Is Linux Irrelevant?

[Daniel ~]

Written by Daniel
Monday, 10 August 2009

It's not the distro or even the Linux kernel that matter. It's the things made with Linux -- the servers, smartphones, netbooks, and other mobile devices.

By Serdar Yegulalp
InformationWeek
August 10, 2009 04:00 AM

As the story goes, in the late eighties Bill Gates was asked about the competition Unix posed to Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT). He smiled and asked, "Which Unix?"

[Front page...]

[ccperf721p]

Most people I know that write code for linux do not do it to compete with anything, nor do they do it for the masses. They do it for the small percentage that actually appreciate the work. It may be just as well that linux is never brought to the point of being able to compete with Windows.

[Daniel ~]

Originally Posted by Daniel ~

Written by Daniel
Monday, 10 August 2009

It's not the distro or even the Linux kernel that matter. It's the things made with Linux -- the servers, smartphones, netbooks, and other mobile devices.

By Serdar Yegulalp
InformationWeek
August 10, 2009 04:00 AM

As the story goes, in the late eighties Bill Gates was asked about the competition Unix posed to Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT). He smiled and asked, "Which Unix?"

[Front page...]

Yeah, which ones ended up kicking Windows ass anyway?

[Daniel ~]

Originally Posted by ccperf721p

Most people I know that write code for linux do not do it to compete with anything, nor do they do it for the masses. They do it for the small percentage that actually appreciate the work. It may be just as well that linux is never brought to the point of being able to compete with Windows.

I love Linux...I love seeing the dream kept alive...I've grown partial to Linux desktops as well! ":O}

[Daniel ~]

I have noticed that for an OS representing 1% of the desktop market...there are a LOT of articles predicting her demise..even as she gains market share... Linux just hasn't been trying to create a OS for the masses!

But She is now. What she HAS created is a viable alternative. I DON'T know Linux... but that doesn't really hamper me! Linux help is as free as it's code inside of forms.

Just the point of view of an appreciative user...":O}

[Áedán]

I think the desktop is becoming more irrelevant in some ways, as other access methods for online data come into play. Is the desktop market so important any longer? What does MS think about that?

[chrisbard]

Yes!

[Daniel ~]

Has the number of people buying or using Free Linux and it's companions diminished?

What are you so happy about Chris!? Your the one invested in MS OS's... I'm just a casual on looker...":O}

[Áedán]

I think the general market for Linux has increased greatly, but I suspect a lot of that has been in the embedded space.

[dsio]

With things like Gizmo's Palm Pre and the Android phones you're probably onto something there. I find myself using my desktop less and less and my iPhone (yea, its not Linux based, but I likes it anyways) more and more. Phone gives me, media, web browsing, email, calls, SMS, skype, messaging, a swiss army knife of apps, gps, and SSH access to servers. Finding I really don't need that much more most of the time.

Some of the best uses for Linux seam to be the ones where you don't know that it actually is Linux.

[Daniel ~]

I think they call that transparency...":O}

[booman]

Windows is holding on by a thread for me. Mostly because of PC games. I would love to use Linux for my laptop or workstations. I still play a lot of old games and Wine has yet to be fully compatible, but some of them run just fine.
Obviously Windows has a huge presence at work, but otherwise I can create websites with GIMP/text editor, play some games through Wine, browse interent with Firefox, play music with the media program (I don't remember what its called and I know there are a bunch of them).

I think AutoCAD will even work in Wine, but I havn't look into it.

[dsio]

autocad running on linux YouTube - AutoCAD / Linux / XGL

[booman]

Interesting, I'm going to google it now and see how they ran it. I'm not that interested in the window effects (though they are cool) but it runs really well for a GeForce MX 440

[dsio]

Window effects actually ran well on my old Dell c400 laptop which was a pentium 3-m 1.2Ghz with an intel i830m gpu. No joke.

[booman]

wow, how do they do that? In Windows I disable all the effects just for more speed

[dsio]

Think about that windows 3d screensaver that is usually the windows flag waving as it moves around the screen but you can set it to any image you like. That worked on pentium 1s. The difference between that, and making a window (essentially an image) wobble isn't that much.

That said, the fact that its Vista means that their implementation can't be fast and / or simple.

[ThunderRd]

Those window effects are done with compiz and a decoration manager, probably emerald. There are loads of options to enable or disable to your preferences in the compiz configuration.

And dsio is quite right, they don't take up too much in resources. You could easily get that stuff to run on a geforce 5 series card.

[jacksonwalters]

It's better in many ways, but it's not standardized. That's why I don't use it and I think that's the bottom line - finding programs that you need that work with your distro is still too difficult/annoying for most people. Windows 7 is a better choice for me and probably most people atm.

[Daniel ~]

Can we settle for "Probably better for you and BILL? ":O}