“I guess I started it, this round at least. In this space last week I discussed what I saw (and see) as a disconnect between users of KDE and those who develop it. A few days later, Shawn Gordon offered a moderating view. Soon others weighed in. Many people grew angry. I’m sorry for that, but I think that if the use of Linux is to become more widespread, the questions demand answers: What, if anything, is the responsibility of developers to users? How does this affect the future of Linux as a desktop operating system?” Read the editorial at LinuxAndMain.Our Take: I have heard similar complaints from some KDE users over the past few months, that the KDE developers do not listen to users anymore for usability or other issues. I hope, if indeed there is such an issue, to be solved soon and bring the developers closer to the needs of the user.
KDEvelopers on KDE users
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Is all this argumentative babble about KDE developers and users some prelude on what’s going to happen with Microsoft exhibiting at Linux World?
Microsoft being a guest in the House of Linus is something quite intriguing. I cannot fathom why that decision was made. Well, IDG does run quite a few Microsoft ads. And Microsoft is just waiting for the day that their shill Miguel gets MS-GNOME running on MS-MONOpoly. And then that whole system is under Microsoft API domination.
So if some big Kontroversy is raised over KDE, one more step closer to killing Linux on the desktop. For the desktop is the heart of the Microsoft vampire and it is guarded so very carefully.
#m
Microsoft being a guest in the House of Linus is something quite intriguing. I cannot fathom why that decision was made. Well, IDG does run quite a few Microsoft ads. And Microsoft is just waiting for the day that their shill Miguel gets MS-GNOME running on MS-MONOpoly. And then that whole system is under Microsoft API domination.
My two predictions of Microsoft exibition is
– Windows .NET Server and perhaps Windows XP in competition with Linux, saying it is better
– Trying to promote .NET over Java.
Of course, there is a possiblity of Office for Linux and maybe Linux .NET Server 🙂
But firstly, Mono is implementing the .NET specification from EMCA, and they do not have any plans whatsoever to implement Microsoft’s version of it. Secondly, GNOME doesn’t use any Mono code, nor have any support for .NET. And as long Sun is still an influence to the GNOME Foundation, and as long Ximian’s influence in that foundation keeps diminishing, there would not be GNOME 4 based on .NET. All Miguel said was he hoped GNOME 4 was based on .NET.
So if some big Kontroversy is raised over KDE, one more step closer to killing Linux on the desktop. For the desktop is the heart of the Microsoft vampire and it is guarded so very carefully.
But if you notice lately Microsoft have be trying to shift its focus on the desktop to other markets like PDAs, digital TVs, smart phones, and so on. I think Linux would be able to kill Microsoft if they control the markets that Microsoft doesn’t have a strong influence and go from there and slowly kick Microsoft off Redmond’s maps.
He said that KDE developers have become arrogant and no longer want to listen to it’s users. I know why. Last time, when KMail was practically unknown, and people was still having flamewars on WMs vs. DEs, DEP was one of its users. The userbase was quite small, and DEP helped by giving a lot of bug reports. He also gave a lot of feature suggestions. But then KMail userbase started to increase rapidly. But the amount developers didn’t increase as fast as the user base. As result of which, they only implement features majority of the users want, and features they want.
In KDE 1, KMail used its own address book, being small at that time, it didn’t realize that there was the KDE Addressbook being developed. KMail used text files to keep information, and KDE Addressbook used the vcard format which most of the users wanted. In KDE 3, KMail phrased out the old format and started using the standard one which was favoured by a majority of users. Dep posted on KMail mailing list and didn’t get a responsive response from the maintainers. Dep, being used to having his requests carried out in KMail, didn’t like this. He was a minority voice in opposing the format change, and well, the developers can’t be fulfilling everyone’s need.
Then he also pointed out to a pretty basic feature request for printing support in KDE Addressbook, but the developers never showed any interest in implementing such a request. Why? Because only a few users asked for it, and well, they get a lot of suggestions, they can’t be following everything. These developers have to face more bug reports and feature request, you can’t expect them to follow the wish of all their users.
So in end, Dep is just expressing his dissapointment in a irrational way.
Microsoft owns the technology of .NET. They control the evolution of the “specification” by controlling the de-facto implementation. I’ve worked with Microsoft in standards committees. They do everything possible to subvert the committee and turn it into a mockery of an open process. It is naive to base too much faith on ECMA. They have no power to enforce standards. They are a convenient rubber stamp, one of the most loose and weak standards organizations that exists. That is why Sun wanted to work with them on Java. And why there is ECMAscript and not ANSI Javascript.
The thing I find funny in the Linux community is that they just don’t get it. They haven’t been there, I suppose. They have never been under the Microsoft gun. It is a standard Microsoft strategy to go in under the flag of neutrality and friendship first, learn about what makes you tick, and then go use this information to exterminate you.
I wonder. Is it so hard to accept the DOJ findings? Microsoft is the most ruthless, capable, unethical computer company that exists today. They are a monopoly whose settlement deal with the US government is no more than a slap on the wrist. They are the company that incorporates spy code into Windows Media Player, XP, and soon throughout its line of products via Palladium.
Let me ask the dumb question again. “Why would the Linux world want to copy Microsoft’s designs and specifications?”.
No matter how you slice it, spin it, whatever, .NET is a Microsoft platform. It is not any sort of open standard. It’s like saying HTML is an open standard. Sure, it is also. But guess what? It works differently on every single browser. One could say the same thing about TCP/IP, LDAP, Kerberos, etc.
Linux cannot afford to be ingenuous about key technology choices. Open standards are just paper. It’s implementations that count. Shipped implemenations.
You think after Microsoft ships and delivers millions of .NET units into corporate America and then issues a “Service Pack” which changes the interfaces a bit — “for security” — that a non-conforming Linux implementation is going to make Microsoft change? There’s no fucking way that will happen.
Miguel has been working on cloning Microsoft software for Linux for the past three or four years. Evolution = Outlook, for instance. Sure there are differences, but in his original discussions, he talked about wanting it to be similar to Outlook. He has a bad case of Microsoft envy. Or is being paid.
All it takes is one patent infringement lawsuit and the house of cards comes falling down. In copying from Microsoft vs. innovating, it is leaving a door open that doesn’t need to be open. Maybe there would be merit to the lawsuit, maybe not. If the US government had trouble standing up to Microsoft’s cadre of expensive lawyers, do you think a tiny little Linux company is going to have a chance?
As for the desktop and other markets, yes Microsoft is trying to diversify. They have about 95% of the desktop market, so they’re expanding their focus. If Microsoft were to lose control of the desktop they would lose their entire company. Every strategy of theirs depends on the desktop. Until .NET gets put in everywhere and they control the plumbing as well as the desktop.
Well, I’d feel a bit bad if I didn’t mention KDE. So I’ll say I admire them for not copying Microsoft. They don’t have some ulterior agenda to port KDE to .NET.
As I mentioned in a different post, Linux will grow stronger if there is INNOVATION and FOCUS. Copying Microsoft technology can hardly be called innovation.
#m
They’ll show embed XP. URL:
http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2002-07-03-015-26-NW-CY-…
Properly designed APIs can be made extensible without breaking compatibility.
Consider X11. Granted, it is more of a protocol than an API, and the basic functionality is very simple, but the point is that an extensible framework can be beneficial.
All these Microsoft world domination conspiracy theories are silly. Microsoft is simply developing new products and wants to sell them, they are not out there to fuck up your life.
Second is all these “Linux has to take over the world” articles that keep on popping up. Why does Linux need to be promoted to everyone? Sounds like some kind of religion that wants to infest our minds.
Third, if I write code and give it away, I don’t have any responsibility whatsoever to anyone as long as I don’t break any laws. The KDE developers are free to do whatever they want, and it is up to them if they want to listen to the users or not. Or to each other for that matter. They do this out of practical reasons though. It is more fun to be appriciated, hence they listen to others. It’s easier to develop KDE together, hence they listen to each other. They listen to users for good ideas, to be friendly, and to be nice.
Had there been a KDE ltd which sold their KDE/Linux based OS to me for a sum of money, things would have been very much different indeed. Then there are a buyer and a seller, there are rules and laws and contracts. That is not the case though.
If I needed the attention of one or more of the KDE developers I would simply try to contact them and have a short, nice, and to the point email discussion with them. I bet they would listen.
But if I would like a large set of users get their say on KDE I would do something on a larger scale. Get some user testing done (lots of students out there who needs projects, here yah go people), run polls, etc. I would not write angry emails and articles though.
maybe i’m missing something, but as a user and not a developer, it has always seemed obvious to me that feature requests should be just that — polite requests with the understanding that the developers owe me nothing.
it is another thing if i was a large corporation paying big bucks every quarter for updated releases to expect that the vendor would implement my wishlist. (even in the world of expensive proprietary software, only the biggest customers have any sway over the software company).
if i write to a volunteer like i deserve the best right now and the user should control the development path, then the only thing i deserve is to be ignored and possibly flamed.
now, a polite developer should not ignore the reasonable requests, but that’s a different issue.
There’s only one way to kick out Microsoft: making a killer desktop OS that OEMs can sell (if MS let them do that), there’s no other roadmap. Microsoft is not shifting focus, it is making that focus as big as possible: anything under the sun.
By the decade of experience had, I don’t think Linux will ever make a killer desktop, they just don’t care enough, you don’t recompile the kernel to install an ADSL modem in a wannabe killer desktop, and so on… Only BeOS has come close in desktop ease of use and functionality, and only something similar would be able to make it.
DEP is the only journalist I ever remembered as a plain troll. And that was months ago, when he attacked the FSF, Ximian and Eazel (so basically everyone behind Gnome).
I really don’t like, nor understand this guy. And I like to quote Miguel’s response to his attacks: “Why can’t we all just get along?”
To be honest, I think really good chance of a killer-OS will come from the folks at Apple. Now, who knows if the ‘Rapshody’ ( I beielve that is what they are calling it) rumors are true, or not, but I would love to see the day when I could put OSX on my x86 platform.
And m, all is not lost on Linux. Look at what Apple did to a Unix core. Its a beauitful, simple, powerful, easy to use OS. There are some linux distros trying to accomplish this, but they need to do some serious usebility studies if they want to compete for the desktop. Simple things like adjusting monitor settings (resolution), adding drivers, et al are still just too primitive.
> making a killer desktop OS that OEMs
> can sell (if MS let them do that),
> there’s no other roadmap.
Hmm .. its kinda hard to imagine what the “killer” feature of that desktop can be, and even harder to imagine why MS will be unable to copy such a feature in no time at all. Add to that, the fact that tons of apps are already developed for Windows, and you can see how difficult your vision is.
Microsoft is the default Desktop OS, the entire industry has been built around it, and their OS works extremely well for most people’s purposes. Short of a revelation that Microsoft sponsors Bin Laden, its hard to see how that situation can change anytime soon.
But hey, this was about kde, right? Compared to Gnome and the rest, KDE is actually very organised. I think they generally do a fine job and, judging from the end products, there is no doubt that they certainly work for users.
Now, if only they can do something to improve speed! If XP can be made to run faster than the rest of them windows, surely there must be a way to do same for KDE?
> adding drivers, et al are
> still just too primitive
If you are using Gentoo, you are on your own, and I am sure you probably know what you are doing. If you are using a recent distribution like Redhat, or any of the main vendors, and not using the latest Nvidia card, I don’t see how that issue can even arise. I mean, how easier can it get with Kudzu, for instance? I don’t get this at all.
“I think they generally do a fine job and, judging from the end products, there is no doubt that they certainly work for users.”
Absolutely. The KDE guys are crazy.
Working on KDE as if they would get payed for it. Ok, some actually do… 
But they almost all do. I think part of this is that they are german and german’s are weird, always trying to be professional even if it’s only a hobby. =) I’m probably one of the few german who are never professional about what they are doing.
But Gnome also cares a lot for endusers, since 1.4 they do work almost fulltime on polishing and improving the user experience. That was something that was badly missed before but they finally saw the SUN… err… light.
You will see when the first polished customer release of Gnome 2.x is ready.
“If you are using Gentoo, you are on your own”
Actually installing the NVidia drivers is nowhere as easy as in Gentoo.
emerge nvidia-kernel nvidia-glx, replace “nv” with “nvidia” (also maybe uncomment the GLX module if it isn’t already) in your XFree and start it.
> rajan r said:
> But firstly, Mono is implementing the .NET specification
> from EMCA, and they do not have any plans whatsoever to
> implement Microsoft’s version of it.
If that were the case, they wouldn’t be working on ASP.NET compatibility or WinForms compatibility.
From the Mono FAQ:
Question 5: Will you implement the .NET Framework SDK class libraries?
Yes, we will be implementing the APIs of the .NET Framework SDK class libraries.
Question 6: Will you offer an ECMA-compliant set of class libraries?
Eventually we will. Our current focus is on interoperating with the Microsoft SDK, but we will also offer an ECMA compliant set of libraries.
—
Having said that, I think it’s a good thing Mono is going for across-the-board compatibility with the .NET Framework, as it offers the potential to run some Windows-specific .NET apps on other platforms.
This article is pile on the problem of Linux. As long as the users and the commercial developers are not considered as the prime concern of the Linux coders, mainstream acceptance of Linux will not happen.
Of course this choice belongs to the coder community.
Commercial developers will not work on a “floating platform” that breaks their apps every 3 monthes. Lambda users will not switch to Linux desktop before it gets simple enough to use (no recompiles, plug and play, no text/cli configs, everything a few clicks away), and they can use at least some of the commercial apps they are used to. In order to dent MS’s market share, (or Apple’s), Linux needs to do everything winbloze or OESSEX does. That is the quality standard.
So far desktop-wise Linux is great for nerds/hobbyists but that is all. If running Linux desktop stops being a “project” anymore and my grandma can install it and run it on her own, the world will be a different place. Then and only then might the OEMs “build” and pre-install their own distros to make sure their boxen, video boards and other devices are supported correctly.
As for the “killer feature” of Linux, why, it’s free.
> But Gnome also cares a lot for endusers, since 1.4 they
> do work almost fulltime on polishing and improving the
> user experience.
yes sure… hahahah i had a good laugh by reading your shit… gnome developers doesn’t care much for their endusers, look what happened with gnome 2.0.0 release. a lot of pissed up people, no way to configure the window manager, a lot of options removed, still rough edges in gnome itself, reverted buttons etc. they only code what they get into their own mind, they give a fucking fuck about what users wants. so please stop spreading so much fucking shit. if you want to push gnome then it’s fine but i don’t accept if someone spreads simply the untruth.
also hör gefälligst auf mit dem scheiss… spinner!
This time I won’t fall for it.
“By the decade of experience had, I don’t think Linux will ever make a killer desktop, they just don’t care enough, you don’t recompile the kernel to install an ADSL modem in a wannabe killer desktop, and so on… Only BeOS has come close in desktop ease of use and functionality, and only something similar would be able to make it.”
” Look at what Apple did to a Unix core. Its a beauitful, simple, powerful, easy to use OS. There are some linux distros trying to accomplish this, but they need to do some serious usebility studies if they want to compete for the desktop. Simple things like adjusting monitor settings (resolution), adding drivers, et al are still just too primitive.”
i agree with both of you. linux is just not easy enough.. simple things like adding a driver are too complicated.. you should be able to drop a driver file in a folder called driver. it should be that simple. this probably isnt a problem of kde or gnome, but just a problem of linux and X. its hard to configure x for specific video settings and refresh rates. and many users, including me, dont understand the naming situation with the filesystem. bin and etc.. come on rename those.. sure it wont be as easy from the command line.. but the command line needs to be IGNORED for a desktop os.
Having said that, I think it’s a good thing Mono is going for across-the-board compatibility with the .NET Framework, as it offers the potential to run some Windows-specific .NET apps on other platforms.
The full addition of all the .NET parts turns a Linux server into a Microsoft server. It can be swapped out for a cheap or free XP Embedded server that will fit better into an enterprise. It gives Microsoft control and extends their reach into a market that would be unreachable because of the GPL.
With WinForms and other aspects of .NET being implemented, there will be no functional difference between a Microsoft .NET app running on Windows.NET vs. Linux.NET. So all Microsoft has to do is tweak their version of .NET and all the Linux servers (which are spec’d to Microsoft .NET vs ECMA.NET) suddenly have strange problems, security holes, etc.
One has to remember… ECMA is not a software company, they are a paper company. Creating your software to the ECMA spec is pointless and naive.
“Embrace and extend” is equally valid today as it has been for the past 12+ years as Microsoft has laid waste to every competitor in its path.
The funny and the sad come together as we have a number of programmers (Miguel + the other Microsoft cloners) doing Microsoft’s work for free and in effect they are building a basis for Microsoft to destroy Linux in the market.
I suppose copying Microsoft software is like crack cocaine — one hell of a habit. And it always ends up costing you everything in the end.
#m
Microsoft owns the technology of .NET. They control the evolution of the “specification” by controlling the de-facto implementation. I’ve worked with Microsoft in standards committees. They do everything possible to subvert the committee and turn it into a mockery of an open process. It is naive to base too much faith on ECMA. They have no power to enforce standards. They are a convenient rubber stamp, one of the most loose and weak standards organizations that exists. That is why Sun wanted to work with them on Java. And why there is ECMAscript and not ANSI Javascript.
ANSI is much more weaker, to my view, than EMCA. The problems you have mentioned are not only apparent in EMCA but in standards bodies like ANSI and ISO. Microsoft can’t ever stop the evalution of the EMCA .NET specification though it could pull out from the development of it and snub it.
I wonder. Is it so hard to accept the DOJ findings? Microsoft is the most ruthless, capable, unethical computer company that exists today. They are a monopoly whose settlement deal with the US government is no more than a slap on the wrist. They are the company that incorporates spy code into Windows Media Player, XP, and soon throughout its line of products via Palladium.
DOJ findings is right, Microsoft had violated a double standard law. Besides, Microsoft is as ruthless and capable as any other company out there. The more ruthless, unethical and capable you are, you better off you are. Sorry churchboys and socialist activist, but that’s the fact of life. The incorparation of spy code into WMP (there is no spy code in other parts of Windows XP) is totally legal because Microsoft had mentioned it in its privacy policy, and you could use some other OS if you don’t like it. In fact, even Netscape, who the court symtathesizes a lot with, uses spy code in Netscape 6. Palladium is Microsoft version of the TCPA, which was an initiave of Intel, not Microsoft (so it is Intel you should blame). Palladium allows the OS and its applications to use TCPA. And it is totally legal, with or without anti trust laws.
No matter how you slice it, spin it, whatever, .NET is a Microsoft platform. It is not any sort of open standard. It’s like saying HTML is an open standard. Sure, it is also. But guess what? It works differently on every single browser. One could say the same thing about TCP/IP, LDAP, Kerberos, etc.
So following your logic, we shouldn’t have browsers that implement HTML support? Miguel said that .NET would bring more applications to Linux, and just what? He is right. And even if Microsoft snubs the EMCA .NET specification, Linux would still have some altenative to Java.
You think after Microsoft ships and delivers millions of .NET units into corporate America and then issues a “Service Pack” which changes the interfaces a bit — “for security” — that a non-conforming Linux implementation is going to make Microsoft change? There’s no fucking way that will happen.
The last time since Microsoft had changed its APIs to cause some problems it was really a security problem. So if Microsoft removes it, you guys complain. If Microsoft leaves it and allows some virus to control the computer, you guys blame Microsoft. Though I’m not a fan of Microsoft of its products, I really got to sympatize with them, the expactations they have to fulfil.
Miguel has been working on cloning Microsoft software for Linux for the past three or four years. Evolution = Outlook, for instance. Sure there are differences, but in his original discussions, he talked about wanting it to be similar to Outlook. He has a bad case of Microsoft envy. Or is being paid.
I never agreed with Miguel’s ideas. But the basis of his ideas was that it would allow users from Windows to migrate to GNOME with ease, not because he envies Microsoft.
All it takes is one patent infringement lawsuit and the house of cards comes falling down. In copying from Microsoft vs. innovating, it is leaving a door open that doesn’t need to be open. Maybe there would be merit to the lawsuit, maybe not. If the US government had trouble standing up to Microsoft’s cadre of expensive lawyers, do you think a tiny little Linux company is going to have a chance?
Firstly, Miguel is copying an EMCA specification, which is totally legal even though the holder has a patent. On his work on Evolution, he haven’t use any patented stuff except the user interface of Outlook, which is totally legal.
Secondly, Microsoft would be better off laying off all their lawyers and hire better ones. If you read any of the transcripts of any of Microsoft case, you see how they embarress themselves. Besides, a little company, Lindows, almost got Windows trademark repelled, though the outcome of the case is not known.
As for the desktop and other markets, yes Microsoft is trying to diversify. They have about 95% of the desktop market, so they’re expanding their focus. If Microsoft were to lose control of the desktop they would lose their entire company. Every strategy of theirs depends on the desktop. Until .NET gets put in everywhere and they control the plumbing as well as the desktop.
Actually Microsoft executives are diversify for a very smart reason: they know they would miss one of the “Next Big Thing” in desktop computing and would loose their market. They almost lost to Mac OS and other GUI OS because they were late in having a GUI over DOS, they were late to the Internet party, they were late in the digital media crowd, who knows, maybe the next big thing they would be too late. Microsoft learns from its history and know by keeping all its eggs in one basket, when it falls, everything breaks.
Well, I’d feel a bit bad if I didn’t mention KDE. So I’ll say I admire them for not copying Microsoft. They don’t have some ulterior agenda to port KDE to .NET.
For the last time, GNOME would not be ported to .NET in GNOME 4.0. Miguel de Icaza said he hoped that GNOME 4.0 would be based on .NET. But if you read the mailing lists, you know everyone else NOT from Ximian disagrees. Ximian’s influence on GNOME has been in decline lately, while Sun’s influence have been growing. With Sun being in the GNOME Foundation, you can be assured there would be GNOME 4.0 based on .NET. If it does, it would hop on to another desktop, and GNOME looses one of its biggest investors, and would die off.
Consider X11. Granted, it is more of a protocol than an API, and the basic functionality is very simple, but the point is that an extensible framework can be beneficial.
And you forgot, that caused one of Linux-on-the-desktop biggest problems: inconsistency.
There’s only one way to kick out Microsoft: making a killer desktop OS that OEMs can sell (if MS let them do that), there’s no other roadmap. Microsoft is not shifting focus, it is making that focus as big as possible: anything under the sun.
That is called diversifying. And the lack of that caused the deaths of many companies. Why Microsoft would do that? Because it knows, sooner or later, it would miss the next big thing (every other monopoly/empire had) and would die off if it just counted on desktops. So, just say Apple finally ditch it’s hardware business and goes head on with Microsoft, Sun hired more than two people on it’s Office filters and Microsoft desktop share goes down and down and down and down, but Microsoft could rest assured that it wouldn’t die off.
To be honest, I think really good chance of a killer-OS will come from the folks at Apple. Now, who knows if the ‘Rapshody’ ( I beielve that is what they are calling it) rumors are true, or not, but I would love to see the day when I could put OSX on my x86 platform.
Dream on, as long Apple is a hardware company, there won’t be a x86 version. Also, even if there was an x86 version, there wouldn’t be as many apps as the PPC version because most apps are compiled for PPC.
If you are using Gentoo, you are on your own, and I am sure you probably know what you are doing. If you are using a recent distribution like Redhat, or any of the main vendors, and not using the latest Nvidia card, I don’t see how that issue can even arise. I mean, how easier can it get with Kudzu, for instance? I don’t get this at all.
Kudzu is a hardware detection thingy, and it isn’t as good as Mac OS X because there isn’t much supported hardware (mind you, by the hardware manufacturers) on Linux. Red Hat (since you mentioned it) has no graphical easy way to adjust the screen resolution and other things that is connected to XFree86.
But Gnome also cares a lot for endusers, since 1.4 they do work almost fulltime on polishing and improving the user experience. That was something that was badly missed before but they finally saw the SUN… err… light.
You will see when the first polished customer release of Gnome 2.x is ready.
All I saw in 1.4 was the polishing of eye candy. Firstly, there isn’t any consistency between standard GNOME apps… well, its not there. For example, the space between the Okay and the Cancel buttons are always different between applications, there isn’t any proper consistent file dialogs and so on. UI designing is not about making something look good, but making something that, well, is easy to use. Good looks come second. (Before you say I am too used to KDE and therefore find GNOME’s UI badly design, I can still fall back on Windows XP – though not on previous releases, and could very well use Be OS and XFce without a hitch).
If that were the case, they wouldn’t be working on ASP.NET compatibility or WinForms compatibility.
Sorry, I didn’t really check the FAQ lately. Looks like Mono is being stupid
…dont understand the naming situation with the filesystem. bin and etc.. come on rename those.. sure it wont be as easy from the command line.. but the command line needs to be IGNORED for a desktop os.
Perhaps /bin could be renamed as /binary, /user as /user and so on. Personally, after learning the file system, I find it more productive to keep them the way they are, but I do realize that it is a learning curve for normal users. Corel Linux (and Lindows.com, and Xandros, which are based on Corel) is prove enough that you can cover the file system with something else….. though all three failed in regards they use an equally difficult file system (Windows/DOS).
“you should be able to drop a driver file in a folder called driver.”
Agreed… Binary compatibility would be really great. ATM you have only three choices:
1) Hoping that your kernel already has your hardware support
2) Getting a kernel module that was specifically build against the kernel you have installed or
3) Compiling the kernel module from source.
I found number three to be the less complicated one. Maybe a system to automatically fetch the source and compile it for a desired driver would do the trick? What do you think?
“its hard to configure x for specific video settings and refresh rates.”
Agreed… Although I’m still not sure why there isn’t someone doing a more sophisticated approach in X configuration. I remember the Progeny Debian installation detected everything for me, from graphics card to monitor frecuencies so I only had to choose the resolution.
“and many users, including me, dont understand the naming situation with the filesystem. bin and etc.. come on rename those..”
But if you rename those, you will break a lot of compatibility (including POSIX). And don’t forget that every current documentation points to those folders so it could be even more confusing to just rename them.
Maybe symlinks could make the beginning a little easier, like:
/Configuration -> /etc
/Documentation -> /usr/share/doc
/Executables -> /usr/bin
/Logfiles -> /var/log
etc?
The Hurd also has a nice feature called ShadowFS to “merge” different folders, they do this to get rid of /usr alltogether so you only have /bin, /lib, etc. I think this would also be a little bit more convenient for beginners and you could have single symlinks for example lib like this:
/Libraries -> /lib, /usr/lib, /usr/local/lib
The arrogant attitude Linux developers have — “I’m not getting paid, so why should I listen to user requests?” — shows the central flaw in the OSS model of software development. If users only count when they’re paying money, then only commercial software developers, like Microsoft, Apple, et. al., will ever provide a product users want. So much for fantasies of overturning Microsoft’s monopoly.
You are confusing something here. There are people who work on free software in their freetime and there are peope who work on free software because they get payed for it.
If you want a feature, tell those who get payed, not those who work in their freetime. People in their freetime usually also listen to user requests but if they don’t want to do something, they won’t do it. Simple.
GPL, by definition, is a commercial license.