary person so that they are enticed to make the effort to learn how to use it. Having said that, the easier it makes this learning process, the less advertising it has to do.
Moved to http://soylentnews.org/. You are invited to join us too!
> Gconf doing that is very rude, and it should definitely stop. Have you filed a bug?
Don't think it is GConf, but somehow tied into Nautilus's virtual file system feature. It is a FUSE filesystem mounted there. But no, there isn't a point in filing a bug report. It isn't a bug, it's a FEATURE! They are using some capability stuff beyond the normal UNIX API as a security measure. Forbidding root from even stating a file is just evil in my book though. Problem is the GNOMES know it breaks UNIX semantics and don't care because they are mostly Windows refugees who were never properly assimilated into UNIX culture enough for them to see the value in it. Filthy Philistines! :)
Same for this Wayland heresy getting started over at Ubuntu. The Computer is the Network, the Network is the Computer. Just words to em, merrily breaking X and the idea of network transparency, not because it will perform better but because the ignorant fools don't realize X's network transparancy isn't the cause of the performance issues they are trying to solve. But mostly because they probably don't personally use apps remotely and don't even realize that they are tossing one of the greatest ideas in computing history down the shitter.
Again, when you get a large influx of immigrants/refugees it is vitally important to ensure they assimilate BEFORE turning over important design work. That didn't happen because of this insane rush to bring about "The Year of the Linux Desktop." In the end we risk letting these hosers screw things up so badly the plumbing gets so screwed up we lose the server and embedded space as well. Those who refuse to learn UNIX will end up reinventing it... poorly.
Democrat delenda est
Same for this Wayland heresy getting started over at Ubuntu. The Computer is the Network, the Network is the Computer. Just words to em, merrily breaking X and the idea of network transparency, not because it will perform better but because the ignorant fools don't realize X's network transparancy isn't the cause of the performance issues they are trying to solve. But mostly because they probably don't personally use apps remotely and don't even realize that they are tossing one of the greatest ideas in computing history down the shitter.
If you're going to throw such statements around, you better get your facts straight. The Wayland developers never blamed the networking protocol for the problems of X, but rather the fundamental architecture of X. In fact, Wayland has been built with networking in mind since nearly the beginning.
Wayland architecture
// file: mice.h
#include "frickin_lasers.h"