Well, i dont think you are a member of this community, but you still seem to know much about it or at least pretend to. What makes you think half of GNU/Linux community is bitching about lack of quality commercial software -- why would anyone need to do so. If I would be bitching for something, it could be quality software, but why quality commercial software. Remember
>> 1. Pick KDE, Gnome, or some other GUI and cease development and inclusion of the others.
it doesnot matter whatever you choose. kde or other programs run in gnome, and vice versa
>> 2. Standardize where files go, a minimum file set in any standard install, and so forth.
it is already standardized. include files in/usr/include. libraries in/usr/lib. other stuff in/usr/share. docs in/usr/share/doc etc.
>> 3. Stop releasing distros that break things. If company X produced a product for Windows 95, six years later, it probably runs on Windows Me and probably ran on every version in-between (Windows 95 OSR2, Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition). There's a very good chance that it runs on Windows NT and Windows 2000, too. Compare that to the dismal compatability between different versions and distributions of Linux.
binaries do run mostly. what examples do you have of binaries compiled for previous versions which stop working in later versions. and same is for distributions. i can easily run redhat redhat rpms in my debian system. the only problem which occurs sometimes is for system software like daemons because of location of their configuration files, and if you have enough knowledge of running system daemons, you can easily tweak those to adapt to your system. moreever, this situation is also changing rapidly with increasing adaptation of FHS filesystem standard
>> 4. Stop competing with every company that releases a commercial linux product. If a company invests 5 man-years creating an innovative commercial product for Linux, within six months of its release, there will be a GPL copycat program to perform the same function for free.
This is called competition.
i would give you two examples - Windows 95 (remember Macs in 84), Internet Explorer (remember Netscape)
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Well, i dont think you are a member of this community, but you still seem to know much about it or at least pretend to. What makes you think half of GNU/Linux community is bitching about lack of quality commercial software -- why would anyone need to do so. If I would be bitching for something, it could be quality software, but why quality commercial software. Remember
commercial != good quality
free != bad quality
>> 1. Pick KDE, Gnome, or some other GUI and cease development and inclusion of the others.
it doesnot matter whatever you choose. kde or other programs run in gnome, and vice versa
>> 2. Standardize where files go, a minimum file set in any standard install, and so forth.
it is already standardized. include files in /usr/include. libraries in /usr/lib. other stuff in /usr/share. docs in /usr/share/doc etc.
>> 3. Stop releasing distros that break things. If company X produced a product for Windows 95, six years later, it probably runs on Windows Me and probably ran on every version in-between (Windows 95 OSR2, Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition). There's a very good chance that it runs on Windows NT and Windows 2000, too. Compare that to the dismal compatability between different versions and distributions of Linux.
binaries do run mostly. what examples do you have of binaries compiled for previous versions which stop working in later versions. and same is for distributions. i can easily run redhat redhat rpms in my debian system. the only problem which occurs sometimes is for system software like daemons because of location of their configuration files, and if you have enough knowledge of running system daemons, you can easily tweak those to adapt to your system. moreever, this situation is also changing rapidly with increasing adaptation of FHS filesystem standard
>> 4. Stop competing with every company that releases a commercial linux product. If a company invests 5 man-years creating an innovative commercial product for Linux, within six months of its release, there will be a GPL copycat program to perform the same function for free.
This is called competition. i would give you two examples - Windows 95 (remember Macs in 84), Internet Explorer (remember Netscape)