Linked by John Munsch on Mon 30th Dec 2002 19:05 UTC
Why do it? I am asked this question more often than I expected, even by existing Linux users who I expected to know as well as I the reasons for building a next-generation desktop Linux for the home user. So here are some of my reasons for thinking that we must spend the effort to create a better desktop on Linux than any existing version now has. Editor's Note: Due to a technical glitch, the first segment of this article was ommitted for some readers. If you missed the "why" section, before, you can read it now.
Permalink for comment
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
I am reading quite some feedback here which I don't agree with.
a) First of all http://www.freedesktop.org standards are neither approved by ANSI or DIN. I would rather call the writings there 'suggestions'. Please don't come up and try turn the facts. These are NO standards. If you follow the discussion on certain GNOME mailinglists then most of the time only 2-3 people talk about some "STANDARDS" and after a while it shows up on there because they didn't come up with better alternatives. Sometimes it looks like better BAD solutions than no solutions. It is claimed that KDE shares most of it but that is partially true.
b) Many people here split the userbase up into novice, advantage and expert. This is right - but we talk about Linux all the time here. You can't turn Linux into an easy to go Desktop Operating System and make users belive how easy everything is. Needless to mention that a lot of people simply don't want it. Sure if you use a plain distribution like Redhat you may be satisfied with what is offered but there is still a lot of things that even a novice user HAS to know about linux to get things running correctly. There are a lot of situations where the novice user hits his head against a wall because he does not go any further.
c) People are talking about GNOME here as if it's the only Desktop that everyone uses. But this isn't the case. Compared to the overall Linux users the GNOME community is rather little and on the long run you don't get through with all your wishes and changes that you GNOME people like to see how linux should mature. A lot of normal people won't be happy with these ideas and make this public.
I am neither favoring KDE nor GNOME but I know both Desktops very well and I must admit that both Desktops have their pros and cons. My general point is that people tend to categorize users TO easy. It's easy saying 'hey we get the ultimative cool desktop on Linux for the Novice joe user and the poweruser' but you always make the same mistake. You ignore the fact that the base OS is COMPLEX, COMPLICATED and nothing for JOE USER. there is only one case where linux may become interesting for JOE USER. The time when JOE USER wants to become a POWER USER.
Look on what plattforms GNOME is available, SUN SOLARIS, FREEBSD, LINUX (and many more) needless to say that the first 3 named ones are more complex (even for experts) than the last named one. I think that this discussion about novice and professional users together with linux in one sentence is rather bullshit.
Anyways I wish everyone a happy new year.