Matthew Garrett: How-To Drive Developers From OS X To Linux

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Matthew Garrett: How-To Drive Developers From OS X To Linux

Linux kernel developer Matthew Garrett is out with a new blog post to end out the weekend. This latest post isn't about Linux UEFI problems or the like, but his observations from the OpenStack Summit about the most popular laptop vendor being Apple even though OpenStack is mostly about Linux deployments.....

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=MTY5MzY

[Marc Driftmeyer]

``A combination of improved desktop polish and spending effort on optimising developer workflows would stand a real chance of luring these developers away from OS X with the promise that they'd spend less time fighting web browsers, leaving them more time to get on with development. It would also help differentiate Linux from proprietary alternatives - Apple and Microsoft may spend significant amounts of effort on improving developer tooling, but they're mostly doing so for developers who are targeting their platforms. A desktop environment that made it easier to perform generic development would be a unique selling point."

And in 10 more years, OS X will still be out in front for UNIX based OS platforms, more rich environment of frameworks, expanding its dominance via iOS and OS X, and Linux will still be raving about having a dozen DE that are free, but constantly breaking between upgrades.

Face it. You've received tens of billions in developing Linux for Server Markets and consumers aren't dying to brag about the most uptime, ability to scale their LAMP set ups, etc.

Linux has never been a targeted Consumer OS Platform. To do so would require a unified set of Frameworks to develop said UI.

[peppercats]

Linux has never been a targeted Consumer OS Platform.

Google would like a word with you.

[Nille]

Google would like a word with you.

Huu? Look what Google is using and what the GNU/Linux Desktop is using. They all like the Kernel but the rest not.

[zanny]

Huu? Look what Google is using and what the GNU/Linux Desktop is using. They all like the Kernel but the rest not.

ChromeOS is built on Gentoo.

Also, Gnome3 and KDE4/hopefully 5 are polished. And Unity is apparently getting better, though it is still insane they are pushing that and not Gnome 3 which fills the same niche better. Unless you do stupid shit you get Gnobuntu or Kubuntu (or Suse KDE / Gnome) and run with it, and if you do it on a laptop designed for Linux like the Ultrapro or Dell Developer Notebook you have flawless out of the box experiences. Or hell, just use Unity - you are in a browser and terminal all day anyway, right? Does it matter the shell around it, besides wasted screen real estate? (which is why I like kde, you can make all the panels autohide).

Seriously, what the fuck doesn't work? I use kdevelop every day because it is the most gorgeous piece of software I've ever used. The OSX UI compared to Ubuntu 14.04 looks like a dinosaur.

[Vim_User]

I had never to fight a browser just because I run Linux, they run actually pretty good, it was always because the developers/UI designers made retarded decisions or because of retarded plugin developers (Adobe, anyone), which funnily both affect any OS.

[Nille]

ChromeOS is built on Gentoo.

But not the Desktop.

[Cyber Killer]

Also, Gnome3 and KDE4/hopefully 5 are polished. And Unity is apparently getting better, though it is still insane they are pushing that and not Gnome 3 which fills the same niche better. Unless you do stupid shit you get Gnobuntu or Kubuntu (or Suse KDE / Gnome) and run with it, and if you do it on a laptop designed for Linux like the Ultrapro or Dell Developer Notebook you have flawless out of the box experiences. Or hell, just use Unity - you are in a browser and terminal all day anyway, right? Does it matter the shell around it, besides wasted screen real estate? (which is why I like kde, you can make all the panels autohide).

Seriously, what the fuck doesn't work? I use kdevelop every day because it is the most gorgeous piece of software I've ever used. The OSX UI compared to Ubuntu 14.04 looks like a dinosaur.

Totally agree! However the type of people who are being talked about here don't want a full blown fancy desktop with all the usability. They typically use xfce, lxde or even fluxbox and rant about how their desktop isn't too good on usability. They are so scared of losing that 1GB of ram for a reasonable desktop that they don't even know how awesome KDE is (or even Gnome3 for that matter).

[deanjo]

One thing Matthew also seems to blow right by without acknowledging is that the documentation offered by Apple and MS and for them is usually magnitudes better than it is for Linux resources. This is a key stepping stone for anyone wishing to start development for a platform. I went to four huge bookstores this week to see what was out there for Linux development. You could find isles of development books for iOS, OS X, Java and MS solutions. When it came to Linux however, the store with the largest selection of Linux books (total, not just development) was FOUR titles. Two on beginner guides for old versions of Ubuntu, one "Linux Bible", and the "OpenGL SuperBible".

When it comes to linux development however, you are usually dealing with outdated or poorly written documentation (rarely with even a few basic code examples) and end up praying your googlefu is strong and hopefully find the answer you are looking for in a mailing list archive or forum. While those resources are OK for an old school veteran, they are often too daunting and frustrating for a novice. Man and readme's are a shitty way of trying to encourage the novice to start development as well. Then there is also the inconsistency of packaging naming and availability, file system hierarchy, multiple API/tool kits/libraries that overlap in the functionality they wish to provide (and usually none being a complete solution), sometimes rude and snotty replies from project heads towards the novice, etc.

Providing a desktop environment is important, but a properly managed documentation and support resources are more important to drawing in more developers.

[mlau]

The documentation is there, and I find it quite adequate: You have man-pages for libc-provided functions, tons of source to look at if you want to know
how to do things (conversely, this is how I learned to code, by taking snippets from other sources and looking at what they're doing).
Compared to e.g. MSDN you have to do more work yourself and the information is not presented in such a pretty webpage.