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Don?t Fret Linus, Desktop Linux Will Slowly Gain Traction

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  Don?t Fret Linus, Desktop Linux Will Slowly Gain Traction Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2014-08-26 19:34 +0000
    Re: Don?t Fret Linus, Desktop Linux Will Slowly Gain Traction Dan Espen <despen@verizon.net> - 2014-08-26 15:59 -0400
      Re: Don?t Fret Linus, Desktop Linux Will Slowly Gain Traction Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> - 2014-08-27 01:22 -0300
    Re: Don?t Fret Linus, Desktop Linux Will Slowly Gain Traction Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> - 2014-08-26 22:39 +0100
      Re: Don?t Fret Linus, Desktop Linux Will Slowly Gain Traction "tdk" <forum.tdk@squte.com> - 2014-09-01 06:21 -0500

#4553 — Don?t Fret Linus, Desktop Linux Will Slowly Gain Traction

http://fossforce.com/2014/08/dont-fret-linus-desktop-linux-will-slowly-gain-traction/

   When Linus Torvalds was asked last week at LinuxCon where he'd like to
   see Linux excel next, he replied, ?I still want the desktop.?

   I nearly stood up an cheered when I read this, here in my house nearly
   700 miles from the conference. That is until I became confused by what
   he said next.

   ?The challenge on the desktop is not a kernel problem. It's a whole
   infrastructure problem. I think we'll get there one day.?

   What? What challenge?

   ...

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#4554

Rich <rich@example.invalid> writes:

> http://fossforce.com/2014/08/dont-fret-linus-desktop-linux-will-slowly-gain-traction/
>
>    When Linus Torvalds was asked last week at LinuxCon where he'd like to
>    see Linux excel next, he replied, ?I still want the desktop.?
>
>    I nearly stood up an cheered when I read this, here in my house nearly
>    700 miles from the conference. That is until I became confused by what
>    he said next.
>
>    ?The challenge on the desktop is not a kernel problem. It's a whole
>    infrastructure problem. I think we'll get there one day.?
>
>    What? What challenge?

Send him an email and ask.

We all have our own ideas about what the problem is.

People want their computers to inter-operate and feel
familiar.  Linux is a great desktop (IMO).  Doesn't
mean everyone is going to run out and start using it.
Sad, but true.

-- 
Dan Espen

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#4556

Dan Espen <despen@verizon.net> writes:

> Rich <rich@example.invalid> writes:
> 
>> http://fossforce.com/2014/08/dont-fret-linus-desktop-linux-will-slowly-gain-traction/
>>
>>    When Linus Torvalds was asked last week at LinuxCon where he'd like to
>>    see Linux excel next, he replied, "I still want the desktop."
>>     [snip]
>>    "The challenge on the desktop is not a kernel problem. It's a whole
>>    infrastructure problem. I think we'll get there one day."
>>
>>    What? What challenge?
> 
> Send him an email and ask.
> 
> We all have our own ideas about what the problem is.

My last new computer was a 486 in '94. Since then it's been cheap used
for even free ones. Linux has always been able, sometimes with
considerable tweaking, to run them just fine.

But I just bought a new Acer E-series laptop and realize that keeping
up with new hardware, especially that from vendors who are unhelpful
with Linux, is a real problem.

The new Acer performs very nicely, albeit after some initial tweaks I
hadn't anticipated.  But the Synaptics touchpad (clickpad) doesn't
work at all. [1] AFAICT, it's new hardware [2] only a year or so on
the market, and Synaptics is known not to be helpful with OS
developers.

In my dogged but unsuccessful search for a driver, a module, guidance
on kernel tweaks or anything I gradually became aware of the vast and
rapidly increasing bits of new hardware being produced.  If the Acer
E-series and/or other machines using the Microsoft Precision Touchpad
become popular, presumably someone will write a module [3] that gives it
at least minimal functionality. But the rate of new stuff is so great
that it's a toss-up whether or not anyone will get keen on doing it
for this -- or any particular new device.

Is that what Linus meant by "infrastructure"?  Probably not.



[1] Not stuck. I dislike touchpads anyhow and an external USB mouse
    works fine. But it would be nice not to be *obliged* to plug in a
    cable and find a flat spot.

[2] http://article.wn.com/view/2014/04/22/Acer_Selects_Synaptics_Precision_TouchPad_Solutions_for_E_Se_9/

[3] Far beyond my skill level in C

-- 
Mike Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada

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#4555

On 2014-08-26, Rich <rich@example.invalid> wrote:
> http://fossforce.com/2014/08/dont-fret-linus-desktop-linux-will-slowly-gain-traction/
>
>    When Linus Torvalds was asked last week at LinuxCon where he'd like to
>    see Linux excel next, he replied, ?I still want the desktop.?
>
>    I nearly stood up an cheered when I read this, here in my house nearly
>    700 miles from the conference. That is until I became confused by what
>    he said next.
>
>    ?The challenge on the desktop is not a kernel problem. It's a whole
>    infrastructure problem. I think we'll get there one day.?
>
>    What? What challenge?
>
>    ...

Mass-produced computers built with GNU/Linux systems pre-installed
instead of OSX or Windows, by suppliers ready and able to provide
customer support by email, chat, telephone; retailers also able to
provide customer support to private 'consumers'; business IT support
staff and sub-contractors likewise; well designed GUI software for doing
the things the users actually want to do; publicity campaigns to
convince everyone that all the foregoing are really there and really
good and will still be there for years to come.

The 'netbook' concept very nearly achieved all that, but the low-powered
and not always reliable hardware gave newbies a bad impression of what
GNU/Linux is, and Microsoft managed to assimilate and annihilate that
market.

Android has subsequently given users the confidence to trust 'not
Microsoft or Apple' systems.  The NSA have done a great job destroying
anyone's trust in software and services associated with the USA.

But without someone with a huge amount of cash to set up the design and
assembly of the hardware and software and create the supply and support
networks and buy the publicity, and stand up to a few years of
loss-making and dirty tricks from the incumbent top dogs, it won't
happen.  None of the industrial or commercial firms currently shifting
Windows boxes is likely to rock that boat significantly.

But is it really desirable for GNU/Linux to go head to head against
Microsoft or Apple in a commercial and industrial way?

-- 
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
--  Whiskers 
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

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#4624

Whiskers wrote:

>But without someone with a huge amount of cash to set up the design and  
>assembly of the hardware and software and create the supply and support  
>networks and buy the publicity, and stand up to a few years of loss-making  
>and dirty tricks from the incumbent top dogs, it won't happen. None of the  
>industrial or commercial firms currently shifting Windows boxes is likely to  
>rock that boat significantly.
Isn't this exactly what google is doing with chromebooks?



-- 
tdk

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