On 05/07/2014 01:45 AM, Paul wrote:

All popular operating systems now, use preemptive
multitasking. And a robust split between kernel and
userspace.

So the core of the OS is rather the same.
Boringly the same. So boring in fact, that
companies can spin new versions... and get
stuff wrong.


Windows spins new versions theirself. Linux others do it. Linux gives
you that option. Linux itself gives new versions of the kernel-new
updates,features,security features,drivers... and such. Linux itself
does not do graphical interfaces. Canonical,RedHat,other and individuals
do.
Not arguing the wrong part. But Linux distros (the more well supported
such as RedHat, Canonical) Patch theirs faster than Windows does most of
the time.



We have to be content comparing the graphical
decorations, the size of the icons, whether
we swipe from the left or the right. How boring...


There is quite a bit of difference in the desktop environments in Linux
distros. KDE, Gnome, Lxe, etc. Depending on on the users preferences and
hardware.
Windows, take Xp, or 8.1 for instance, only have a difference in
versions on how much money you want to spend. More money means more
features. Doesn't matter on your likes or dislikes,can't change
preferences within versions. Yes you can change some minor things but
nothing major) or the hardware you are on. In fact most of the time you
have to upgrade you hardware.

What Linux lacks, is commercial focus. No more or
no less. Canonical is just inept. They do a good job
on delivering a product (i.e. the "little people"
are skilled - it's not their fault).

That is true to the fact that some people don't like Canonical's
leadership. As far as product it is very good for more than the computer
geeks.In it's desktop environment you can use it as is, never use the
command line if you don't want, and add feature you do want. Minor one's
or major if you want. It is built for all people. Not all distros are.
Some are built for specific purposes, such as Scientific Linux as an
example. It was built by the scientific community for stability and for
customization those in the know for their purposes.


But proper
direction is missing at the top. There are likely
companies that have done a better job, but
"they don't advertise". Nobody has a customer focus.
What do customers want ? What can we do to attract
customers ? Canonical certainly doesn't waste
any time on that. They just do stuff to **** people
off.

*******


I agree. Microsoft also helped in the begging by not letting
manufacturers have Windows if they also loaded other OS's on computers.
Killed of several non Linux OS's and crippled knowledge that Linux even
existed. Now that is a huge hurdle to get over as that most people don't
want to change from what they have learned regardless of the problems
they have.

There was a FUD article recently, on smart phones.
And how all the innovations were over, the playing
field was flat, and it was a matter of making
a phone the right color or the right shape. And you
can see how the desktop part of computing, could
easily receive a scathing article like that as well.
Stale. Boring. The only excitement for users comes,
when their support is killed (this happens with
both Windows and Linux, so neither is free from
this aspect - if the Linux folks wanted, I could
be running package manager for Ubuntu 7.04 and
it would continue to deliver apps when I want them.)

They could upgrade without full reinstall if they keep updating in
Linux. After all there could be some major security problems in 7.04, we
are up to 14.04 now. Been many improvements.Updating in Linux usually
will not give you the head aches that Windows does quite often. And you
have to reboot after an update to Windows much more often than in
Windows. You can keep using Linux while it is updating. Linux will add
the updates to a program you are usingat the time when you shut down. No
data lost.. Not Windows.
Windows quite often makes you do a complete reinstall to update to a new
version regardless if you kept up to date or not.

So why are we wasting our time on these advocacy
discussions ? The only thing worth discussing,
is why nobody is able to take a leadership
role, and deliver anything. Is it that the
market is too small ? The market is not worth
owning ? I don't get it. All the ingredients
are there, but nothing is happening. Instead,
mobile devices come along as a displacement
technology, and everyone else just sits
back on their haunches. The last time I checked,
there were some things that don't work well on a
small screen. Why would we expect to kill those
off, and stare into a 3" screen, scrolling left
and right, up and down as we work ? There s
still room for other kinds of devices.

*******

The only time I get into it is when someone tries to totally trash Linux.
I agree many,young ones especially, Try to do all there computing on
their phones or tablets in the cloud. They have /no idea how much more
powerful a desktop/laptop is. Windows or Linux. Most of the spending
public is now the young ones. Us older people are satisfied with what we
have. After all most of us has much more computing power than we need.

The next innovation could have been VR, but
that's kinda ruined now, by the Facebook
purchase. I wonder if anyone in the OS side
of things, is at all interested (3D GUI) ?
At least with a desktop environment (chair and table),
and a VR headset, you won't be walking into
the furniture :-)

Paul


The VR purchase by Facebook was one company and has little to do with
desktop VR. Virtual box on servers and desktop is very alive.

--
Caver1