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| What killed the Linux desktop |
| By Thom Holwerda on 2012-08-29 22:52:10 |
| Miguel de Icaza: "To sum up: (a) First dimension: things change too quickly, breaking both open source and proprietary software alike; (b) incompatibility across Linux distributions. This killed the ecosystem for third party developers trying to target Linux on the desktop. You would try once, do your best effort to support the 'top' distro or if you were feeling generous 'the top three' distros. Only to find out that your software no longer worked six months later. Supporting Linux on the desktop became a burden for independent developers." Mac OS X came along to scoop up the Linux defectors. |
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| RE: Comment by Vordreller |
| By smashIt on 2012-08-30 00:16:28 |
|
> If there's too much choice, non-specialized users will always have that nagging doubt: did I make the right choice? You don't want a user wondering that about your product! users have no problem with choice (there are more than a dozen current editions of windows out there) users have a problem with fragmentation and users are really pissed off when the first answer to whatever problems they have is "you chose the wrong distribution" |
 - Score: 4 |
| Icaza is full of himself |
| By arbour42 on 2012-08-30 00:17:55 |
|
He's had a huge ego for ages, and most of his projects have gone down the rat hole. I remember very well in the late 90's when gnome was formed to fight against the "evil" kde licensing. intelligent people screamed that it was going to fragment linux, delay its adoption. but purists like Icaza said it must be done. 15 years down the line and linux on the desktop has ended up nowhere. Havoc Pennington said something truly stupid in that early period while working on gnome: we don't have to worry about backward compatibility like Microsoft does with Windows. Thus we can innovate much more quickly (paraphrased from memory). I knew right then that this was a mess. And Icaza has never taken a dime from microsoft? what garbage. where was novell and Icaza getting the funding for all that Silverlight for Linux work? MS was promoting it heavily, and no doubt was sending plenty of money their way. But once silverlight was ditched, oops, no more money. Now he is promoting OSX - i wonder if that's because MonoTouch is selling itself as a C# compiler for iPod apps? Hmmmmm. he's been a hack for a long time, nibbling at the crumbs these big companies leave him. the linux desktop has been in ruins for years, but he's gone beyond that and it's easy to lay the blame on linus and the culture he created. |
| - Score: 12 |
| RE: Pretty alive, thanks |
| By tylerdurden on 2012-08-30 00:28:56 |
| Given your ad hominem, I take you don't have a proper retort to the points that he raised, right? |
| - Score: 6 |
| RE: Linux desktop has never has a chance |
| By WorknMan on 2012-08-30 00:46:06 |
|
> And the relevant fact is that there has never existed Linux versions of very popular applications like AutoCAD or Photoshop, to mention just two best sellers. Well yeah, of course. But a big reason why this is so is because of the stuff the he points out, which will never be fixed, because too many Linux Evangelists are convinced that having 900 different distros competing with each other is a good thing. And, well.... maybe it IS a good thing, but not if you want people to actually use it. And those of us who don't use it have been pointing out the same issues as Icaza for over a decade, but nobody listens to us. Hence, the reason why desktop Linux has been such a spectacular failure, and will continue to be so. Hell, most Android variants can utilize the same app store, and even still people are pissed at the fragmentation. |
| - Score: 5 |
| RE: Comment by miscz |
| By UltraZelda64 on 2012-08-30 00:54:12 |
|
> I'm under heavy influence of alcohol. I wish I could be. Oh, and I agree with most of what you've said. |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE[2]: Pretty alive, thanks |
| By Nth_Man on 2012-08-30 00:54:21 |
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I've used Kubuntu for years, and it isn't broken like he says. Software is being developed and working, unlike he says. And then I find a "What killed the Linux desktop". What am I writing this with, then? :-) Notes: I don't update from one version of Kubuntu to another, I do clean new installs. About programs that don't work as a "service": I read what programs are going to be updated, I close them and I update. |
| - Score: 3 |
| Comment by Luke McCarthy |
| By Luke McCarthy on 2012-08-30 00:57:21 |
|
Compatibility is a big problem. I work on cross-platform commercial software and supporting multiple distros is very painful and requires a disproportionate amount of testing time. Microsoft should really be commended for their backwards compatibility work (but not their past poor decisions they now have to live with). I don't understand the love for OS X. I have to use it at work but I think it's ugly and it's very sluggish on a Mac Mini. I would rather use Windows. I think Haiku is the only hope for a free desktop OS. Unlike Linux they have vision, good taste and don't suffer from fragmentation. I'm worried it is too small to ever get much support, but I hold out hope. |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE: Linux desktop has never has a chance |
| By UltraZelda64 on 2012-08-30 01:13:16 |
|
I must be different then, because I never had the need for a bitmap editor as extreme as Photoshop, and I never had a need for *any* CAD software outside of school. Hell, no one I know probably even knows what AutoCAD even is, and those that have Photoshop probably pirated it. Me? Well, I bought a copy of Jasc Paint Shop Pro years ago, and after that I started to really like Paint.net during my last few years with Windows. I have toyed around with "trial" versions of Photoshop to see what all the fuss was about, but it has to be the most overkill, confusing, slow and bloated bitmap editor I have ever used. I was not impressed, and you would truly *need* to have some damn special requirements to actually want to pay 700-1000 bucks for a god damn bitmap editor. I honestly don't get it why so many people pirate it and then brag about it... I guess just to say that they got an ~$800 piece of software free? Having been on Linux exclusively for over half a decade now, I do still miss Paint.net (it really was a pleasure to use), but I can get over it. I've been doing just fine on the GIMP, and I have got used to its multi-window approach years ago (which is actually very nice on a widescreen monitor). I'm actually anticipating trying out the new single-window mode, that should be interesting. But I can say that Windows has something good going for it with Paint.net. Edited 2012-08-30 01:16 UTC |
| - Score: 8 |
| It couldn't... |
| By macUser on 2012-08-30 01:15:06 |
|
...have anything to do with the holier than though attitude "power" users have with the n00bs. Nothing like getting shouted down/belittled in a forum to entice people to join your platform. So, not only are Miguel's points valid, but the culture attracts a high portion of alpha jerks. RTFM! (RTM works just as well). |
| - Score: 2 |
| What really kills Linux on the desktop |
| By kwan_e on 2012-08-30 01:34:06 |
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1) People don't like the idea of change 2) People don't like things you can't pay a company for 3) People don't see advertisements for Linux on television 4) People are happy with the state of affairs with Windows or OS X. Most people are not geeks, therefore whoever says "well I use Linux on the desktop!" are living in a cocoon world. All these "reasons" about why Linux isn't the runaway success it should be are no more than cargo cult reasoning. "They were the state of affairs at the time of the non-success, therefore they were the cause". |
| - Score: 2 |
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