[wplug] Why Linux May Succeed On The Desktop

[David Ostroske]

On 11/2/07, Henry keultjes <hbkeultjes at earthlink.net> wrote:
> www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202600158
>
> Please take this article to heart and pass it on to your Linux friends.

An interesting article, and it makes some good points. I'm not sure
about the argument based on the ubiquity of embedded Linux, since I
don't see a lot of bleed-over in development between small devices and
PC's. I don't know.

I'd like to make a counterpoint to the article, one in which Linux
definitely has Windows beat hands-down. I think if the Linux desktop
will have a strong future, it will be because of rapidly developing
projects and distros, and not because of stable enterprise versions.

Here's a thought experiment. Consider MS Office. I'm dead sure that
the reason that they introduced the "ribbon" interface in 2007 was
because the code behind their toolbars was so crufty that just fixing
them would have required a huge rewrite. People are aggravated about
the new interface, even if it's technically cool (dunno how buggy or
insecure it might be), because it's totally different from what
they're used to.

Now, I haven't messed around with OpenOffice.org enough to know what
to expect from its interface (dunno how buggy or insecure it might
be). But since the developers do have user experience in mind, they
would mend their fences rather than erect concrete bunkers. And if
someone develops a must-have replacement for toolbars, then users will
adopt the change because, well, "I must have that!" And the users who
don't want it can still get the old toolbars, if a large-enough
faction of developers is willing to maintain them.

As for the desktop itself, KDE4 has a lot of interesting new features,
but I still prefer GNOME, not because I'm an idiot (or because you
think I am), but because I don't want to be distracted by my work
environment any further than I need to be. I remember the days of
"combinatorial brain fsckage," and I'm glad to be rid of them, even if
I can't tweak this-or-that setting. If GNOME adopted a plug-in
framework, similar to what Firefox can offer through extensions, then
I'm sure many objections to it would melt away. Not likely to happen
soon, though. And if I wanted super-simplicity, I would have adopted
Xfce. Guess I'm just unwilling to change.

Open source is dynamic, just like a marketplace should be. The fact
that many people and organizations in that marketplace are adverse to
change doesn't hinder that dynamic. It feeds it.

> You are the valuable techies of the FOSS movement but you cannot have it
> both ways.  In time you will not have anything worthwhile to work with
> unless more common users start flocking to Linux .  This article is very
> clear about some of those issues.

You set a tone of panic. I didn't pick up that tone from the article.

Probably if you want to speed up Linux desktop adoption, getting small
businesses to use and adopt FOSS is the best way. There are lots of
them, and the users are far more accessible than at bigger companies.
If we can get them what they need, then we'll know how to get others
what they need, too. And we've got to get to them before they act
recklessly and start buying MS subscriptions!

--
David Ostroske