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Rant: Year of Linux on the Desktop

7 points by pabs3 4y ago

themodelplumber 4y ago
I like it. Similar feelings here even though I admit I started out as one of those "if only they'd fix this one thing" people in the FOSS community. I do regret that. At the time I didn't understand any other ways to think about quality. So in sharing my best contributing views on what could be improved, I thought I was helping when in fact I was crowding out some really valid ways of being/doing. In favor of serving some straw-audience. I thought we were performing, but I could have been enjoying. If you build it (in the way I advise) they'll come (to the Linux desktop)... Ah well. Lately I really admire what distro maintainers do. They are such a huge part of building desktop Linux wherever you find it, particularly desktop Linux of the "for grandma OR power users" variety, which it strikes me is pretty amazing to find in some of these distros. Thanks for sharing the article.
simonblack 4y ago
My Year of the UNIX Desktop started in 1991. But Linux, Coherent and the other "Toy UNIXes" interested me as they developed. I used to put a version of Slackware Linux on my Toshiba T5200 * 'portable PC' periodically. Every six months or so, I would look in to see how Linux was doing. Every single time, I was blown away by how far Linux had progressed since my last 'look in'. I especially remember when Linux networking suddenly appeared, full-blown, almost out of no-where. On my desktop, meanwhile, I moved from AT&T UNIX via Novell's Unixware to Sun's Solaris around 1995. Finally, in 2001, I realised "that upstart Linux" was just as useful and full-featured as my current Solaris 8 and threw in the towel. That year, 2001, was my Year of the Linux Desktop. It has remained so for the last 21 years, ever since. * http://laptop.pics/toshiba-t5200100/ http://laptop.pics/toshiba-t5200100/ (Mine had a 200MB hard disk. HUGE!)
0dayz 4y ago
The reason Linux lags behind really only boils down to the chicken and egg problem: If there's not an existing enterprise interest then Linux won't have the latest greatest fancy stuff (because someone had to pay the bills), and if there's no shiny new features then less users will use it. That's why the server, iot, and more are Linux dominant but not desktop. But how enterprises find interest in it comes down to if hobbyist have laid then ground work for something that somewhat show results, it's how blender and even krita has real sway in the industry.

7 points by pabs3 4y ago

I like it. Similar feelings here even though I admit I started out as one of those "if only they'd fix this one thing" people in the FOSS community. I do regret that. At the time I didn't understand any other ways to think about quality. So in sharing my best contributing views on what could be improved, I thought I was helping when in fact I was crowding out some really valid ways of being/doing. In favor of serving some straw-audience. I thought we were performing, but I could have been enjoying. If you build it (in the way I advise) they'll come (to the Linux desktop)... Ah well. Lately I really admire what distro maintainers do. They are such a huge part of building desktop Linux wherever you find it, particularly desktop Linux of the "for grandma OR power users" variety, which it strikes me is pretty amazing to find in some of these distros. Thanks for sharing the article.

simonblack 4y ago

My Year of the UNIX Desktop started in 1991. But Linux, Coherent and the other "Toy UNIXes" interested me as they developed. I used to put a version of Slackware Linux on my Toshiba T5200 * 'portable PC' periodically. Every six months or so, I would look in to see how Linux was doing. Every single time, I was blown away by how far Linux had progressed since my last 'look in'. I especially remember when Linux networking suddenly appeared, full-blown, almost out of no-where. On my desktop, meanwhile, I moved from AT&T UNIX via Novell's Unixware to Sun's Solaris around 1995. Finally, in 2001, I realised "that upstart Linux" was just as useful and full-featured as my current Solaris 8 and threw in the towel. That year, 2001, was my Year of the Linux Desktop. It has remained so for the last 21 years, ever since. * http://laptop.pics/toshiba-t5200100/ http://laptop.pics/toshiba-t5200100/ (Mine had a 200MB hard disk. HUGE!)

0dayz 4y ago

The reason Linux lags behind really only boils down to the chicken and egg problem: If there's not an existing enterprise interest then Linux won't have the latest greatest fancy stuff (because someone had to pay the bills), and if there's no shiny new features then less users will use it. That's why the server, iot, and more are Linux dominant but not desktop. But how enterprises find interest in it comes down to if hobbyist have laid then ground work for something that somewhat show results, it's how blender and even krita has real sway in the industry.