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It is very likely just PR ... to use a polite term. An attempt to get "soundbites" or "a meme" into the conciousness of the general public who aren't paying much attention. There are wealthy parties who have a strong vested interest in pushing the false notion that Linux has trouble with drivers, and that it is too hard to get it working.

To use a more impolite term, without swearing or cussing, one would probably choose the word "astroturfing".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing

Edited 2008-04-16 04:19 UTC

Yes, I'd come to the same conclusion... like with all that manufactured controversy over GPLv3 a few months back that was supposed to be "tearing the free software community apart." Gimme a break.

Note to the PR flacks in the audience... You're wasting your lives.

You might want to inform yourself before calling Joe Barr of Linux.com an astroturfer ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Barr

No , the problem is a real one at the Linux foundation.

Where as GNU/Linux offer a real and working solution on the desktop very few of the player in the Linux foundation are Leader or pushing for GNU/Linux on the desktop , even clearly the opposite.

Take your previous desktop vendor listing , none of them are part of the Linux foundation , why ? Cost of entry and Linux foundation lack of desire to have them included because of what they do are the main reasons.

The Linux Foundation does not use it's financial ressource and clout to make a sensible desktop strategy.

Just list the member list and you will see that it's mostly hardware vendor that sale workstation and servers solution. Note : Adobe is in there , if there is one company that windows switching to GNU/Linux people want there desktop product on GNU/Linux it's Adobe.

Is point is simple to summarize , he looked at the conference subjects and can see that desktop is not being discuss and a priority on the agenda, he is about 10 years too late , but the community as always ignored the Linux foundation as long as they pay for the Kernel development and contribute in some way.

He is clearly not saying that GNU/linux is not ready for the dekstop.

Really? So if I install a Linux distro tomorrow (say Ubuntu), what happens if I plug in a Zune or the new HP photosmart printer I just bought? Can I go to Netflix and watch movies online, and use Linux to stream videos to my Xbox 360 as I can with Windows?

And the most important question is, is all this stuff gonna just work out of the box, or will I have to spend weeks pouring through forums, struggling just to get the same level of functionality that I already have?

Note: I haven't tried Linux in awhile, so I don't know its current state. But a recent post I read on here about what you had to do to get a Windows Mobile 6 device to work (outside of Mandrive) didn't leave me much hope that things had changed very much since I last tried it (around early 2006).

zune, hard to tell. but the hp may actually work.

i have been using a fairly recent hp multifunction network printer for 6 months or so without issue (i have to access the scanner via a built in web interface, but i dont need that so often that it bothers me).

hp is actually very cooperative with cups these days...

netflix i cant comment on, but the xbox360 is probably in the same area as zune. your more likely to get a apple product to work nicely alongside linux, then you are a microsoft one these days.

Edited 2008-04-16 08:07 UTC

That some specific proprietary product or service only works with the platform that it was designed to lock users into isn't really a technical failing of other platforms. That your Zune (a brand owned by Microsoft) may not work with linux would be about as remarkable as the fact that you can't play PS3 games in your Xbox360. That this kind of incompatibility is systematically maintained when standard protocols would do just fine is part of what I mean when I say that the barriers to linux adoption are political not technical.

Remember, just because something is for sale doesn't mean you need to have it. There are plenty of products out there that work with linux out of the box. Just do a little research before you buy.

Really? So if I install a Linux distro tomorrow (say Ubuntu), what happens if I plug in a Zune or the new HP photosmart printer I just bought? Can I go to Netflix and watch movies online, and use Linux to stream videos to my Xbox 360 as I can with Windows?

And the most important question is, is all this stuff gonna just work out of the box, or will I have to spend weeks pouring through forums, struggling just to get the same level of functionality that I already have?

Note: I haven't tried Linux in awhile, so I don't know its current state. But a recent post I read on here about what you had to do to get a Windows Mobile 6 device to work (outside of Mandrive) didn't leave me much hope that things had changed very much since I last tried it (around early 2006). "

Much of Microsoft's gear is deliberately designed to not work with Linux ... or indeed work with open unencumbered systems in general.

It is Microsoft's aim to lock you in to Microsoft's products. If you buy in to that ... then expect to be paying premium price for all your IT stuff in perpetuity.

Having said that ... to stream music to your Microsoft Xbox 360, "All you need is a media server that the Xbox thinks is a Media Center PC."
http://www.livingdigitally.net/2005/12/stream_music_to.html

Twonky Music will do this for you.
http://www.twonkyvision.de/Products/TwonkyMedia/index.html

It can be run from a Linux-based home server if you like:
http://wl500g.info/showthread.php?t=6066

A Zune? Heaven help you ... what would you possibly want a Zune for? Yuk. People can't help you if you buy rubbish stuff.

HP photosmart printer? ... no problem. HP printers have excellent support for Linux. Good choice there.

http://hplip.sourceforge.net/

Windows Mobile 6? Did you read the first word? Sheesh! get a Linux PDA if you want it to work with everything else.

You are looking at this question from the wrong way around. You should be asking yourself ... does this product work with everything, or just Windows?

Your Zune, Xbox 360 and Windows Mobile device are deliberately designed to work only with Windows, in an attempt to make sure you will only buy Windows for your computers.

Your HP Photosmart printer, on the other hand, is designed to not lock you in at all ... it is designed to let YOU choose if you want to run Windows, OSX or Linux with it.

With the Xbox ... some people have done a lot of work to try to make it that you can use it with some non-Windows products. Lucky for you ... hard work for them.

So ... get a Playstation, not an Xbox. Stick with your HP printer. get a Linux-based PDA, designed to work with anything. Get a platform-agnostic portable media player, not a Zune. This site may help:
http://tuxmobil.org/portable_players.html
http://tuxmobil.org/pda_linux.html
http://tuxmobil.org/mylaptops.html

Or better yet ... get a portable media player that runs Linux itself:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/21/iriver_pmp_ship/
http://www.osnews.com/story/12656

If you buy Windows-only stuff, don't expect it to work with Linux.

If you buy gear that works with Linux ... it will work with everything else as well. The choice of what else you get is then up to you.

If you buy stuff that works with Linux ... it will work out of the box. This is not the case with stuff that works only with Windows ... you will have to feed Windows with the CD that came with your gear. If you lose that CD ... and then later you have to re-install Windows ... then your stuff won't work any longer with anything at all.

Edited 2008-04-16 10:19 UTC

It's not gonna work properly. If all your failure commented here over the years are any indicator , your definately and clearly part of the problem why you don't have a working desktop solution. Or your lying.

That means remove yourself as a DIY from the equation and go search for a turn key solution made for you by someone else.



1. It's going to fail if you did the install. (A)
2. Why are you planning to fail from the start by using a Music player that do not support GNU/Linux ?
3. People are using Zune on GNU/Linux and they even installed GNU/Linux as the OS for the Zune ...

(A) There are people willing to install GNU/Linux for gratis or for a fee who will make it work.



Off course you did not make sure that it was a compatible model before buying it ... Your also married to that printer.

Seriously that one ties in with the article because HP is a Linux Foundtaion member , they are screwing GNU/Linux by releasing desktop models without GNU/Linux support , even do when most of the time driver exist.



Do netflix support browser standards ? or only IE ?



Yes.



Yes , if you buy a box and not try and do it yourself.



No shit , you think anyone with half a brain cell could not figure that out from your many comments ?



Since when does Windows mobile 6 support GNU/linux OOTB ?

Your comment is similar to someone who as a VHS asking if Blue-ray DVD will work with them and blame Blue-Ray for the failure ... Or someone who as a Mazda and goes into Ford and ask them to fix a specific Mazda recall and blame Ford when they don't have a clue what it's about and refuse to fix it for gratis ...

You already established that your hardware don't work with GNU/Linux when you do the work. It's time to seek OOTB solution from GNU/linux vendors , or service people who can do it.

It's not an insult , it's called reality , I am sure that your good at something , but clearly failling to install Ubuntu and not figuring out a solution , is a clear indicator , your unable to do it on your own.

Edited 2008-04-16 18:23 UTC