Posted on 06/02/2011 5:51:46 AM PDT by ShadowAce
The desktop wars may be finally ending, but not quite the way we may have expected.
Take the GNOME Shell interface, which reviewers admire for its general direction but have some issues with the actual execution within GNOME 3.
Meanwhile, Ubuntu's Unity continues to be a strong influencer in the interface arena, seeking that mobile device sweet spot.
Over on the KDE side of the house, the interface is doing just fine, but everyone is wondering what the fate of the Qt libraries will be given Nokia's ever-growing commitment to Microsoft Windows Phone 7. This guy thinks that with the phasing out of Symbian, Qt is doomed to fail.
I am holding out more cautious optimism, mostly because the Qt community has always been more than just Nokia (and yes, Aaron Seigo may have had to beat me over the head with that fact a few times), but also because of the work being done to port Qt functionality over to Android, as one example.
Still, I have to wonder about the timing of it all. As HTML5 continues its inexorable march towards standard-hood, it seems to me that all of this ruckus about making a better interface together for any platform (PC, mobile, web, what have you) is about to be seriously blown out of the water.
That means "disrupted" for all you market-speak folks out there.
As loathe as I am to use the term, disrupted may well be the best descriptor for what HTML5 may mean to GNOME, KDE, as well as proprietary interfaces in the market today. There's nothing quantifiable about this, mind you; just a lot of anecdotal evidence that seems to point to a small but growing movement to use HTML5 as an application development platform instead of native apps. For instance, this developer has a project going to implement Gtk3 interface tools within HTML5.
The big draw for HTML5, of course, is that it lets app developers build one app for multiple platforms. Developers can put them together and deploy them how they wish--they don't have to use an app store if they don't want to. And HTML5 apps can be licensed anyway the developer wants. Native apps have their own advantages, too, like better hardware access and faster speeds. HTML5 is behind enough in these areas that it can make a dent in plans to deploy in the web-based platform, particularly if the app in question is graphic-intense or needs to render data quickly.
As HTML5 keeps advancing, the performance gap between native and web should close. If that kind of closure happens, then it becomes a wide open field as far as interfaces go. Native apps will still have their place, but how much developer effort will be needed in KDE or GNOME if HTML5 apps do take off?
The irony of this is that Linux, with its more stable and secure properties, offers users and OEMs a much better platform to use and sell, respectively. It is well-suited for netbooks and PC-based platforms, and its Android cousin has shown it has what it takes to kick butt and take names in mobile space. Because of Linux' proven capabilities, HTML5 apps would do very well on Linux-based devices... and potentially minimize the importance of Gtk- and Qt-built native apps and the environments on which they run.
If interfaces do become little more than glorified web browsers, we may all look back at the GNOME vs. KDE arguments and wonder what it was all really about.
In that vein, then, I hate Windows because Win98 doesn't support USB3.0 like Linux does, NTFS, and mapping network drives is a real PITA!
Wrong, again. I bought a new laptop in March with 8G RAM, dual 500G HDD (and HW RAID), nVidia 460M graphics, wirelss, bluetooth, USB 3.0, and a core i7 CPU.
Linux runs on it perfectly, with no driver issues at all.
Perhaps you buy sub-optimal laptops?
How about actually ask why and learn before assuming stuff.
Go back in time to when I was doing this on my build of a laptop and see how “easy” it was trying to get the wireless stuff to work.
I’m sure some people could do it, but not someone who isn’t living and breathing linux everyday. But a thorough search of the interent didn’t reveal any clues as to how it would be easy.
But that’s the point...everytime I try linux based on promises of it’s easy—it never is. Sure it’s gotten better, but it’s a jungle out there. Find an app you like...oh wait it’s not ready for your build and flavor and version of linux. Sorry you have to wait or learn how to compile the software. Oh wait, you don’t have the libraries? Now you get to compile...and hunt...search backwards looking for the right libraries.
But but but RPM takes care of all that for you. No it doesn’t...not when you want newly released software. You have to wait until someone else decides they want it for your same flavor of linux with the same build and everything else to match.
Linux is great for people with lots of time on their hands or who love to tweak and do command-line stuff. And poor. I don’t hate it...it works, but there’s no way I want to live with it. Maybe if they could standardize on one flavor and work to a common build then I’d use it.
Not even remotely.
How the hell am I wrong? Fact: I had a new laptop—thinkpad which was loaded for it’s day. The SATA driver had issues at first, but I got that worked out. Then the wireless driver was non-existent. Had to go hardwire.
Now how am I wrong? I installed Ubuntu. Either it had the driver and worked or it didn’t. It didn’t work...but that means I’m wrong. See that’s what I mean...Linux isn’t ready for primetime yet.
But go on keep telling youself everyone else is wrong when linux fails. Let’s put the technology first and the people last-—and Linux will continue to be in last place on the desktop.
What are you talking about ancient version don’t work on my new hardware?
This was 3 or 4 years ago when I tried ubuntu...with the latest and greatest version of ubuntu at the time. Granted I didn’t have my linux time machine to go into the future and find a version of ubuntu that would work with my new hardware, but I did try the latest and greatest at the time...end up needing one or two version prior with a tweak to make it work. but never could get the wireless stuff working.
Perhaps it was the way you phrased it. The above sounds like a recent attempt with an older version.
My apologies for misreading your post.
Also if ubuntu is ready out of the box you may want to read this:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1071920&mode=linear
Why is this even needed if it’s ready for primetime. Yeah, I don’t see common users going through this to get their network working. or even this https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/Ndiswrapper
They "cripple" it in order to appeal to clueless users who will probably not use the features they've heard that Linux has. That's my belief anyway, based on personal experience.
Stay away from Ubuntu.
Also, a little bit of background--Broadcom has been notorious for not supporting Linux well. I've heard that they're starting to come around, but since I no longer use those wireless chipsets, I don't know from experience.
Don't take Broadcom experience (which is well documented) as a fail towards an entire OS when it's really a vendor issue.
No what I take as a fail of the Linux community is NOT pointing that out up front. And assuming things as you did earlier.
This article is from 2006 and is relevant...my experience was from circa 2007/8. But as I said everytime I try there’s always a gotcha. I will admit every 3 to 5 years I try linux on the desktop again and everytime there’s a huge improvement.
BTW: Broadcomm sucks in the windows community as well.
But 3 or 4 years ago Ubuntu was all the rage and the linux heads swore by it. I guess now Mint appears to be the one getting all the hype. which do you prefer? I may give it a go in the near future.
There is a zen mastery level I think you need to get past to run linux successfully. I’ve been as frustrated as you at times in the past with previous attempts. But in the last 2 years or so things just all of a sudden to be sorting themselves out. The problem is that at some point the people that are able to get everything up and running may not be able to tell you what you’re doing wrong. It’s like any other complex activity that human beings engage in.
Maybe a bit like auto mechanics or something like that. To an experienced mechanic changing out the brakes or maybe changing the shocks or struts is reasonably straightforward. Sure they might encounter a problem or a snag along the way but chances are they can size up the situation and improvise a solution without maybe even consciously thinking about what they did to get there. To a newbie something is going to snag them every time. Might be any number of things and it might be a real design issue with the part or the car or whatever - or it might be because they did something that wasn’t all that recommended. But either way what should have been at most a 2 hour job ends up being a nightmare.
What’s really hard to explain is the process of going from newb to reasonably experienced mechanic or linux user. There’s not some magic light that comes on. It’s just that things all of a sudden are going easier, taking less time, causing far less aggravation, and you’re making better decisions and for better reasons. The flow is just way better.
I’m not going to say that linux is for everyone - it may get that way someday. But I guess my main point is that there is an invisible line or divide between when in the life of a linux user things go from being very hard to very easy. Maybe not everyone would agree with me but that’s how I see it.
Nice description - I’ve dabbled in Java but much more of a C guy - not even C++. But that’s how I see things as well. Java has its role in life but it certainly hasn’t taken over the world. But then again, very few things have. A few years ago you might say the x86 architecture has but now ARM and others are giving even it a run for its money.
I prefer Fedora--but it's a bleeding-edge distro. It's not for everyone.
2. Install the codecs:
That seemed to work just fine. It's run everything I've thrown at it so far.
I found a set of instructions on the net last week that kept downloading old packages (prompts to use newer ones), blah, blah, so by the time all was said and done it was probably 30mins or so before I got what I needed codec-wise.
I came across this too - http://easylifeproject.org/ - Looks promising but I haven't tried it yet.
I had not seen that one before. It does look interesting.
Check out Knoppix 6.4. I’m dual booting it on a Windows 7 machine and installed Knoppix long after I’d loaded Windows 7.
The first time I dual booted a Linux/Windows 7 machine it took a lot of work to get it to work.
Knoppix 6.4 was easy. Caveat, it takes a little bit of knowledge but not a lot.
Knoppix is designed to run from a CD or DVD. It now comes with a point and click interface to install it on a computer.
I’ve not done anything special to get Knoppix to recognize any hardware. Knoppix even recognized a dual display display port video card.
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