Schaller On Why The "Year Of The Linux Desktop" Hasn't Happened

[speculatrix]

I think piracy has a great part to play in it. If it wasn't so easy to pirate Windows, Photoshop and other popular applications, people would seek out alternatives. Especially in China.

I agree. If Microsoft could be magically persuaded to use some sort of uncopyable cryptographic USB token to prevent piracy, then I'm sure Windows use would drop.

[mvaar]

Phoronix: Schaller On Why The "Year Of The Linux Desktop" Hasn't Happened

Longtime Fedora/GNOME developer Christian Schaller who leads the desktop engineering team at Red Hat recently commented on some bold Linux/tech predictions for 2018. He's now also shared his personal opinion on why "the year of the Linux desktop" has yet to materialize...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...ear-Linux-Desk

At long last, someone who matters understands the problems. Microsoft had enumerated some of these YEARS ago; chief among them being fragmentation- not only is nothing done about it but foolish OSS wannabes sing about "diversity" and choice. Its all about politics rather than getting things done.

The lack of a "stable" API/ABI is actually very important. There isn't one API/ABI that ISVs can target, unless they stick to the very basic glibc. So it works OK for some basic server apps. Waylan, touted to replace the X server, doubles down on fragmentation AND lack of ABI. If user space implements its own compositor(s), it is far worse for ISVs to target an ABI. Not to mention ABI are getting broken even with minor releases of kernel to suit politicians and self serving corporate contributors.

Decide on ONE way of s/w packaging, have a common linux "store"- heck even windows has it now. Then we will talk about adoption- maybe.

[kpedersen]

In other news, KDE is great.

Hah, no it isn't. Gnome 2 was absolutely dominating the market once KDE 4 came out. Only once Gnome 3 pissed it all away a year later did the niche KDE4 start making a comeback.

KDE 3.5 was pretty good though but still couldn't compete with Gnome 2.

[Leopard]

Also 98% of the people that "need Photoshop" will do just fine with Krita or GIMP too.

People are not tend to learn new programs. Gimp and Krita has their own learning curves.

You can put Linux to a Blender user guys pc , he wouldn't complain because it is same on Windows and Linux. It also faster on Linux.

But Gimp and Krita are just too different for a Photoshop user.

[starshipeleven]

I think the only ways we will see Linux conquer the desktop are:

-Google's products take over, thinking mostly of Android here

-Canonical throws the mask and announces it is being "acquired" by Microsoft, which then rebrands Ubuntu as Windux and proceeds to migrate what little is left of their proprietary ecosystem over to their "new" linux distro.

[mvaar]

If Chromebooks had a decent level of support for native linux apps (some sort of Wayland rendering into a window?) then maybe we might see some big names produce linux builds of their software?

I think chromeOS is where its at. In 2018, chromebooks will likely all come with touch screens because andriod runtime will be integrates into the OS. Then there will be a demand for access to the linux platform underneath and Google may offer that as an option. Then we might see large scale adoption. IMO, chromebooks with android runtime will garner mass adoption. I'll probably get one.

[mvaar]

I agree. If Microsoft could be magically persuaded to use some sort of uncopyable cryptographic USB token to prevent piracy, then I'm sure Windows use would drop.

Windows 10 is free. You can install home or pro version of windows 10 after downloading iso from MS. If you don't activate windows, it won't allow changing theme and some settings but fully functional, including upgrades. In Pro version, bit locker is turned off by default (but folder encryption enabled). In policy editor, you can turn on bit locker and you have a full version of Pro.

[mphuZ]

That is why I pray for a Valve.
Losers, in the face Cannonical, driver developers, GNOME, KDE and other DE, can not or do not want to lift Linux from their knees.
We need a leader.

[starshipeleven]

Calc is not Excel.

We're frankly better off making Wine stable enough for these applications that it's a no-brainer.

Excel is not a database.

You're frankly better off learning to use a decent company-grade data crunching application backed by a true database that it's a no-brainer.

[starshipeleven]

But Gimp and Krita are just too different for a Photoshop user.

Most people can re-learn the 2-3 operations they need in half an hour watching a youtube video. I'm not talking of artists with wacom tablets, but of people retouching some photo a bit, or making memes or stuff like that.

That said, I feel very little compassion for most people that "need Photoshop". The amount of licensed Photoshop installations I've seen in the last decade is like 20 or so. And I routinely see people that installed and pirated Adobe Master Collection (all adobe software, ridicolous price) when they do stuff that I could also do in Paint (images) or Notepad++ (webdevelopment).

If these little shits had to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for it would they still use it? No.