The Linux Question… and Answer

i agree with that completely. but my biggest problem with Linux is hardware compatibility. i have yet to try a distro that fully supports my pc’s wifi card. in this day and age, a computer without internet access is useless, so until some better hardware compatibility, while it is quite good already don’t get me wrong, comes around. a standardized package manager would do wonders for those who actually can run linux smoothly. Lastly, they need to take a more windows-esque approach and allow more things to be done without using the terminal. While i like seeing how an OS works and i even like to use DOS to get things done, I don’t really want to have to learn a whole new set of commands just to get a secondary OS to work for me. It’s just not worth the trouble.

Linux rocks. My custom wallpaper says so :)

And the funny part is a lot of this is ‘beginning’ to happen already, be it slowly.

I think that Freespire does number four, but I may have to double check that. As for number 11, spot-on. I have been SCREAMING this for years. Hence, my teaming up with Edimax among others to take matters into my own hands and do what distro devs continue to ignore. Great post, seriously, very cool. :)

Gyms, lawfirms, etc. all rely on a few specialized Windows applications. These applications are often data management applications, which aren’t too complicated. It seems that “companies will adopt Linux when specialized applications … clickhere

E@zyVG: Thus, the drivers won’t incur a single cent for patent licensing and it won’t cost the printer companies a cent to develop these drivers. In short, Linux can’t do what Microsoft did because it lives in a different world.

> Have a package manager that can convert RPM’s and other
> commonly used packages into debs. Debian’s package manager is
> more reliable than RPM so it should be used. Since most packages
> are now released under both RPM and deb this is less of an issue
> than it used to be, as is the KDE/Gnome compatibility issue.
I use apt for RPM, which is where one of the biggest claims deb has over RPM. I only use yum for stuff that apt is missing (`yum list` is the most glaring thing).

> Install both Gnome and KDE libraries by default, so that KDE
> programs can run on Gnome and vice-versa. The GUI can be built
> into the kernel like in NT if this becomes undoable, but it’ll
> probably work and the slower performance won’t turn too many
> people away.
Ubuntu separates the two desktop environments into Ubuntu and Kubuntu, though I try to stay away from the *buntus. Distributions such as Fedora and OpenSuSE include both and also Xfce, so you can whatever you want. I actually don’t use any GNOME apps. The only reason gdm is on here is due to thinkfinger not yet being integrated into kdm.

> Either include proprietary codecs and pay licensing fees or try to
> defeat the DVD Forum / Fraunhoffer and Thompson Multimedia
> (mp3) in court. At least with DVD’s, removing the copy prevention
> circumvention technology from libdvdcss2 would probably make it
> legal. I think the first option is better since many patent holders
> (i.e., Thompson, Microsoft) make FUDish claims about open source
> products without ever taking their producers to court.
There are those distributions that are guaranteed to be 100% free-as-in-freedom out of the box. Fedora is one of them. Livna is there for the non-free packages. Fedora won’t carry support for non-free codecs until they are truly free. In any case, it is just as simple as getting libdvdcss, amarok-extras-nonfree from Livna to fix such issues.

> Hide the command line, even at the expense of security. With my
> password, I should be able to modify root’s files with the GUI in my
> regular account without first going into the terminal and
> typing “sudo nautilus”.
I doubt this will happen and in truth, I hope it doesn’t. This would make security as bad as Windows defaults because then sensitive files are open to any user. That’s not what security is about. In fact, it’s a big reason why Linux is so secure. Windows didn’t use permissions until NTFS, Linux has had them for how long. I like knowing that if I want to chance messing something up, I need to jump through that extra hoop to remind me of what I’m doing. In truth, what are you modifying that you need to be root anyways? Is the average user going to be doing that? Some apps (system-config-*) even allow any user to start it and they then ask for root permissions in order to actually do what they are meant to. No sudo/kdesu needed.

> Install all programs into the same folder. It could even be
> called /Programs, like in PCBSD.
Talk to your package manager for that. Programs in /bin (or /usr/bin) and higher privilege to /sbin or /usr/sbin. Docs in /usr/local/bin. Configurations in /etc. Things should be seen from the menu in any case. What’s so different from Windows? I don’t see people launching apps by going to Program Files first, so what does it really matter where stuff is installed to as long as the executable is in the PATH?

> Linux is not Windows. People won’t want a cheap Windows
> imitation. They might want something better and different. I can
> tell you from seeing so many college Mac users that consumers are
> willing to try different products and will remain with those
> products if they decide that they’re superior.
Linux is not an imitation of Windows. If anything, Linux is ahead. Can you change what updates manager you can use in Windows? Didn’t think so. I don’t see my favorite settings with “Focus follows mouse” and auto-transparency and that’s one reason why I find Windows absolutely a pain to use now; I need to click to change where my input is going. It’s so inefficient for me to not just be able to nudge the mouse to the next window or see what is happening in 3 layers of windows at once.

> Specialized applications. Gyms, lawfirms, etc. all rely on a few
> specialized Windows applications. These applications are often data
> management applications, which aren’t too complicated. It seems
> that “companies will adopt Linux when specialized applications for
> it exist, and specialized applications for it will exist when
> companies adopt it.” Regardless, once a Linux company has
> enough money from home sales it can begin to tailor custom
> applications to specific industries. This part will not happen
> overnight, so desktop Linux should first be targeted toward home
> users.
WINE can run most Windows problems with few hitches. I see no problem there. I run Linux as a desktop OS just fine. Games are sort of a priority under WINE and Half-Life 2 runs fine under full resolution and 1440×900 is not that far off when DirectX does fail.

> An IDE that combines the GUI with the code. Microsoft Visual
> Studio is very easy to use and probably makes developing
> specialized applications much cheaper. A Linux Visual Studio,
> especially one that could output in Gnome and KDE, would make
> developing these applications much easier.
I like my applications doing one thing and doing it well. Editors for code, command like for compilation, and a dedicated designer for the GUI. I find VS to be very heavy. Why do I need to load GUI stuff if I’m not working on the GUI or the editor/class hierarchy if I’m working on GUI? I’d rather have a editor that doesn’t care what toolkit you use and presents any library the same. As for hybrid applications, the reason GNOME split off of KDE was due to licensing of the underlying library. Qt wasn’t GPL then, so GNOME started to use GTK, which was. Now Qt is, but in order to make a hybrid KDE/GNOME application requires making GUI frontends in each of GTK and Qt. As for IDEs, KDevelop is there for KDE. qmake makes it really easy to make a Makefile. QtDesigner is great for easily throwing together a GUI. I don’t know what GNOME has for an IDE, but Glade is popular for GTK stuff. Code::Blocks has wxSmith for wxWidgets and Eclipse seems to have everything under the sun for easy development in any language/toolkit (pun not intended). I actually use a combination of KWrite, qmake, a command line, and the documentation of any libraries in use, so I’m not that familiar with many IDEs in actual use.

> And a few changes in strategy! Embrace, extend, and extinguish
> proprietary software. Too many open-source projects seek
> compatibility with proprietary stuff without making it much better.
> It might be less bloated, it might be a little more stable, but
> except for Firefox few go beyond what the proprietary programs
> do.
I actually stopped using Firefox for Konqueror (though some sites still don’t support it, so Firefox waits in the wings for when that happens) because it integrates so nicely and has many of the extensions I used built-in and they carry over to my other applications. mailto: goes to KMail, RSS/Atom to Akregator, adfilters are applied in Akregator as well, and cookies are shared too. Firefox is a program that sits separate from everything else, which is fine in Windows where things are separated anyway, but in KDE, things work seamlessly together. I imagine its like how Safari works better on a Mac than other browsers just because it fits in better. The biggest problems is that compatibility is a huge factor. If OpenOffice and KOffice could just drop support of .doc, .xls, and the like, it would probably be done in a heartbeat just to get rid of the headache of supporting such screwy formats. That means that open source projects are stuck supporting the proprietary formats instead of focusing all development tine on making the program better.

> Patentleft. Red Hat licenses their patents royalty-free as long as
> they’re used in free software. More patents licensed this way would
> prevent proprietary developers from implementing open source
> extensions.
The better way would to be to stop having such patents altogether, but since they do exist, this is definitely the way to go.

> Make it work. At first, limiting hardware selections will be the only
> way to deploy Linux. People don’t want to tinker with it in order to
> get it to work.
Most stuff work right out of the box. There’s also no annoying “Installing driver…” bubbles. I just plug it in and it’s ready. Of course, it is still up to manufacturers to release their specs or drivers. Until then, it will be developers hacking to figure out the drivers.

> Ignore the nerds. They can play with Gentoo all they want. They
> aren’t experts on usability.
Don’t stereotype. Not all nerds go to Gentoo. I use Fedora, not Gentoo, in fact Gentoo is fairly uncommon around here. *buntu dominates even with the Linux users who are using it on their own volition and not on the recommendation of their local nerd. And here’s my favorite quote about Gentoo: “If God had done `emerge universe`, evolution would have beat him.” My time is better spent doing stuff rather than recompiling everything from source.

As a side note, I have been running 64 bit Linux for over 18 months. Windows is still lagging behind with its 64 bit drivers, and I’m not sure on the status of Mac 64 bit support, though they are limited to the Apple hardware. Linux is ready for the 64 bit world. Windows has yet to get on both feet about it.

–SuperKirb

Interesting article and point of view. However, it is my belief that the average consumer is scared to stray to far away from Microsoft products. The average user wants comfort in knowing that they can get on the internet, look at their digital photos, print their word documents - and boarding passes (for the travelers out there), listen to their music with the standard player, use quickbooks, etc. The average user is used to what they use at their workplace.

Now, that being said, I am not stating that Microsoft is the end all - be all, there are definitely other alternatives but it seems that the grip that Microsoft has on the average user is not going to let up any time soon. Ultimately, I believe that we will see a whopping increase in Apple desktops replacing Windows desktops in both the home and office due to the usability, intuitive nature of their OS, and of course their genius marketing strategies: get the consumer hooked on devices such as Ipod and Iphone and then gently remind them - oh yeah, we also make killer computers! As for Linux…..well, I do not believe that it would be as easy to move the average consumer over to that platform just yet. Somehow, the public must be educated first as to why a Linux box is better than a windows box. Not to mention that it seems that Linux users have to work around peripheral issues and even audio formats. The average user wants to plug in the computer and be able to get going right out of the box: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABAliXGs4oo

This is where Apple wins HUGE and Windows is losing. Once the issues with Linux gets worked out and some company tries to commercialize Linux boxes, it might be a little easier for this platform to make its way into homes and businesses.

Didn’t mean to make this an Apple response…..woot apple (errr…sorry again)

That’s All I Got,
Four_Ones aka 4Four1Ones
live.pirillo.com - community member
gnomelocker - blogging member
gnomedex - future atendee

I Like Linux,Especially Ubuntu
i prefer the Windowmaker desktop over Gnome or KDE though
the only thing i think Linux should do is make installing easier
dealing with a tar.gz is not the same when you are in the mindset of a .exe like most of us are.

Hi,

Well, I have to disagree with several things, I’m a linux user but not a Windows hater, for me, every OS has its good things and bad things, so let me say a few things.

I’ll use a number to refer the points made:

1. First of all, there are aplications already doing that, things like Alien or rpm2deb are some of them, based in the fact that all you need is libraries that make the convertion, several package managers include at least one argument to make the convertion for you (the user). Second, at least for the rmp based distros, there are ports of APT that anyone can use, Fedora can use it, SuSE and Red Hat also.

The distros that don’t work with an rpm or deb package are things like slackware (and slax based), arch or even gentoo, but the package used in those have already a precompiled package.

Debian’s package manager is more reliable that rpm….based on what?

2. The libraries need for both to work (Gnome and KDE) are installed by default in most distros, besides that, if you use Gnome and wanna install some KDE program, you can do it without no problem, the system will check dependencies (even if those are from other Desktop Environment) and then proceeds to install them.

The system doesn’t care if you want to install K3B in Gnome, all the system needs is to have dependencies satisfied and will install it if those depedencies were satisfied.

On thing that matter is that you, as a user, can use whatever you want in your system, also, that you’re not obligated to have something that you don’t want or even will use. In this case, if you’ll use only KDE apps, what is the point in having nautilus installed? you’ll use konqueror because you like it more or whatever, and the opposite can happen too, why you’ll want konqueror installed if you like nautilus?

The only thing that you’ll get is more package to maintaine.

4. I wont talk about the multiple uses that consoles have, so, regarding to the point, you don’t need to open the console and type *sudo program* since there are luanchers like gksu and kdesu to show you a little windows asking for root’s password before an application can be opened.

Even if you install some app that need this kind of access, you only need to edit once the KDE menu or Gnome’s applications menu to add gksu or kdesu before the app name, i.e:

gksu “nautilus –browser”

5. Pointless, linux (and unix-like) has their hierarchy, and acctually, the user only needs a menu to point and open an application, that’s what he/she spect, and installers make app links avaible to environment like KDE, Gnome or Xfce by default.

Is rare that an user acctually needs to know that an application installed (and will be used) by the user goes to /usr/bin or /opt, and an application installed by the system, and will be used by the system only, goes to /sbin or /bin.

6. That’s not the problem, the problem is that a “good application” is commonly that application that you’re already used to enjoy and to know. For instance, MSN Messenger (without add-ons) and Pidgin, Pidgin is multiprotocol, you could say that this make the app superior to MSN Messenger, but users don’t change from MSN Messenger to Pidgin….

8. Not Visual Studio, but those IDEs exists, i.e KDevelop.

I’m not saying with this that the two are equal in performance, development or anything, just pointing the fact that they exists and combine GUI with code….

11. Said when talks about printers, the problem isn’t acctually with linux developers, the problem is with Hardware manufacturers. If I make a piece of hardware, and only provide drivers and support for one or more “specific” plataforms, what can you expect from those plataforms that I’m not supporting while making my hardware?

Well, that’s it. Sorry for the long comment ;)

LKP

yea, i completely agree with “most” things you listed.

i also agree with chris when he did “5 tips to migrating to linux”

i can assure you that the linux and specially ubuntu user base will double or triple in a few years. Specially since ubuntu improvements on usability every 6 months are vast and has gotten very very easy to use even for the novice.

however like chris said it will not be able to “dominate” untill a few stuff are done.

1- like an universal package format it could be .deb, .rpm a new format (debpm??) or the main distros become compatible with them all. An user friendly way to compile using a simple gui (no command lines) could help a lot too. This is specially necesary for packaging drivers and commercial utilities to be installed in an user friendly way.
(up to the linux community)

2- better hardware support from manufacturers (depends mostly on the user base, but has gotten much better specially from ATI/Nvidia and others)

linux will be dopted all over the world neverless, but to succeed in the desktop it needs these few things.

am sure these will happen soon enough. Linux and the open source community never stops surprising me.

Note: i was a full time windows user (for over 10 years) untill ubuntu 7.04/linuxmint 3.0 and now ubuntu 7.10

i have successfully converted my parents to using it, most of my friends and other family members.

i must say am surprised about this and they are all very happy that they don’t have to worry about viruses, malware and windows issues anymore.