"The fragmentation of Android is very real and very problematic for end users, developers, mobile operators, device manufacturers, and Google. However fragmentation does not mean Android is going to 'die' or 'fail' as some seem to think. On the contrary I think we can count on Android playing a significant role in our world for a long, long time. I also am confident that Google has already lost control of Android and has zero chance of regaining control. This post explains why I'm so confident about this."
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Member since:2005-07-06
Mr. Bergman isn't making any superior arguments. He is mixing and matching use scenarios with different target audience distro's and painting a far bleaker picture of Linux than is actually the case.
I for one don't care how many enterprise desktops Mr. Bergman administers. He might administer 100, 1,000 or 1,000,000. That is a large scale deployment with specific, specialised use cases for the enterprise.
The wonderful horror stories of fragmentation from an end user perspective simply doesn't exist. Be it a Linux distro or Android version X. If an end user has version X, he has version X.
Non-tech, consumer end users work, live and breathe version X and they will continue to do so until either the software they want to install from the friendly software center doesn't install anymore or a techie tells them they need version X+1.
All the horrible things that can go wrong with dist-upgrade, do go wrong on a daily basis. I just wonder why ordinairy, everyday people opt to go the dist-upgrade route in a consumer setting. Just put that damn /home directory on that separate partition, blow away the .directories who's settings you don't want to keep and do a clean install in about 30 minutes and be done with it.
Yes, there is an awful lot of hardware out there that doesn't play nice with Linux. The big question in my mind is always why people keep bothering to torture themselves with non working hardware under Linux for days on end, when a wonderfully working replacement part usually can be had for scraps. If you can't afford to replace a small piece of hardware, you simply can't afford computing.
Do some research before plonking down money and taking home a shiney piece of excrement that doesn't give you any Linux pleasure. My machines and the ones I administer for my family simply don't give any grief hardware-wise. Then again, they only receive supported hardware.
While appealing to authority and belittling all two bit Linux pollyannas must feel good, it doesn't help a prospective new Linux user. We do after all help some of the grandmother's and uncle's with their computers. Does Mr. Bergman do the same?
This just coming from a two bit Linux pollyanna, who simply doesn't see the big horror story for home users in the non-enterprise world.
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OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
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Almost exactly three years ago, I wrote about why OSNews was no longer OSNews: the alternative operating system scene had died, and OSNews, too, had to go with the times and move towards reporting on a new wave of operating systems - mobile, and all the repercussions that the explosion of smartphones and tablets have caused. Still, I was wondering something today: why aren't we seeing alternative operating systems on mobile?
Member since:
2008-01-29
Who are you trying to fool? The year of the Linux desktop never arrived.
- A LOT of hardware have issues under Linux, or require drivers that are difficult to install. Not to mention never tailored to whatever distro the user is running.
- Distribution fragmentation is one thing, but what about desktop fragmentation? GNOME 3.x, Unity, KDE 4.x, XFCE... It's all a mess.
- You claim there is nothing you can do on a default Windows installation. Well, at least you can install flash/java/multimedia codecs painlessly by answering yes when going to a site. I mean, Synaptic is great for technical users but grandma can forget about it.
- None of your "facts" about how easy it is to use Linux applies for normal users. You are looking at it through your own eyes, you fail to see Linux from a non -techincal users point of view.
- When faced by superior arguments from sbergman27 you react by claiming that he is not a Linux user? Just... Wow.