Former Compiz Developer: Free Software Desktop Might Enter A Dark Age

[microcode]

It will be bright age without companies dictating open source code. As Debian user, I see redhat being my enemy when forcing crap software to Debian, pulseaudio, networkmanager, systemd, gnome3 etc. Xfce is true open source desktop and that is why it is stable, ready, fast and freely configurable.

Poor you, having easy preconfigured access to the only functioning desktop Linux audio system, the most flexible and functional network management daemon ever created, the most practical and user-friendly system management daemon available on any platform, and the most widely loved open source desktop environment. How dare they divert resources to things which actually work and serve the needs of users of their system. They should focus on delivering something which most people can't stand.

[microcode]

I've been living in a little bubble this whole time, running the same virtually-unchanged window manager since 2012 on a wide variety of computers without issue. I get good performance accelerated graphics and there are a lot of excellent applications and utilities which are constantly improving. My experience has been pretty great, as a software developer and occasional graphics aficionado. I like Wayland from a software development perspective and a user perspective, and I'm fine if it takes a couple more years to be polished enough to get everything I need (mainly input methods). When that comes around, I'll take an off-the-shelf compositor framework and port my window manager (about 1300 SLOC) over. Wayland's design means that most implementations already have better performance than any major operating system's windowing system.

Assuming nothing really has to change, and the device drivers keep being written, then my experience will probably continue to be stellar. I guess the biggest danger is to fail to write good drivers for new hardware. Maybe this will be rectified by consumer RISC-V hardware hitting the market, with a similar spirit applied to graphics processors and accelerators. A man can dream.

[mulenmar]

The only way the Free Software Desktop will enter a Dark Age is if we can no longer trust or control the operation of the hardware it's running on.

Oh, wait, we mostly-can't at the moment.

[Marc Driftmeyer]

It will be bright age without companies dictating open source code. As Debian user, I see redhat being my enemy when forcing crap software to Debian, pulseaudio, networkmanager, systemd, gnome3 etc. Xfce is true open source desktop and that is why it is stable, ready, fast and freely configurable.

As a 17 Year Debian user I laugh at your whining. Every piece you bitch about I embrace and am thrilled exists.

[ldo17]

Translation: “the desktop might enter a dark age soon, and not even Free Software can save it”.

That’s not so bad. The parts of it still worth using will still be running Free Software...

[leipero]

I disagree, no dark age.

[creative]

It depends on your definition of dark age.To be honest I don't like compositors first thing I usually disable. Now on to systemd. It's looking more and more like I will be moving to a non systemd distro and rolling my own kernels again like back in my slackware days. Ubuntu studio has just been too convenient and I find its IRQ handling annoying with jacked and pulse sync. So IRQ handling and Systemd combined leaves uneeded resource hogging on a low latency kernel. Been think of adopting non systemd ark as distro or reading back up on slackware. Having a Kaby Lake Chip I am starting to wonder how well the back porting is coming along for its speedstepping in kernel 4.4 it hits 4.2Ghz turbo but overrides bios core voltages watching i7z and fails to step to 800mhz. This is not a major concern but I do wonder about the back porting support for 4.4 it has gotten better with each update. I won't touch 4.8 in 16.04's repos due to too much funkiness going on and Linus ripping that one kernel contributor for including a very old issue from way back when causing kernel panics lol never had one with 4.8 but it would idle to 800mhz. 4.8 is hmmmmm WACKED too many odd things going on. So that is what is on my mind.

[creative]

The only way the Free Software Desktop will enter a Dark Age is if we can no longer trust or control the operation of the hardware it's running on.

Oh, wait, we mostly-can't at the moment.

ROFL AHAHAHAHAH! Yeeeoooowp and in so many ways lol.

[sarmad]

Really? It's been my main desktop for years without problems. What's wrong with it?

Leave him alone. johnc is a long standing Linux basher; he enters Phoronix forums specifically for this purpose.

[nanonyme]

The ironic bit about this is Compiz originates from the dark age of 3D software on Linux where it made sense to make a compositor that was 3D effect showcase because the platform had barely any real games