Posted on 08/17/2011 5:00:18 AM PDT by ShadowAce
Where is the Linux desktop going, and where should it go? This is a hot topic, and an important one. Unfortunately the discussion usually starts from the wrong premise, that the Linux desktop has only recently achieved parity with its Mac OS X and Windows cousins. Not so! The Linux desktop has been superior since its early days, and would have to go backwards to achieve parity.
Now which Linux desktop are we talking about? That's a good question, and that is superior item #1: multiple desktop environments and window managers to choose from.
The PC has been a mighty multi-purpose power tool from its humble beginnings. Unlike a lot of multi-purpose tools, it can do many things extremely well. You other old geezers probably remember when hardware was the limiting factor, and impatient do-it-ourselfers were continually upgrading just to keep pace with the software. Then in the early 2000s hardware caught up, and now even cheap commodity hardware has more power than we need. (Except for ghastly script-heavy poorly-coded Web pages that bring quad-cores to their knees; I laugh when people say all they need is a cheap low-power gadget for email and Web surfing. Good luck with that!)
The benchmark for the user interface has always been Windows. This is understandable due to Microsoft's lock on the market. Back in the olden days of Linux most Linux users came from Unix backgrounds. Anymore I'll wager that the majority of Linux users learned Windows first, and a goodly number of Mac users as well. Which has little to do with preference and merit, and much to do with lock-in. I started with Mac, then Windows, then Linux.
I don't like to see Linux chasing Mac and Windows, except for copying the good stuff. For the most part Linux chasing Windows is going backwards. Especially the part where each release grows by gigabytes without providing any additional functionality. Windows 7 Pro eats up a good 22GB, while Windows XP Pro consumes less than a gigabyte for itself. What do you get for all those extra gigabytes? Minesweeper, Solitaire, Notepad... um... oh yeah, drastically higher CPU and RAM requirements. Maybe to power all the nagware.
Chasing the Mac interface might make sense. But listen to Ingo Molnar's extremely insightful comment on user interface design:
"I think what the KDE4 and Gnome3 folks are doing is that they have picked Apple (and to a lesser degree, Google) UI products as their role model...the problem as I see it is that they tried to achieve this by mimicking Apple products, instead of implementing a high quality UI development process...You cannot really gap that difference by taking a giant leap in the "product space", regardless of the existing user base and regardless of the quality of the landing...
"I think OSS UI projects are also making a big mistake by mimicking the development model of closed-source projects...We should realize that our future OSS developers are sitting in front of the device they are using, most of them are at most 100-200 msecs away from a server that the developers are using - they only have to be engaged intelligently ...
"Yet we are doing everything in our power to create silly artificial walls between developers and users."
Linux already has everything it needs to provide a superior user experience. Which users, you insightfully ask? Not Jim and Jane Sixpack, who find iPads too complicated because they can't decide which finger to poke it with. Jim and Jane aside, tablets and smartphones are wonderful devices filling a long-unserved need.
But, they are not PCs. Ever since the early days of Linux the Linux desktop it has run circles around Mac and Windows. Even back when it was raggedy and unpolished it was bursting with functionality. What good is pretty if it can't do anything, or doesn't let you do what you want? First make it do cool stuff and be reliable, then you can always pretty it up later.
Here is a partial list of things Linux can do, some new, most old, many of which Mac and Windows still can't and won't even try, or only with expensive third-party add-ons:
The better approach is not to throw all this great stuff away in the name of simplicity, of dumbing it down drastically to appeal to "the masses." An awful lot of Linux fans have this idea that when the Linux desktop reaches the perfect level of eye-candy one-button one-finger fabulousness then the masses will flock to it. And in a way they're right, as evidenced by the success of smartphones and tablets. But — and I repeat myself — PCs are not tablets and smartphones. And, for those good people who believe that a great GUI is "intuitive", meaning anyone can pick it up and instantly start using it, guess what the consistently-best selling O'Reilly books are: iPad and iPhone books. Go see for yourself. (The supposedly-superior Windows is there too.)
Freedom. This is the biggie. It seems a lot of Linux fans are squirmy with talking about freedom, like it's weird old hippie stuff that nobody wants to hear about. But the reality is that many people are interested. Many computer users, especially frustrated customers of the usual closed, proprietary vendors, are very interested in freedom: they like the idea of Richard Stallman's classic Four Freedoms, and recognize that these add considerable value to software.
They like the idea of freedom from crazy licensing schemes designed to confuse and overcharge, freedom from crazy unilateral end-user license "agreements" that dictate what you can do with your own property, freedom from lock-in, freedom from artificial barriers to interoperability and open standards. They want honesty and accountability, and freedom from the heavy overhead of managing proprietary licenses.
Cathy Malmrose, CEO of independent Linux vendor ZaReason, told me once that they investigated selling Windows, perhaps in dual-boot configurations. But they would have needed an extra staffer just to handle the compliance paperwork. It's just as bad for a business running even a bare complement of proprietary software, what with server licenses, client licenses, client access licenses to the servers, remote access licenses, terminal server licences and so on, all calculated for maximum redundancy. It's nuts.
So please, friends, don't sell desktop Linux short. It already towers head and shoulders above its proprietary cousins. We don't need to apologize for it because it has long provided a superior computing experience, and will only get better — as long we don't get derailed chasing inferiorware.
Sorry, that penguin peckerwood lost me right there.
Insults quickly establish that you're punching from a losing position.
I could be wrong, though.
Oh, I think you are exactly right. She is insulting "certain types of users."
And that bit of elitism seems to be heavily present in the Linux community. Now I am not saying you personally display this attitude - no indeed. But during my attempts at gaining more familiarity with the various Linux offering I did encounter, on Linux forums, quite a bit of 'nose in the air' snideness with my inquiries. I am a computer user - not a builder or code writer.
Just my experiences. So I guess I recognize the 'tude displayed with that "Joe and Jane Sixpack" remark.
Linux is the best solution for midrange java systems. The zLinux image on mainframe is an excellent solution. WRT desktops... I personally love the redhat vm I use at work and my 7 year old loves his linux mint system, but my wife does not appreciate it and prefers her windows laptop. Linux will continue to dominate in the server space but not so sure about widespread desktop acceptance.
Yes, that complaint is quite common, unfortunately. Just like there are different types of users in the Windows world, there are different types of users in the linux world as well. The snobs tend to be more vocal, thus more noticeable.
It’s still too much of a pain to use.
I have a machine with Ubuntu only because I lost my XP CD.
It boots up fast, but Chrome stutters badly when playing videos, and the whole system literally goes haywire at random times dissolving the graphics onscreen into a bunch of gibberish causing me to have to reboot.
I’m not even going to bother with a help forum as far too many instructions involve editing some weird thing like my “X.org” file.
No thanks.
As a software engineer with over 20 years experience, I believe that Linux geeks are almost as bad as liberals.
They talk about freedom and ‘free software for everyone’ while they steal from their employers and work on their pet linux project while being paid on company time.
Liars and Hypocrties can be found all over the place in the Linux world.
And I DO KNOW what I am talking about.
I program software for a living. I acknowlege that Linux is technically superior to windows- it is the linux ZEALOTS that give Linux and ‘open source’ a bad name.
“The Linux desktop has been superior since its early days”
I *like* Linux. I *use* Linux at work. That statement is *just not true*. That is pure Linux fanboy-ism...
Thanks for the post.
Linux is great, have used it since around 1997-1998.
XFCE is a real winner for a friendly yet very efficient and fast window manager. I have use it since 2002.
Update your video driver. I had the same problem with video. You are probably running the generic video, as was I.
Let him be. He likes complaining.
I still find myself back at a terminal screen, manually editing Samba and Cups printer files. Linux desktop is not fully functional yet. I like Linux, but the average user is not ready to do this sort of work just to share a printer.
I’ll try that.
I just hope there is a Linux video driver for it.
If “The Linux desktop has been superior since its early days” then it should have dominated in the marketplace?
The average user doesn’t want to and probably couldn’t properly edit a printer file.
Which are more popular--The Chevys/Fords or the Mercedes/Maybachs?
Which are better?
Popularity does not indicate quality.
I don’t agree with your comparison.
If a driver had to adjust the alignment and tweak the engine timing every time they drive the maybach or mercedes wouldn’t be popular.
Linux is going strong in the marketplace where it is doing a good job, the server space. In the desktop arena its not doing so well.
The average user isn’t competent to edit a printer file, and shouldn’t have to. Unfortunately, the simple act of sharing a printer with Mac or Windows machines in the house, requires it.
You should see the hoops I had to jump through to get Linux to talk to my Iogear wireless printer queue. Windows and Mac simply saw it and used it. Linux is not ready for average users. (And I hate the new Ubuntu desktop)
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