Could A New Linux Base For Tablets/Smartphones Succeed In 2017?

[ldo17]

Linux needs to be adopted by the wider computing audience. The moms and dads and uncles and aunts and grandmas and grandpas and basic folk who don't give a shit about how cool and "unmainstream" they are simply because they use Linux and know the "command line". Linux folk like you are actually a [hindrance].

Try s/Linux/Photoshop/ and s/command line/ability to manipulate images/:

Photoshop needs to be adopted by the wider computing audience. The moms and dads and uncles and aunts and grandmas and grandpas and basic folk who don't give a shit about how cool and "unmainstream" they are simply because they use Photoshop and know the "ability to manipulate images". Photoshop folk like you are actually a [hindrance].

Photoshop may be an irrelevance to 99% of PC users, yet it is still a powerful tool for those who know how to harness it.

What Photoshop is to manipulation of still images, the Linux command line is to the whole of computing power.

[coder111]

Not sure if there is a need for another base OS/ABI. There's already Mer, and it's doing its job quite well. IMO resources should be better spent on improving it and porting to new hardware.

Regarding chances for a new phone OS- I think it's possible to create a usable OS with decent Android app compatibility. Jolla does it quite well, even though both UI and android APP compatibility layer are both closed source. Of course I doubt it's going to become mainstream, but there is a niche in this market for professionals/tinkerers/hackers.

And we absolutely should not give up on making this real. The freedom of computing and future of the world is at stake here.

[name99]

Isn't Mer already doing this? Why re-invent the wheel?

That gets at the REAL issue here. What do people want from their devices?
It is an empirical fact that a primary thing they want is hassle-free operation. You buy the thing, you configure a few prefs, and then it works from that point on. It automatically handles OS update, automatically handles app updates, automatically blocks security threats, etc.
Note what's MISSING from this list of desires. There's no mass desire to run unusual software, to utilize unusual hardware, to have "control".

Yet this squabbling ("we don't want EXACTLY what that group over there is doing, so we'll start our own distro") reveals that pretty much the only thing a "pure Linux" distribution brings to the table is exactly what most people don't care about and don't want --- an obsessive degree of control, along with the necessary obsessive tracking of changes and updates.

We've had these claims of standardization for years now, since before the 2000s. Back in the day, any moment now, Linux was going to standardize on a single desktop variant and then it would be unstoppable. And how has that played out?
You can't solve social problems with technological fixes. And you ESPECIALLY can't solve the problem of "I'm not INTERESTED in dealing with 500 different variants and options" by saying "no problem, here's one MORE variant and option that specifically deals with your lack of interest in variety" --- no when there is no way to force your one true simplified Linux to be the one that actually attains critical mass, and not when you're willing to add "just one more slight option and variant" to increase the pool of people who might be interested in your one true Linux over some rival one true Linux.

But every year there's a new crop of bright-eyed 18 year-old, utterly convinced that the world begins anew with their generation, that history is bunk, and that by doing the exact same thing as has been done every year since, hell, when BSD was the new kid on the block and the face of open-source, they will nonetheless generate a different outcome.

[starshipeleven]

That gets at the REAL issue here. What do people want from their devices?

For the nth time: this project like also others are meant to cater to the same kind of people that like Linux, NOT to compete in the mass market.

Yet this squabbling ("we don't want EXACTLY what that group over there is doing, so we'll start our own distro") reveals that pretty much the only thing a "pure Linux" distribution brings to the table is exactly what most people don't care about and don't want --- an obsessive degree of control, along with the necessary obsessive tracking of changes and updates.

Please learn to fucking read, they are trying to join forces with other similar projects to do what other Linux distros do already: share a common base and pool resources on that while the end product is different.

We've had these claims of standardization for years now, since before the 2000s. Back in the day, any moment now, Linux was going to standardize on a single desktop variant and then it would be unstoppable. And how has that played out?
You can't solve social problems with technological fixes. And you ESPECIALLY can't solve the problem of "I'm not INTERESTED in dealing with 500 different variants and options" by saying "no problem, here's one MORE variant and option that specifically deals with your lack of interest in variety" --- no when there is no way to force your one true simplified Linux to be the one that actually attains critical mass, and not when you're willing to add "just one more slight option and variant" to increase the pool of people who might be interested in your one true Linux over some rival one true Linux.

But every year there's a new crop of bright-eyed 18 year-old, utterly convinced that the world begins anew with their generation, that history is bunk, and that by doing the exact same thing as has been done every year since, hell, when BSD was the new kid on the block and the face of open-source, they will nonetheless generate a different outcome.

Random nonsense rant that only shows you didn't understand the point of Linux.

[name99]

For the nth time: this project like also others are meant to cater to the same kind of people that like Linux, NOT to compete in the mass market.

Please learn to fucking read, they are trying to join forces with other similar projects to do what other Linux distros do already: share a common base and pool resources on that while the end product is different.

Random nonsense rant that only shows you didn't understand the point of Linux.

The title of the thread is "Could A New Linux Base For Tablets/Smartphones Succeed In 2017?"
What do you define as SUCCEED?
If your definition is "boot on some piece of hardware somewhere, and get adopted by .01% of the worlds population", OK, sure, it can succeed.
If your threshold of success is slightly more demanding than that, then I stand by what I wrote.

[starshipeleven]

The title of the thread is "Could A New Linux Base For Tablets/Smartphones Succeed In 2017?"
What do you define as SUCCEED?

I define it as "go as planned by the ones wanting it", as that's the only definition of "success" that can be used in these cases.

They are not aiming at mass domination, only to pool resources to reach Linux Desktop levels of marketshare so they can offer some choice instead of languishing and not offering a damn. They never claimed they wanted to replace Android and take over mass market, which is what you were implying.

If your definition is "boot on some piece of hardware somewhere, and get adopted by .01% of the worlds population", OK, sure, it can succeed.

Note that linux is on 1% (and somewhat rising a little in more recent times), and Apple is on like 4% tops on PC (15% for phones/tablets in EU/USA). And neither is on the brink of extinction, on the contrary.
Android custom ROM scene is also pretty damn live, I don't have numbers but XDA and similar sites about that are full of people form all over the world, and I'm ignoring russian-only and asian-only sites about that.
There is also F-Droid, a repo full of various FOSS Android apps and it's growing too.

So again, I don't see why you think anything MUST aim for world domination or crawl up and die.

Remember that only Sith deal by absolutes.

Market niches exist and can be strong enough to run successful projects even if they are a few % of the global market.

[Jews]

There Are So Many Different Versions Of Linux Available, It Can Be Hard To Decide Which One That’s Right For You.
Those Live Trial Options Make It Perfect For Anyone Wanting To Experiment Without Committing To A Hard Drive Installation.
A Smartphone Is A Mobile Personal Computer With A Mobile Operating System With Features Useful For Mobile Or Handheld Use.
The Linux Kernel Is A Monolithic Unix Like Computer Operating System Kernel.