6 ms·

I say the future of desktop software is going to involve Linux, finally. Both Windows and OS X are becoming walled-garden tablet-centric shitfests.

by beedogs 14y ago

dockd 14y ago
That begs the question, what is the future of the desktop? It's not a knock on Linux, but if the mass market moves to tablets and smartphones (not sure if you count laptops as desktops), owning the desktop is going to be like owning the mainframe market. It doesn't disappear but it's not what it once was either.
chao- 14y ago
As a Linux desktop user, I want to agree with you. As a Linux desktop user, I'm not sure that I can.
- beedogs 14y ago
  I think if we just keep saying it, it'll happen eventually.
- idleloops 14y ago
  We live in hope...
  - tuananh 14y ago
    haven't we been living in hope in the last decade?
    - idleloops 14y ago
      I'd dare say: longer!
- quanticle 14y ago
  The real problem is that the most popular Linux distribution (Ubuntu) and one of the two most popular window managers (Gnome) are going in exactly the same direction as Apple and Windows. These two projects are so busy emulating what Apple and Windows do, they can't see that they're going to go right off the usability cliff for desktop users. That, more than anything either Apple or Microsoft does is what worries me about desktop Linux. We have met the enemy and he is us.
  - betterth 14y ago
    As a strangely pertinent anecdote: I've been a Windows "poweruser" for a long time, and have never used much of Linux. I never had a real need for it. But I've been doing rails development lately and Windows kept getting in the way, and so many people are using OSX and I can't afford a Mac... so I tried Ubuntu. I'm using 12.04, and it's the first significant amount of time I've used spent with Ubuntu. I can say that a month in, I'm digging it. It beats Windows for me in a number of ways but I actually like the level of ui polish -- it's smoother than Windows. (That and it renders fonts far better than Windows, for some reason). Rails on Ubuntu is also far, far easier. Terminal beats every pretend version on Windows, rvm and bundler work the way they're supposed to, and I really like gedit more than Notepad++.
    - w1ntermute 14y ago
      > I really like gedit more than Notepad++ gedit is available on Windows too. If you really want to harness the power of Linux, run Vim. You'll see at least an order of magnitude in productiviy improvement.
      - quanticle 14y ago
        Well, to be fair, it depends on whether you're willing to spend a week or so getting the hang of it. That level of investment isn't necessarily for everyone (even developers).
        intractable 14y ago
- jiggy2011 14y ago
  The future of Linux on the general "desktop" space will be as a front end for the cloud/web I believe. Rather than "Linux apps" expect it to be running stuff using things like Google Native client or increasingly sophisticated JS virtual machines.
AncientPC 14y ago
No. There are monetary and performance gains for using Linux on servers and embedded products. As a result, OEMs have a financial incentive for making sure those products run Linux well. No such incentive exists for desktops. Apple incorporates the cost of OS X into selling hardware. Windows' licenses are effectively free for OEM manufacturers. Dell is the only major OEM I know of that offers a Linux laptop and I'd guess that division is in the red. The original Asus EEE PC was Linux only and spawned the netbook revolution, but Linux only did not last very long once the market took off and Microsoft intervened.
- cheatercheater 14y ago
  I believe some countries require vendors to supply the computer with an OS installed; in this case not needing to include a half-assed version of Windows Home Underwhelm Experience can help them cut away those 10% of $300 low-end models. There's a reason many netbooks come with linux and it's not user-friendliness. Additionally, more and more governments pass laws that require their institutions to use linux or open source, or choose bidders that do. Then you have an incentive for a company which wins such a bid to use linux on umpteens of desktops. Those are just two incentives. There are probably more.
  - AncientPC 14y ago
    OEMs get paid for pre-installing bloatware onto machines which can add up to $40+ per machine. Offering Linux costs them money (in addition to R&D, support, training, marketing, etc).
    - cheatercheater 14y ago
      Right. I wish we were in a world where you didn't have to remind me of that, and I didn't instantly want to forget about it.
mitchty 14y ago
I've heard variations of this since 1999 or so on slashdot. I'm somewhat reserved on Linux becoming a desktop platform.

I say the future of desktop software is going to involve Linux, finally. Both Windows and OS X are becoming walled-garden tablet-centric shitfests.

by beedogs 14y ago

I say the future of desktop software is going to involve Linux, finally. Both Windows and OS X are becoming walled-garden tablet-centric shitfests.

dockd 14y ago

That begs the question, what is the future of the desktop? It's not a knock on Linux, but if the mass market moves to tablets and smartphones (not sure if you count laptops as desktops), owning the desktop is going to be like owning the mainframe market. It doesn't disappear but it's not what it once was either.

chao- 14y ago

As a Linux desktop user, I want to agree with you. As a Linux desktop user, I'm not sure that I can.

beedogs 14y ago
I think if we just keep saying it, it'll happen eventually.
idleloops 14y ago
We live in hope...
- tuananh 14y ago
  haven't we been living in hope in the last decade?
  - idleloops 14y ago
    I'd dare say: longer!
quanticle 14y ago
The real problem is that the most popular Linux distribution (Ubuntu) and one of the two most popular window managers (Gnome) are going in exactly the same direction as Apple and Windows. These two projects are so busy emulating what Apple and Windows do, they can't see that they're going to go right off the usability cliff for desktop users. That, more than anything either Apple or Microsoft does is what worries me about desktop Linux. We have met the enemy and he is us.
- betterth 14y ago
  As a strangely pertinent anecdote: I've been a Windows "poweruser" for a long time, and have never used much of Linux. I never had a real need for it. But I've been doing rails development lately and Windows kept getting in the way, and so many people are using OSX and I can't afford a Mac... so I tried Ubuntu. I'm using 12.04, and it's the first significant amount of time I've used spent with Ubuntu. I can say that a month in, I'm digging it. It beats Windows for me in a number of ways but I actually like the level of ui polish -- it's smoother than Windows. (That and it renders fonts far better than Windows, for some reason). Rails on Ubuntu is also far, far easier. Terminal beats every pretend version on Windows, rvm and bundler work the way they're supposed to, and I really like gedit more than Notepad++.
  - w1ntermute 14y ago
    > I really like gedit more than Notepad++ gedit is available on Windows too. If you really want to harness the power of Linux, run Vim. You'll see at least an order of magnitude in productiviy improvement.
    - quanticle 14y ago
      Well, to be fair, it depends on whether you're willing to spend a week or so getting the hang of it. That level of investment isn't necessarily for everyone (even developers).
      - intractable 14y ago
jiggy2011 14y ago
The future of Linux on the general "desktop" space will be as a front end for the cloud/web I believe. Rather than "Linux apps" expect it to be running stuff using things like Google Native client or increasingly sophisticated JS virtual machines.

AncientPC 14y ago

No. There are monetary and performance gains for using Linux on servers and embedded products. As a result, OEMs have a financial incentive for making sure those products run Linux well. No such incentive exists for desktops. Apple incorporates the cost of OS X into selling hardware. Windows' licenses are effectively free for OEM manufacturers. Dell is the only major OEM I know of that offers a Linux laptop and I'd guess that division is in the red. The original Asus EEE PC was Linux only and spawned the netbook revolution, but Linux only did not last very long once the market took off and Microsoft intervened.

cheatercheater 14y ago
I believe some countries require vendors to supply the computer with an OS installed; in this case not needing to include a half-assed version of Windows Home Underwhelm Experience can help them cut away those 10% of $300 low-end models. There's a reason many netbooks come with linux and it's not user-friendliness. Additionally, more and more governments pass laws that require their institutions to use linux or open source, or choose bidders that do. Then you have an incentive for a company which wins such a bid to use linux on umpteens of desktops. Those are just two incentives. There are probably more.
- AncientPC 14y ago
  OEMs get paid for pre-installing bloatware onto machines which can add up to $40+ per machine. Offering Linux costs them money (in addition to R&D, support, training, marketing, etc).
  - cheatercheater 14y ago
    Right. I wish we were in a world where you didn't have to remind me of that, and I didn't instantly want to forget about it.

mitchty 14y ago

I've heard variations of this since 1999 or so on slashdot. I'm somewhat reserved on Linux becoming a desktop platform.