Linked by Eli Gottlieb on Wed 28th Dec 2005 13:29 UTC
Right now the situation for developers of minor operating systems seems somewhat bleak. Windows and the Unixes compete in the server world, and Windows and MacOS X compete on the desktop. Linux even gets ported to every embedded device, leaving few niches for the hobbyist or sidelined operating system developer. Some have even gone so far as to say that New Operating Systems Won't Stand a Chance. As anyone who reads OSNews can tell you, however there are a wealth of new systems with new ideas that just aren't taking off. Given all these new ideas some - like capability security from EROS for example - should be good enough to catch on, so why aren't they?
Permalink for comment 79048
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Recent Original Stories
Recent Comments
Headlines
Random Comments
Random Stories
Random OS Link
Member since:
2005-07-06
You are absolutely right. Linux GUI designers, for instance, when they think of "usability", think of this idealized novice user who hasn't been tainted by Windows. While such users probably exist in the third world, the vast majority of computer users are so affected by the Windows experience that to them "usable" means "Windows-like". Incredibly brain-damaged, or at best arbitrary things that Windows do become completely natural and logical, and it forces alternative GUI designers to cater to these expectations. Even in things such as program names, like the article we had yesterday on Linux names. If someone had never used Windows before, they would have no way of knowing that Excel is a spreadsheet, Outlook an email client or Power Point a presentation maker, yet it's too damn hard to figure out that MPlayer is a music player and XCDRoast is a CD burning application.