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The "Year of the Linux Desktop" FINALLY arrived, and the HN community finds out about it after the fact from the mainstream media...

• deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
• ekianjo 10y ago
  Well that's not the Linux Desktop we were referring to all along, to be fair. And the whole ChromeOS stack beyond the kernel is closed-source. Hardly a win for "Linux", unless you assimilate the OS to the Kernel.
  • lern_too_spel 10y ago
    Linus disagrees. https://plus.google.com/+LinusTorvalds/posts/GPbJZX8fmtL https://plus.google.com/+LinusTorvalds/posts/GPbJZX8fmtL
    • ekianjo 10y ago
      It's probably more of a joke than anything. Linus was calling in late 2014 or early 2015 for an ARM-based Linux laptop and he was certainly not referring to ChromeOS.
      • lern_too_spel 10y ago
        Read the comments under that post. Linus is not joking.
        • ekianjo 10y ago
          Indeed he's not joking, but then that means he changed his mind compared to what he says 1-2 years ago.
          • conradev 10y ago
            3 years ago: https://plus.google.com/+LinusTorvalds/posts/dk1aiW4JjHd https://plus.google.com/+LinusTorvalds/posts/dk1aiW4JjHd
            • ekianjo 10y ago
              In october 2015: http://www.zdnet.com/article/linus-torvalds-would-like-to-see-an-arm-laptop-but-he-doesnt-expect-it/ http://www.zdnet.com/article/linus-torvalds-would-like-to-se... > we'll actually see a real ARM (well, preferably ARM64) machine one of these days that you can actually develop on, rather than treat just as a development target. The Rasberry PI's, Beagleboards etc are all fun, and all the cellphones and Chromebooks are clearly selling well, but as a developer I feel something is still missing in the market I don't know why he keeps saying different things on about every occasion.
              • coldtea 10y ago
                >I don't know why he keeps saying different things on about every occasion. Only he doesn't (say different things) here. He's talking about the Chromebook as a computer -- he couldn't care less about the Chromebook concept itself and the underlying OS for himself. But he likes the hardware. He himself runs a Chromebook now (used to have a Macbook Air 2-3 years ago), but with the OS wiped and regular Linux installed. But when it comes to Linux adoption in general, he sees Chromebooks as a positive development.
          • s_q_b 10y ago
            Or he was joking. It's really hard to tell. I'm still not quite sure if git is an elaborate prank.
  • yincrash 10y ago
    I'm not sure where you got the perception that Chrome OS only has the kernel open. Most of the userspace is also open. http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-guide http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-guide And there are even a few forks[1], including one that came out this year. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromium_OS#Builds_and_forks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromium_OS#Builds_and_forks
• uola 10y ago
  Not really though. What has happened is that the web has come closer to the desktop not the other way around. It's almost the antithesis to desktop Linux. It's like "the only way we could make Linux mainstream is to ignore anything but the core and run everything in a web browser".
  • magicalist 10y ago
    It's a bit silly to argue that adding a graphical shell and a widget toolkit is anywhere near an "antithesis to desktop Linux."
    • uola 10y ago
      In my book a "graphical shell and a widget toolkit" (and its associated ecosystem) is what makes a "desktop" different from e.g. a video game system. ChromeOS wouldn't de facto be very different for users nor applications developers with a windows kernel and windowing system.