[issues] Re: [techtalk] Desktop OS?

[David Merrill]

[snippage all over :-)]

On Tue, Jun 05, 2001 at 04:59:42PM -0400, Michelle Murrain wrote:
> One thing we didn't mention, which will make everyone's life a lot 
> easier, and will do lots to move Linux forward, is Linux Standard 
> Base. Anyone know what stage that's in? Does that have any hope of 
> making it?

I think it does. The going has been slow and sometimes painful, but
that is not so unusual wrt standards processes.

> But the truth is, we are up against a lot more than just the 
> marketing $ of big software. Not paying for software (and therefore, 
> not getting money making it either) goes against the dominant 
> paradigm of the software industry - hell - it goes against the 
> dominant paradigm of everything! Most people buy software in CompUSA, 
> or stores like that. Well, those stores are never going to have free 
> software in them. So in a sense, it's a catch-22. The apps don't get 
> good publicity, and aren't easy to find - so Linux languishes on the 
> desktop.

When Linux develops a large enough home user base, the stores will
carry software for it. Not everyone wants to download their software.
They'd rather buy it on disk. And CompUSA can sell all they want
without paying for them. They can burn their own `store brand' of all
the free software if they want.

> >Isn't it sad that if we make Linux successful we inevitably destroy it for
> >ourselves?  That is ironic, IMHO.

I don't see that happening. No matter how user-friendly the GUI gets,
nobody's ever going to remove the console. No matter how many
Evolutions and KMails are written, or how fancy they get, mutt will
still be around.

Linux, because of its development model, is (unlike Windows, I'll
point out) able to serve multiple end-users and multiple markets well.
It doesn't have to ever become a monolithic product aimed at one user
base. So Mandrake focuses on polishing the GUI, and RH on servers, or
whatever. Everybody can find one that's tailored for *their* needs.
That's a powerful thing. And the best fruits of one distro often find
their way into the others. Darwinian evolution in software design.

> Actually, I thought of something - the beauty of Linux is that it's 
> UNIX. UNIX has such a strong foundation. If I wanted to, I could 
> spend lots of time on the command line of MacOS X, and compile and 
> add new window managers, etc. Linux is actually an OS that could 
> evolve some really user-friendly front ends, but still be a nice 
> place for geeks to play with. I'm sure once the KDE/GNOME/Whatever 
> battle is settled, someone will come up with a new incredibly 
> powerful and totally incomprehensible window manager (maybe 3-D???) 
> that we can all be happy with. :-)

Yep! I'll aol that!

-- 
Dr. David C. Merrill                     http://www.lupercalia.net
Linux Documentation Project                   david at lupercalia.net
Collection Editor & Coordinator            http://www.linuxdoc.org

Documentation is like sex: when it is good, it is very, very good; and
when it is bad, it is better than nothing.
		-- Dick Brandon