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Canonical To Ship Mir Display Server In Ubuntu 13.10
An anonymous reader writes "Canonical has announced today that they intend to ship the Mir Display Server by default in Ubuntu 13.10, rather than Ubuntu 14.04 as originally planned. They moved ahead their Mir adoption since the code is materializing and they want Mir/XMir widely tested prior to the Ubuntu 14.04 Long-Term Support release. Mir in Ubuntu 13.10 will be using the XMir X11 compatibility layer to run the Unity 7 desktop and there will be fallback support for running an X.Org Server if the graphics drivers don't support Mir."
Especially wheb Canonical's goals are to fracture and cause disunity. It's very good newspeak.
If everything was the same in every OS, things would be very boring.
Say I have this screwdriver that I like very much, and I use it on every flat headed screw I find. Then say the manufacturer updates the screwdriver every year, but it keeps doing what I need it to do, plus they add neat stuff like comfort grip or head lights or whatever. Still screws screws though. Great. Love it. Then one day they decide to add a phillips adapter. Ok, does it still turn flatheads? Ok. I still love my screwdriver. THEN: they decide they want it to turn tri-screws, and if you want it to turn flatheads you have to engage a little catch on the end of the handle that's hard to see and extend the flathead attachment. What the hell??!??!?? Exciting? Certainly, the excitement poors from my head as I feverously read manuals and user forums trying to figure out how to get that flathead extended as I really still just need the driver to do what it always did. Infact, I almost never encounter triscrews, AT ALL.
This is the current state of Ubuntu.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
I've never faulted them for trying to upshelf X, infact I aplauded the effort, some parts of X are so crusty they've turned to stone. But in so doing they've made the os inconvienient. Inconvinience in a pair of trousers is one thing, inconvienience when there's money and customers on the line however? That's unforgivable.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
Maybe it's just time to update your screws. Flat head crews are a pain in the ass, you can't go fast without the screwdriver moving off center and having to stop and reposition.
The problem is that security holes show up in the screws. one day, instead of holding secure, they get smooth and so they have to do a security update. If they kept the same flathead design, so you could use the same damned screwdriver, then replacing the screw wouldn't be a issue. So you end up not having a choice, you have to buy the new screwdriver.
Of course I don't have that problem. I switched to mint screws. I can still use my flat screwdriver.
I take no responsibility for what I say. Even though I'm never wrong
The REAL story is that your flathead Ubuntu was JUST about starting to approach a state reliable usability when they released the mother off all alpha state overhauls. They did it before with the move away from config files to the registry and nautilus. With each change we went from a system we had finally managed to get working to a system that wasn't working as we wanted AND had tons of bugs too.
It ISN'T like releasing a new screw driver THAT WORKS, it is like releasing a new screw driver that stabs you in the back and does unsanitary things with your hammer. If Ubuntu was a car, it would come with 50% new philps head screws that break off, have rusted or been installed the wrong way around through use of your semen covered hammer, 25% flathead screws that are no longer compatible with your old flathead screw and the new flathead screw isn't being developed anymore because it is going to be replaced, somewhere in 2023 and 25% of the screws have been left out because their use case is to obscure.
Most Linux users I know aren't all that into cutting edge. Most of really just want a desktop that runs programs and then we use the programs and never ever think about the desktop again. The desktop isn't a screwdriver, it is the packaging for the belt for toolbox you never put your screwdriver and anyway, you never ever move the toolbox.
I have all the applications I need open all the time. I do not NEED a launcher and I most certainly never EVER need to search something and then find both results from logs files, my "art" collection and amazon at the same time. I just want my desktop to provide the most basic services like paste and copy and then to GO AWAY!
And I do NOT need a build in mail client, music player or whatever. I can fucking pick my own. MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, if you made the desktop 100% reliable, safe and fast THEN you could spend your time adding crap as optional crap I would never bother with. Unity could have been a skin (nobody would have used it but hey though titties). But Ubuntu/Gnome/KDE seem to insist that anytime their products achieve "almost works" they MUST redesign.
I am a developer, I understand the desire to not continue to work on the same old same old, that doing that last 10% of making something really work takes 90% of the time and that that time sucks donkey balls. But that is life.
All Unity and Gnome3 and KDE have shown is that it doesn't take Ballmer and closed source to give the user what they don't want. Good job! You can compete with MS and release as big a turds as them.
And at least Windows 8.1 is adding the start button again.
Aaaah, that felt good.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
--snip screwdriver analogy--
Your analogy holds true only if both projects, being Wayland and Mir, are serving the same purpose - They aren't.
Yes, they are both a display server/protocol, and yes, they are designed to replace X, but the goals of each project couldn't be more dissimilar.
Wayland is a long needed update to X that will fix a number of issues and allows for secure buffers that only the application and server can access. Wayland is being designed for the existing Linux desktop market and is a much needed project.
Mir, while adopting some ideas from Wayland, is a completely different beast that will focus on achieving two primary objectives: A display server that runs natively on both desktop and mobile, and, being actively developed and supported by new commercial partner Valve. It makes little sense for Canonical to wait for Wayland and then extend it for these two purposes as doing so will leave Canonical years behind on a shift that is happening NOW. Everyone has been waiting for the Year of Linux on the Desktop; this will bring the goal one step closer. The same goes for an unadulterated Linux on the Mobile where graphical applications are more easily ported from their desktop counterparts.
There is nothing stopping Wayland importing code from Mir and vice versa. The projects simply have different priorities for the time being and are likely to co-exist or even possibly merge when the race is over.
To borrow from your analogy: Canonical have found a reason to require a triscrew head. They believe it will work in more environments and also, with some effort, work on systems using a hex-screw. You are not locked in to using the triscrew and don't even have to change your screwdriver head should you not be involved in porting hex-screw to tri-screw or developing tri-screws for mobile devices.
None of this affects you. These guys are building a treehouse entirely in their own backyard. You seem a little miffed simply because you know some guys that previously built a treehouse and they are renovating it. Nonsensical.
[Rent This Space]