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Ask Slashdot: How Would You Fix the Linux Desktop?

itwbennett writes "Slashdot readers are familiar with the Torvalds/de Icaza slugfest over 'the lack of development in Linux desktop initiatives.' The problem with the Linux desktop boils down to this: We need more applications, and that means making it easier for developers to build them, says Brian Proffitt. 'It's easy to point at solutions like the Linux Standard Base, but that dog won't hunt, possibly because it's not in the commercial vendors' interests to create true cross-distro compatibility. United Linux or a similar consortium probably won't work, for the same reasons,' says Proffitt. So, we put it to the Slashdot community: How would you fix the Linux desktop?"

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  1. Who says it needs fixing. by jvillain · · Score: -1, Redundant

    I have been using a Linux desktop exclusively for almost as long as they have been around. Mostly KDE in my case. The things that need really changing aren't at the desk top level. Flash doesn't work of course but the solution isn't to get flash support. It is to get others to abandon a proprietary solution masquerading as an internet standard. The open source video drivers from AMD and NVidia suck rhinos but the solution isn't to capitulate to a closed source world of blobs.

    Beyond that the Linux desktop just works and I am a LOT more productive using it.