Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 29th Aug 2012 22:52 UTC
Miguel de Icaza: "To sum up: (a) First dimension: things change too quickly, breaking both open source and proprietary software alike; (b) incompatibility across Linux distributions. This killed the ecosystem for third party developers trying to target Linux on the desktop. You would try once, do your best effort to support the 'top' distro or if you were feeling generous 'the top three' distros. Only to find out that your software no longer worked six months later. Supporting Linux on the desktop became a burden for independent developers." Mac OS X came along to scoop up the Linux defectors.
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RE: What really kills Linux on the desktop
by justSomeGuy on Thu 30th Aug 2012 06:36
in reply to "What really kills Linux on the desktop"
Member since:2011-08-30
...
2) People don't like things you can't pay a company for
3) People don't see advertisements for Linux on television
...
2) People don't like things you can't pay a company for
3) People don't see advertisements for Linux on television
...
This is very true, I was just saying pretty much this the other day on /.
Wrt #2, this is especially applicable to corporate setups. They want someone to sell them support contracts. AFAIK, Microsoft's support contracts don't really do anything useful for the companies that buy them. But it allows a CTO to say "Blame MS. We have contracted support with them. I've been on the phone day and night giving them an earful."
And this pleases executives. Doesn't matter that nothing useful ever gets fixed. There is a whipping boy to blame.
Wrt #3, yes, when something is on TV and perceived as being backed by a big company, it has more perceived value in peoples' minds.
I don't really care anymore what OS people use. But I've come to think that if you really want to evangelize linux, then don't send people to ubuntu.com. Send them to system76.com. They seem to have a need to pay money for something.
RE[2]: What really kills Linux on the desktop
by lucas_maximus on Thu 30th Aug 2012 08:27
in reply to "RE: What really kills Linux on the desktop"
Member since:2009-08-18
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
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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."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.More Features »
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1) People don't like the idea of change
2) People don't like things you can't pay a company for
3) People don't see advertisements for Linux on television
4) People are happy with the state of affairs with Windows or OS X.
Most people are not geeks, therefore whoever says "well I use Linux on the desktop!" are living in a cocoon world.
All these "reasons" about why Linux isn't the runaway success it should be are no more than cargo cult reasoning. "They were the state of affairs at the time of the non-success, therefore they were the cause".