[Gllug] Interesting article on the MS monopoly

[Bruce Richardson]

On Fri, Apr 16, 2004 at 01:09:25PM +0100, Garry wrote:
> > Go find the "We" who you think are or should be trying to achieve what
> > you want and complain to them, or join up and help them.  Don't assume
> > that anybody on this list is a part of that.
> 
> Why do you think we have such standards as the LSB? There has to be a degree
> of "we" about it all for anything to move forward. Maybe the LSB could be
> extended to include standard configs for basic usability. 

The LSB is linux-specific, while X, Gnome, KDE and all the other
end-user software that falls into this area are available for multiple
operating systems.  Many of the usability issues that you are concerned
about can only be addressed from within those projects, rather than on
any of the individual OSen which can run them.

> The current "each
> app to it's own" state of affairs is holding back Linux adoption IMHO.

The LSB is never going to be adopted by all distributions and I don't
see this as an issue for consumer adoption.  If Linux finds it's way
onto the desktip it will in almost all cases be because it was installed
by an OEM, retailer or IT department, rather than an end user.  Those
installers will have chosen SuSE or Red Hat or some kind of "United
Linux" enterprise: it'll be specific distributions they work with.  Even
if it's a coalition of distributions working together to a standard,
there'll still be all those other distributions doing something
different, because they serve other purposes.  

There is no "Linux" in reality: it's a kit for building a working system
and since my needs and wants are obviously significantly different to
yours, there'll always be people building their kits in radically
different ways because it suits them, because they can.  Getting annoyed
about this or saying that it "holds us back" is both being childish and
getting it wrong.  The fact that Linux supports this diversity is the
main reason why it hasn't splintered in the way 386 BSD did.  This is a
strength, not a weakness.  If you accept that your ambitions for the
end-user desktop are a subset of the possibilities of Linux (and of the
aims of Linux users), then you may get somewhere.

> 
> If you don't think desktop Linux is an issue you haven't been reading the IT
> press much lately.

I didn't say it wasn't: I said it wasn't an issue that I care about or
am involved in.  My opinion of this kind of mailing list thread is that
they are started and perpetuated by people with little actual experience
of the use of Linux/Free Software in a practical environment, as a means
of either showing off or gaining acceptance.  Nothing here is changing
my mind.


-- 
Bruce

A problem shared brings the consolation that someone else is now
feeling as miserable as you.
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