10 ms·

Linux on the (consumer) Desktop

62 points by mgunes 14y ago

ricardobeat 14y ago
I'm betting long on ElementaryOS[1]. It's a distro that wants to be top-notch in UX, design, developer APIs and system frameworks. They even have a Human Interfaces Guideline. Still a work in progress, but I used their previous release for a while and it was just a breeze of fresh air after Gnome/Unity, and surprisingly stable. Two things are real blockers for Linux desktop adoption: the Adobe suite (or alt) for professionals, and gaming for casual users. One of these is about to be solved :) [1] http://elementaryos.org/ http://elementaryos.org/
- josteink 14y ago
  This looks very interesting indeed. Initially it looks like a darkly themed Gnome-desktop with a new launcher, but looking around it seems like this is something different. Unfortunately I cannot seem to find any details on the what's backing this distro. Maybe that's the point and that you shouldn't have to care, but I'm still curious. Do you have any more details on what's actually running here?
  - ghost91 14y ago
    It's an Ubuntu. As windowmanager they developed gala which is also using mutter. They're using many components of the Gnome Environment.
  - DeepDuh 14y ago
    From the screenshot it looks like an OSX clone to the point. It seems like the UI designer switched to 2d-dock, inverted the colors, replaced the apple with an 'e' and called it a day. Not that this is bad per se though. Edit: They even pretty much copied the icons for browser, address book and dictionary.
    - mverwijs 14y ago
      Check their blog. It's more descriptive than their website. http://elementaryos.org/journal/when-its-ready http://elementaryos.org/journal/when-its-ready
    - manamana 14y ago
      The browser icon has changed since: http://elementaryos.org/journal/new-midori-icon-elementary http://elementaryos.org/journal/new-midori-icon-elementary
      - DeepDuh 14y ago
        Oh so instead copying Safari's logo they now copy Firefox? http://elementaryos.org/sites/default/files/user/5/midori.png http://elementaryos.org/sites/default/files/user/5/midori.pn... Elementary might have something going on for them but originality is not it apparently.
        manamana 14y ago
        The new icon solves the problem of being yet another thing people will point at and say they were just copying Apple. It might not be totally original, but that's okay, everyone borrows from everyone, and I don't think they will get any flak just because it somewhat resembles Firefox. The problem arises when you can trace so many ideas back to a single source that it makes it look like you're just making a cheap copy, which sadly is what is happening with elementary.
        ricardobeat 14y ago
        Yes, it is clearly inspired by OSX, yet you wouldn't mistake the two. If you look at the details (shading, borders, highlights, buttons) it has a different set of standards, some things are closer to KDE's Plasma than Aqua.
radley 14y ago
I still think it's going to be Android PC that's the next big (Linux) desktop OS. It has openness and it has the big support of Google. Android is not suddenly going to be a desktop thing. It'll happen over time as Android devices become more and more important than desktops. An Android PC will serve to extend that Eco-system on the same level as iOS & OSX (but better since it's still fun).
- j_col 14y ago
  I'm not sure I'm comfortable with Google (a large corporation driven by advertising profits) owning the desktop too. > It has openness and it has the big support of Google. Google did not open up Android 3.0 when it did not suit them to do so (commercially). I've never heard of Redhat or Canonical doing something similar with one of their Linux releases.
  - radley 14y ago
    If you saw 3.0 you know why - it was a giant fake hack which was not ready for phones. Opening it up would have destroyed confidence in the platform. I'm not entirely comfortable with Google either, but I'm far less comfortable with Apple & M$.
- blvr 14y ago
  As much as I love all these new touch UIs, I can't see myself using them on a desktop PC. The WIMP paradigm has way too many advantages on desktop to just be dropped. Although if someone took Android and modified the application framework, windowing system, etc. to be a traditional WIMP desktop OS, I think that would definitely interest me.
twelvechairs 14y ago
Call me silly, but the series of blogposts that this is a continuation of seem to have widely different definitions of "Desktop". One minute it seems to be gnome and other "Desktop Systems", another minute linux in general. Be good to have a little more clarity on just what they all seem so keen on achieving. Persoinally, I'm not so sure Linux needs to aim to be used by everyone under the sun... People have different needs and pluralism in operating systems (yes, including MS) can be a good thing....
drblast 14y ago
It's fascinating to watch people totally underestimate the lock Microsoft has on the corporate computing environment. This article suggests that it would be easier to break into the business/enterprise desktop than it would be to sell to consumers. It's probably just about the opposite. Linux is many years away from the level of plug-it-in-and-forget-it integration that Windows has. Linux is light years away from having anything resembling Active Directory in quality. And like it or not, the corporate world lives and dies by Office. I'd say if you want to make progress, the consumer space is the only possible bet, and it won't be on desktop computers but on tablets and embedded devices which, for the most part, will replace people's keyboard and monitor machines at home. But not in the office.
- eckyptang 14y ago
  +1 I don't think there is a proposition as powerful as the entire Microsoft ecosystem on the business desktop. There is also support, training, excellent literature and documentation, large quantities of staff, functional software at a reasonable price and as you mention: Active directory (which is awesome if you actually understand it). If you've seen some of the shit I've seen wired up to Office in the last few years, you'll get it. It's just awesome. Entire businesses hang of it. It might not be clean and squeaky but it's functional and does the job. Google Docs + iWork + LibreOffice are precisely zero competition. (I have to add this to each of these posts to avoid the shill downvotes: I am primarily a Linux user which suits me but I don't think it'd suit most people).
- hollerith 14y ago
  You make some valid points, but you try to push your thesis too far. >the consumer space is the only possible bet Below is a link to a discussion we had here 2 weeks ago about Ubuntu at Google. Although engineers at Google can choose a different one, Ubuntu is the desktop OS with the most support from Google's "IT department". In contrast, Windows is the only choice that requires some sort of approval from management. Also, although it is a paying customer for Canonical's Ubuntu Advantage support program, Google is not even Canonical's largest business desktop customer. As long as we do not have unrealistic aspirations of completely replacing Windows in the enterprise, why not try to expand on the presence desktop Linux already has there? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4452005 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4452005
mahrain 14y ago
Don't call the PEOPLE using your software "consumers", they're people.
- steevdave 14y ago
  While I agree that people are people, they are also consumers. And he's talking about the consumer market, not enthusiasts adding it to their own systems so in this context it makes sense.
  - shmerl 14y ago
    It's degrading, because not only tech enthusiasts can use computers for creative activity, becoming producers, rather than consumers.
- shmerl 14y ago
  I'd rather call them users. Consumers doesn't sound so good.
elchief 14y ago
We already have linux on the desktop. It's called OSX. Seriously, I've been reading about dreams of linux on the desktop for 20 years. Give up. Move on.
- vidarh 14y ago
  I use OS X a lot. But my home desktop has been Linux for the last 17 years, and it will stay Linux for the foreseeable future. Maybe it will never see mass adoption. Maybe it will. For my part it doesn't matter. What matters to me is that there's nothing I have on my OS X laptop at work that I miss when I use my Linux laptop at home, but I can't say the same in reverse.
  - lloeki 14y ago
    In my (just as anecdotal) case, you can literally swap OSX and Linux: I use Linux a lot. But my home laptop has been OSX for the last 6 years, and it will stay OSX for the foreseeable future. Maybe it will never see mass adoption. Maybe it will. For my part it doesn't matter. What matters to me is that there's nothing I have on my Linux workstation that I miss when I use my OSX laptop at home, but I can't say the same in reverse.
- willholloway 14y ago
  People said the same thing about Apple in the 90's when it had 5% market share. Have you noticed that Linux is taking over the mobile market?
  - ekianjo 14y ago
    not Linux. Android. It's NOT the same thing. At all.
    - willholloway 14y ago
      I have busybox and bash on my android phone, how is it not the same at all? That's why they call it GNU/Linux. Linux is the kernel, and GNU a set of tools and libraries. Right now Android has the Linux part, and the GNU part is increasingly available.
willholloway 14y ago
Post points out very well how inferior products that charge can beat superior products that are free. It's quite sad that Linux already has the best experience if you care about getting things done. In order to save the desktop we must kill the desktop. Stop the madness and get on with life: apt-get install ratpoison The desktop metaphor is the worst kind of skeuomorphic design. Why should I waste precious screen real estate to show a background image? The only thing tiling window managers need for better adoption is to ship with better defaults and a reference card for keyboard shortcuts.
- exDM69 14y ago
  > The only thing tiling window managers need for better adoption is to ship with better defaults and a reference card for keyboard shortcuts. That works for hackers but for non-techies that aren't willing to put any time and effort into re-learning the basics. What I hope to see is more tiling windowing features on mainstream user interfaces for the intermediate users.
  - willholloway 14y ago
    This is the direction Android will go in. I am pretty sure that in five years most people will have one smart phone that they dock at home to have access to large screens and keyboard/mouse. The laptop as we know it will be replaced by laptop shells with a smart phone dock. And those phones will run Linux with the Android UI and drivers. I believe tiling window managers would be fantastic productivity boosters for enterprise use. Less distractions for the worker bees.
    - ekianjo 14y ago
      > And those phones will run Linux with the Android UI and drivers. You seem to assume Android is just another Linux distro with a different windows manager? If so, you are mistaken. An Android system is very different from a Linux distro - they basically only share the kernels and it is quite wrong to classify Android as "Linux" because it creates confusion.
exDM69 14y ago
After using a desktop linux box for about 15 years, I have moved on. Not because the desktop experience was bad, in fact I think it was one of the best out there. Sure, there are rough edges but the user experience of regular desktop activities (launching apps, browsing files) worked for me better than redmond or cupertino -flavored desktops. No, I moved on because I realized that I don't like the desktop paradigm. The best thing I ever did to my computer was changing to tiling windowing and a keyboard oriented user experience. It's definitely not for everyone, but I don't miss the desktop.
- sliverstorm 14y ago
  If you've still got a desk computer which runs linux, regardless the WM you've still got a desktop linux box. "Linux on the desktop" doesn't use "desktop" in the sense by which we refer to the place that contains "My Computer" and "Recycle Bin". No, "desktop" refers to "on the top of your desk".
  - exDM69 14y ago
    > If you've still got a desk computer which runs linux, regardless the WM you've still got a desktop linux box. Semantics. I prefer to call it a personal unix workstation :) I have a similar software setup on my laptop, which you can't call a "desktop". We can call it a portable unix workstation then.
    - mhurron 14y ago
      Actually yes, the phrase 'Linux on the Desktop' does include laptops. 'Linux on the Desktop' sounds like a better rallying cry then 'Everyone using Linux directly'.
    - hollerith 14y ago
      >I have a similar software setup on my laptop, which you can't call a "desktop". According to the standard terminology used by most writers in the computer industry last 5 years, yes you can (when applied to software). In contrast, if you say, "After using a desktop linux box for about 15 years, I have moved on," most readers are going to be misled into concluding that you've switched to OS X or Windows. (We only got what you actually meant because we were paying sufficient attention and because you went on to talk of tiling windowing and a keyboard oriented user experience, which are not really an option on OS X and Windows.) P.S. In all the discussion about tablet computer, you really never noticed any of the thousands of authors using "desktop OS" to refer to the more-traditional kind of OS that runs on both desktop computers and laptop computers? And you never noticed authors using "desktop" to distinguish a user-facing computer from a server?
micro_cam 14y ago
The biggest surprise for me from this years google io was how much I like and use the chromebox. Chrome os is the best linux desktop distro I've used by far. A fast, stripped down kernel and intuitive, minimal ui and seamless auto updating. It isn't cable of running a local dev server or compiling code, which are things I still need from my computer (I'm hoping for a chrome os pro supporting guest vms) but everything else is so easy I see the os gaining serious ground and think it is silly to leave it out of a discussion of desktop linux.
shmerl 14y ago
I think all of this is close to be pointless, when there is an abundant and sickening Windows bundling problem which persists until present day. End users don't care about any ISVs, ABIs and other such matters, and some even don't have a clue about OS names. They buy a computer with an OS preinstalled. And guess what that OS is? That's the problem which needs to be solved first. The rest as the author admits, will be solved under the market pressure.
- lumberjack 14y ago
  Personally I think a greater factor in the prevalence of Windows is the way children in school grow up using it and other MS branded software. Add to that the reputation that Windows has in the corporate enviroment and the inertia of over fifteen years as the status quo and that probably accounts for the majority of why Microsoft dominates these markets. I won't go much into the issue other than say that I find it somewhat sad that we are essentially hooking up these children and ultimately our future on the products of a private entity. Even if they are the better option out there, there is still an issue of unnecessarily power being granted to a private entity. You might also want to checkout what kind of deals your local government/municipality made with MS.
  - shmerl 14y ago
    Yes, MS tries to hook schools early on. But no one stops teachers and school stuff from rejecting MS offers and going with Linux. And it does happen in different places.
- pyre 14y ago
  Unless the "Linux Desktop" provides what costumers want, no OEMs will pre-install it (or those that do will lose money / go out of business). While "what costumers wants" might not be as complex as power users might imagine, it is not something so easily swept under the rug as "no big deal."
  - shmerl 14y ago
    And what does Linux not provide, that the common user needs? The most common use cases are covered by modern Linux desktop more than enough. When you are starting to go to more specialized use cases (gaming, publishing, etc.) then Linux will fall behind. But they are arguably not the majority. So the common reason not to give an option of Linux (or no OS) is not because Linux is really lacking in functionality, but because of either deals with MS (i.e. reduced Windows price), or because of lack of demand (i.e. the same "network effect"). But demand is hard to build if such option doesn't even exist as an option for an unaware customer. So it's a vicious cycle, which is of course well fed by MS to persist.
dkhenry 14y ago
Part of me is happy that there is a member of the Gnome community that is speaking the language of business. The truth is for the longest time Linux geeks have been speaking the parlance of technology. In this article I see things like this. """ a better ISV story """ """ Channel issues """ This is the first step towards actually making inroads. That right there is BS and its the language of the corporate sales cycle. Linux will need advocates who are fluent in the language of the corporation to make the partnerships and sales deals that will be required to get Linux onto the corporate desktop. We are not there yet where we can walk into a sales room and compete on a corporate sales cycle with the professional sales guys who pitch solutions based on Microsoft, but at that point that's the battle that needs to be fought.

62 points by mgunes 14y ago

I'm betting long on ElementaryOS[1]. It's a distro that wants to be top-notch in UX, design, developer APIs and system frameworks. They even have a Human Interfaces Guideline. Still a work in progress, but I used their previous release for a while and it was just a breeze of fresh air after Gnome/Unity, and surprisingly stable. Two things are real blockers for Linux desktop adoption: the Adobe suite (or alt) for professionals, and gaming for casual users. One of these is about to be solved :) [1] http://elementaryos.org/ http://elementaryos.org/

josteink 14y ago
This looks very interesting indeed. Initially it looks like a darkly themed Gnome-desktop with a new launcher, but looking around it seems like this is something different. Unfortunately I cannot seem to find any details on the what's backing this distro. Maybe that's the point and that you shouldn't have to care, but I'm still curious. Do you have any more details on what's actually running here?
- ghost91 14y ago
  It's an Ubuntu. As windowmanager they developed gala which is also using mutter. They're using many components of the Gnome Environment.
- DeepDuh 14y ago
  From the screenshot it looks like an OSX clone to the point. It seems like the UI designer switched to 2d-dock, inverted the colors, replaced the apple with an 'e' and called it a day. Not that this is bad per se though. Edit: They even pretty much copied the icons for browser, address book and dictionary.
  - mverwijs 14y ago
    Check their blog. It's more descriptive than their website. http://elementaryos.org/journal/when-its-ready http://elementaryos.org/journal/when-its-ready
  - manamana 14y ago
    The browser icon has changed since: http://elementaryos.org/journal/new-midori-icon-elementary http://elementaryos.org/journal/new-midori-icon-elementary
    - DeepDuh 14y ago
      Oh so instead copying Safari's logo they now copy Firefox? http://elementaryos.org/sites/default/files/user/5/midori.png http://elementaryos.org/sites/default/files/user/5/midori.pn... Elementary might have something going on for them but originality is not it apparently.
      - manamana 14y ago
        The new icon solves the problem of being yet another thing people will point at and say they were just copying Apple. It might not be totally original, but that's okay, everyone borrows from everyone, and I don't think they will get any flak just because it somewhat resembles Firefox. The problem arises when you can trace so many ideas back to a single source that it makes it look like you're just making a cheap copy, which sadly is what is happening with elementary.
      - ricardobeat 14y ago
        Yes, it is clearly inspired by OSX, yet you wouldn't mistake the two. If you look at the details (shading, borders, highlights, buttons) it has a different set of standards, some things are closer to KDE's Plasma than Aqua.

radley 14y ago

I still think it's going to be Android PC that's the next big (Linux) desktop OS. It has openness and it has the big support of Google. Android is not suddenly going to be a desktop thing. It'll happen over time as Android devices become more and more important than desktops. An Android PC will serve to extend that Eco-system on the same level as iOS & OSX (but better since it's still fun).

j_col 14y ago
I'm not sure I'm comfortable with Google (a large corporation driven by advertising profits) owning the desktop too. > It has openness and it has the big support of Google. Google did not open up Android 3.0 when it did not suit them to do so (commercially). I've never heard of Redhat or Canonical doing something similar with one of their Linux releases.
- radley 14y ago
  If you saw 3.0 you know why - it was a giant fake hack which was not ready for phones. Opening it up would have destroyed confidence in the platform. I'm not entirely comfortable with Google either, but I'm far less comfortable with Apple & M$.
blvr 14y ago
As much as I love all these new touch UIs, I can't see myself using them on a desktop PC. The WIMP paradigm has way too many advantages on desktop to just be dropped. Although if someone took Android and modified the application framework, windowing system, etc. to be a traditional WIMP desktop OS, I think that would definitely interest me.

twelvechairs 14y ago

Call me silly, but the series of blogposts that this is a continuation of seem to have widely different definitions of "Desktop". One minute it seems to be gnome and other "Desktop Systems", another minute linux in general. Be good to have a little more clarity on just what they all seem so keen on achieving. Persoinally, I'm not so sure Linux needs to aim to be used by everyone under the sun... People have different needs and pluralism in operating systems (yes, including MS) can be a good thing....

drblast 14y ago

It's fascinating to watch people totally underestimate the lock Microsoft has on the corporate computing environment. This article suggests that it would be easier to break into the business/enterprise desktop than it would be to sell to consumers. It's probably just about the opposite. Linux is many years away from the level of plug-it-in-and-forget-it integration that Windows has. Linux is light years away from having anything resembling Active Directory in quality. And like it or not, the corporate world lives and dies by Office. I'd say if you want to make progress, the consumer space is the only possible bet, and it won't be on desktop computers but on tablets and embedded devices which, for the most part, will replace people's keyboard and monitor machines at home. But not in the office.

eckyptang 14y ago
+1 I don't think there is a proposition as powerful as the entire Microsoft ecosystem on the business desktop. There is also support, training, excellent literature and documentation, large quantities of staff, functional software at a reasonable price and as you mention: Active directory (which is awesome if you actually understand it). If you've seen some of the shit I've seen wired up to Office in the last few years, you'll get it. It's just awesome. Entire businesses hang of it. It might not be clean and squeaky but it's functional and does the job. Google Docs + iWork + LibreOffice are precisely zero competition. (I have to add this to each of these posts to avoid the shill downvotes: I am primarily a Linux user which suits me but I don't think it'd suit most people).
hollerith 14y ago
You make some valid points, but you try to push your thesis too far. >the consumer space is the only possible bet Below is a link to a discussion we had here 2 weeks ago about Ubuntu at Google. Although engineers at Google can choose a different one, Ubuntu is the desktop OS with the most support from Google's "IT department". In contrast, Windows is the only choice that requires some sort of approval from management. Also, although it is a paying customer for Canonical's Ubuntu Advantage support program, Google is not even Canonical's largest business desktop customer. As long as we do not have unrealistic aspirations of completely replacing Windows in the enterprise, why not try to expand on the presence desktop Linux already has there? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4452005 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4452005

mahrain 14y ago

Don't call the PEOPLE using your software "consumers", they're people.

steevdave 14y ago
While I agree that people are people, they are also consumers. And he's talking about the consumer market, not enthusiasts adding it to their own systems so in this context it makes sense.
- shmerl 14y ago
  It's degrading, because not only tech enthusiasts can use computers for creative activity, becoming producers, rather than consumers.
shmerl 14y ago
I'd rather call them users. Consumers doesn't sound so good.

elchief 14y ago

We already have linux on the desktop. It's called OSX. Seriously, I've been reading about dreams of linux on the desktop for 20 years. Give up. Move on.

vidarh 14y ago
I use OS X a lot. But my home desktop has been Linux for the last 17 years, and it will stay Linux for the foreseeable future. Maybe it will never see mass adoption. Maybe it will. For my part it doesn't matter. What matters to me is that there's nothing I have on my OS X laptop at work that I miss when I use my Linux laptop at home, but I can't say the same in reverse.
- lloeki 14y ago
  In my (just as anecdotal) case, you can literally swap OSX and Linux: I use Linux a lot. But my home laptop has been OSX for the last 6 years, and it will stay OSX for the foreseeable future. Maybe it will never see mass adoption. Maybe it will. For my part it doesn't matter. What matters to me is that there's nothing I have on my Linux workstation that I miss when I use my OSX laptop at home, but I can't say the same in reverse.
willholloway 14y ago
People said the same thing about Apple in the 90's when it had 5% market share. Have you noticed that Linux is taking over the mobile market?
- ekianjo 14y ago
  not Linux. Android. It's NOT the same thing. At all.
  - willholloway 14y ago
    I have busybox and bash on my android phone, how is it not the same at all? That's why they call it GNU/Linux. Linux is the kernel, and GNU a set of tools and libraries. Right now Android has the Linux part, and the GNU part is increasingly available.

willholloway 14y ago

Post points out very well how inferior products that charge can beat superior products that are free. It's quite sad that Linux already has the best experience if you care about getting things done. In order to save the desktop we must kill the desktop. Stop the madness and get on with life: apt-get install ratpoison The desktop metaphor is the worst kind of skeuomorphic design. Why should I waste precious screen real estate to show a background image? The only thing tiling window managers need for better adoption is to ship with better defaults and a reference card for keyboard shortcuts.

exDM69 14y ago
> The only thing tiling window managers need for better adoption is to ship with better defaults and a reference card for keyboard shortcuts. That works for hackers but for non-techies that aren't willing to put any time and effort into re-learning the basics. What I hope to see is more tiling windowing features on mainstream user interfaces for the intermediate users.
- willholloway 14y ago
  This is the direction Android will go in. I am pretty sure that in five years most people will have one smart phone that they dock at home to have access to large screens and keyboard/mouse. The laptop as we know it will be replaced by laptop shells with a smart phone dock. And those phones will run Linux with the Android UI and drivers. I believe tiling window managers would be fantastic productivity boosters for enterprise use. Less distractions for the worker bees.
  - ekianjo 14y ago
    > And those phones will run Linux with the Android UI and drivers. You seem to assume Android is just another Linux distro with a different windows manager? If so, you are mistaken. An Android system is very different from a Linux distro - they basically only share the kernels and it is quite wrong to classify Android as "Linux" because it creates confusion.

exDM69 14y ago

After using a desktop linux box for about 15 years, I have moved on. Not because the desktop experience was bad, in fact I think it was one of the best out there. Sure, there are rough edges but the user experience of regular desktop activities (launching apps, browsing files) worked for me better than redmond or cupertino -flavored desktops. No, I moved on because I realized that I don't like the desktop paradigm. The best thing I ever did to my computer was changing to tiling windowing and a keyboard oriented user experience. It's definitely not for everyone, but I don't miss the desktop.

sliverstorm 14y ago
If you've still got a desk computer which runs linux, regardless the WM you've still got a desktop linux box. "Linux on the desktop" doesn't use "desktop" in the sense by which we refer to the place that contains "My Computer" and "Recycle Bin". No, "desktop" refers to "on the top of your desk".
- exDM69 14y ago
  > If you've still got a desk computer which runs linux, regardless the WM you've still got a desktop linux box. Semantics. I prefer to call it a personal unix workstation :) I have a similar software setup on my laptop, which you can't call a "desktop". We can call it a portable unix workstation then.
  - mhurron 14y ago
    Actually yes, the phrase 'Linux on the Desktop' does include laptops. 'Linux on the Desktop' sounds like a better rallying cry then 'Everyone using Linux directly'.
  - hollerith 14y ago
    >I have a similar software setup on my laptop, which you can't call a "desktop". According to the standard terminology used by most writers in the computer industry last 5 years, yes you can (when applied to software). In contrast, if you say, "After using a desktop linux box for about 15 years, I have moved on," most readers are going to be misled into concluding that you've switched to OS X or Windows. (We only got what you actually meant because we were paying sufficient attention and because you went on to talk of tiling windowing and a keyboard oriented user experience, which are not really an option on OS X and Windows.) P.S. In all the discussion about tablet computer, you really never noticed any of the thousands of authors using "desktop OS" to refer to the more-traditional kind of OS that runs on both desktop computers and laptop computers? And you never noticed authors using "desktop" to distinguish a user-facing computer from a server?

micro_cam 14y ago

The biggest surprise for me from this years google io was how much I like and use the chromebox. Chrome os is the best linux desktop distro I've used by far. A fast, stripped down kernel and intuitive, minimal ui and seamless auto updating. It isn't cable of running a local dev server or compiling code, which are things I still need from my computer (I'm hoping for a chrome os pro supporting guest vms) but everything else is so easy I see the os gaining serious ground and think it is silly to leave it out of a discussion of desktop linux.

shmerl 14y ago

I think all of this is close to be pointless, when there is an abundant and sickening Windows bundling problem which persists until present day. End users don't care about any ISVs, ABIs and other such matters, and some even don't have a clue about OS names. They buy a computer with an OS preinstalled. And guess what that OS is? That's the problem which needs to be solved first. The rest as the author admits, will be solved under the market pressure.

lumberjack 14y ago
Personally I think a greater factor in the prevalence of Windows is the way children in school grow up using it and other MS branded software. Add to that the reputation that Windows has in the corporate enviroment and the inertia of over fifteen years as the status quo and that probably accounts for the majority of why Microsoft dominates these markets. I won't go much into the issue other than say that I find it somewhat sad that we are essentially hooking up these children and ultimately our future on the products of a private entity. Even if they are the better option out there, there is still an issue of unnecessarily power being granted to a private entity. You might also want to checkout what kind of deals your local government/municipality made with MS.
- shmerl 14y ago
  Yes, MS tries to hook schools early on. But no one stops teachers and school stuff from rejecting MS offers and going with Linux. And it does happen in different places.
pyre 14y ago
Unless the "Linux Desktop" provides what costumers want, no OEMs will pre-install it (or those that do will lose money / go out of business). While "what costumers wants" might not be as complex as power users might imagine, it is not something so easily swept under the rug as "no big deal."
- shmerl 14y ago
  And what does Linux not provide, that the common user needs? The most common use cases are covered by modern Linux desktop more than enough. When you are starting to go to more specialized use cases (gaming, publishing, etc.) then Linux will fall behind. But they are arguably not the majority. So the common reason not to give an option of Linux (or no OS) is not because Linux is really lacking in functionality, but because of either deals with MS (i.e. reduced Windows price), or because of lack of demand (i.e. the same "network effect"). But demand is hard to build if such option doesn't even exist as an option for an unaware customer. So it's a vicious cycle, which is of course well fed by MS to persist.

dkhenry 14y ago

Part of me is happy that there is a member of the Gnome community that is speaking the language of business. The truth is for the longest time Linux geeks have been speaking the parlance of technology. In this article I see things like this. """ a better ISV story """ """ Channel issues """ This is the first step towards actually making inroads. That right there is BS and its the language of the corporate sales cycle. Linux will need advocates who are fluent in the language of the corporation to make the partnerships and sales deals that will be required to get Linux onto the corporate desktop. We are not there yet where we can walk into a sales room and compete on a corporate sales cycle with the professional sales guys who pitch solutions based on Microsoft, but at that point that's the battle that needs to be fought.