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It’s worse. At least Linux _can_ be viable on the desktop. The challenges surrounding fusion are so staggering that putting any definite timeline around solving

It’s worse. At least Linux _can_ be viable on the desktop. The challenges surrounding fusion are so staggering that putting any definite timeline around solving them is pure bovine manure.

digi_owl 9y ago
Yeah, there is nothing technical that stops Linux. It is mental and political/financial.
- dgreensp 9y ago
  Something that pretty much everyone in the world wants to see happen, but still faces a few technical hurdles, is much more likely to ever happen than something that is already possible but not enough people want, it seems to me. Achieving ubiquitous nuclear power is more like achieving ubiquitous electric cars than achieving ubiquitous flying cars. It’ll probably happen any decade now, vs maybe never.
- iamdave 9y ago
  I think I grok what you're referring to when you say "political" but if anyone Dell came closest to fixing the financial problem with their Ubuntu laptops wouldn't you say?
- jimmaswell 9y ago
  Has Linux desktop caught up technically to Windows yet? The last time I used it there were still problems like double clicking a jpg from the Firefox downloads list opening an "open with" dialog pointed to /usr/bin or something. And it seems like where Windows will put things in places that might not technically be a perfect categorization but are convenient and make some sense, like monitor/video/screensaver properties from right clicking the desktop, this seemed to happen a lot less in Linux DEs. Aside from them seeming somewhat less responsive in general and lacking equivalent GUI system utilities to things like "Computer Management" or the device manager.
  - OrganicMSG 9y ago
    I'm not sure that the Windows desktop has caught up technically compared to many of the graphical shells available for linux desktops, it just depends on which list of things you value in particular.
    - crowbahr 9y ago
      It's not there yet but the Bash for Ubuntu on Windows system is very very good.
- ethbro 9y ago
  In response to the comments you're getting, it seems HN doesn't have a working irony detector.

It’s worse. At least Linux _can_ be viable on the desktop. The challenges surrounding fusion are so staggering that putting any definite timeline around solving them is pure bovine manure.

digi_owl 9y ago

Yeah, there is nothing technical that stops Linux. It is mental and political/financial.

dgreensp 9y ago
Something that pretty much everyone in the world wants to see happen, but still faces a few technical hurdles, is much more likely to ever happen than something that is already possible but not enough people want, it seems to me. Achieving ubiquitous nuclear power is more like achieving ubiquitous electric cars than achieving ubiquitous flying cars. It’ll probably happen any decade now, vs maybe never.
iamdave 9y ago
I think I grok what you're referring to when you say "political" but if anyone Dell came closest to fixing the financial problem with their Ubuntu laptops wouldn't you say?
jimmaswell 9y ago
Has Linux desktop caught up technically to Windows yet? The last time I used it there were still problems like double clicking a jpg from the Firefox downloads list opening an "open with" dialog pointed to /usr/bin or something. And it seems like where Windows will put things in places that might not technically be a perfect categorization but are convenient and make some sense, like monitor/video/screensaver properties from right clicking the desktop, this seemed to happen a lot less in Linux DEs. Aside from them seeming somewhat less responsive in general and lacking equivalent GUI system utilities to things like "Computer Management" or the device manager.
- OrganicMSG 9y ago
  I'm not sure that the Windows desktop has caught up technically compared to many of the graphical shells available for linux desktops, it just depends on which list of things you value in particular.
  - crowbahr 9y ago
    It's not there yet but the Bash for Ubuntu on Windows system is very very good.
ethbro 9y ago
In response to the comments you're getting, it seems HN doesn't have a working irony detector.