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The dog's breakfast of audio standards on Linux neatly encapsulates the weaknesses of systems as open and democratic as Linux and illustrates why it thrives on

• cookiecaper 14y ago
  Desktop Linux is just missing a vertical here. The "open and democratic" methods of Linux, also called "free market" or "bazaar", are a fine as a stage of development. This is why distributions exist; they make the choices from the raw technology and bundle it up all neatly. The issue is that the distributions do not have a real attitude of tight integration and strict user-centric organizational imperatives. Ubuntu, Fedora, et al use their platforms as late-stage testbeds instead of standardized, consumer-ready desktop burns with full integration. In many ways, OS X has shown us the ideal distribution. It's based on open technology and continually adopts new technology as it proves itself, but Apple is not afraid to integrate tightly and replace components with well-engineered, well-tested replacements as necessary (the origination of the divergence between X11 and Quartz), as long as it means a solid, unified, consistent and functional experience for their users. We need that now. Canonical fancies themselves after that pattern but I don't believe they take the needed organization seriously enough and I don't believe they have the technical expertise necessary to really make the tough calls and implement a technically-sound user-centric system (see: Mir). They need to get some new leadership in there.