Linux and the desktop [LWN.net]

Last January, we made a number of predictions about what the year held for the Linux community. One of those read as follows:

Desktop Linux will be taken far more seriously by the end of the year.... At that point, the Linux desktop will have almost everything needed by a large number of desktop users. More specialized applications will take years to fill in, but the basics are coming into place.

Normally we don't say much about our past predictions, in the hope that our readers will forget them as soon as possible. We may not do any worse than those analyst groups that sell their predictions printed on heavy paper, but we still find ourselves embarrassed by the things we say at times. In this case, however, we just might have gotten it right.

The latest development on the Linux desktop front is SuSE's announcement of the "SuSE Linux Office Desktop," a new version of its distribution which is due out in January. This distribution is, of course, aimed at the desktop market; it features (relatively) easy administration, a full set of office productivity tools (based on StarOffice), and CrossOver Office for those proprietary applications that simply cannot be done without.

SuSE, of course, is not alone in its new emphasis on the desktop. Red Hat Linux 8.0 includes a reworked, friendlier desktop. Distributions like Lycoris and Xandros are aimed at desktop users; Mandrake Linux, of course, has always had this emphasis. There is a Debian Desktop Project out there. Linux systems can even be purchased at outlets like Wal-Mart. Not too long ago, even the strongest Linux advocates mostly agreed that Linux was only suited to server-oriented tasks. Now, more and more people think that Linux is ready for desktop tasks, and, perhaps more to the point, that there is money to be made in desktop Linux.

One might well wonder why desktop Linux is coming into its own now. There are several possible reasons:

The set of free desktop applications is maturing. Tools like OpenOffice, AbiWord, Gnumeric, Mozilla, Konqueror, etc. have reached a point where they are good enough for most users. The feature lists may still fall short of the proprietary competition in some cases, but most of the truly important features are there.
The Wine project, in the form of products like CrossOver Office, has, after many years, reached a point where it can run the proprietary applications desktop users rely on. The availability of these applications makes the Linux desktop that much more valuable.
The difficult economy and Microsoft's licensing schemes have made companies more interested in ways of saving money.
People are finally beginning to notice that Linux users don't have to spend their time fighting the virus of the week.
Linux has clearly survived the dotcom crash - a fact which still surprises many people. Fears that Linux will vanish like so many other highly-hyped technologies are fading away.

The theory of "disruptive technologies" states that a new technology does not have to be better than the one it replaces - at least, not in every way. It is enough to offer advantages, financial and otherwise, that are sufficiently compelling to get people to make a change. Linux (and free software in general) have a lot to offer in cost savings, security, rapid and open development, freedom from vendor lock-in, etc. Increasingly, Linux also has applications that perform widely useful functions, and which are becoming easier to use. Many of these applications are on their way toward becoming the best available, free or otherwise. We are, it seems, reaching that point where the balance begins to tip. This may truly be the beginning of the era of the free desktop.

We should not lose track of the fact that a great deal remains to be done before free desktops can truly achieve World Domination, however. Linux administration is getting easier, but remains difficult. Linux applications still lack features that many users want. A visit to any computer store will show that there is a whole range of applications that are still absent on Linux: where are the children's games, menu planners, language courses, tax return preparers, home remodel designers, and makeover assistants for Linux? When your Linux system will help you look like the Cosmo Girl, we'll know we have truly arrived. But that day will remain distant until Linux becomes a more friendly platform for proprietary applications.

It is also worth noting that development on the Linux kernel has emphasized performance on very large systems just as it looks like the Linux desktop is going to take off. Performance on smaller systems is supposed to be addressed during the stabilization period. Testing by desktop users will be an important part of that process; as more people test out the development kernel in the coming months, it becomes increasingly likely that the next stable kernel release will meet the needs of desktop users.

The true triumph of the free desktop is still probably some years away. A great deal of hard work remains to be done. But the results of years of effort by thousands of developers determined to improve the Linux desktop experience are beginning to be felt in a serious way. It is going to be fun to watch where things go from here.

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Linux and the desktop

Posted Oct 31, 2002 6:28 UTC (Thu) by dwheeler (guest, #1216) [Link]

I have three related comments about Linux and the desktop:

It was absurd for anyone to think Linux could be used on the desktop until the applications were available. At the very least, an open source web browser and office suite that can read/write Microsoft formats is a bare minimum. Mozilla and Open Office only came out in 2002, and only now are getting incorporated into distributions. So I quite agree with your reasoning there.
The newest Linux kernel does add features that greatly help the desktop. The biggest ones are the work to reduce latency (e.g., the pre-emptible kernel work), which should improve even further a feeling of "snappiness". The threads work also will help; Linux has supported threads for a while, but the latest work will make them fully POSIX-compliant, easing porting of applications.
The Linux kernel isn't really where the desktop problem is, anyway. The problem has been that the desktop applications haven't been there. Now many are available, but need maturing for many cases, and obviously they aren't available in many specialized areas (WINE helps in those cases, but is no cure-all).

Linux and the desktop

Posted Oct 31, 2002 10:11 UTC (Thu) by beejaybee (guest, #1581) [Link]

"Linux administration is getting easier, but remains difficult." OK, but administering a Windows system _properly_ isn't easy, either.

"Linux applications still lack features that many users want." Actually I hear the reverse about many Windows applications - they're overloaded with features, which slow them down & make them hard to learn & use.

"A visit to any computer store will show that there is a whole range of applications that are still absent on Linux: where are the children's games, menu planners, language courses, tax return preparers, home remodel designers, and makeover assistants for Linux?"

There are two parts to this:

(1) commercial applications (which is what I think we're talking about) will
definitely not arrive until there is a critical mass. (Kiddies games for e.g. Macintosh aren't exactly thick on the ground either.) There is a cost involved in porting to another architecture; in the current financial environment, commercial companies aren't going to make that investment until the market size is sufficient for them to expect to make a profit on sales.

(2) retail outlets tend to belong to large chains, which have inbuilt inertia; also there may well be pressure from M$/Sony/Nintendo at the corporate level - "don't stock linux products or we'll stop supplying you" - similar to the threats issued against Australia's position on Xbox mod chips.

"But that day will remain distant until Linux becomes a more friendly platform for proprietary applications. "

Um, well, I'd say that linux is actually more friendly to proprietary application developers than Windows. At least you're not going to get APIs you depend on redefined without notice.

The basic point here is that there is nothing in linux, or the licences, which prevents people writing software and selling it through retail outlets. There may be a _perception_ of anti-commercialism associated with the bearded, sandaled geek/hippy stereotype of the linux user; however, that does seem to be breaking down quite quickly with increasing penetration of the market.

Linux and the desktop (ot)

Posted Nov 1, 2002 12:15 UTC (Fri) by pichwo (guest, #7371) [Link]

sorry to be ot, but i am missing the "linux on the server" topic.

i think it is a clear design to build a operating system from bottom up with including it's full desired functionality in eyesight.

desktop users want to have a fast and "no-know"/quick-and-fast-setup system running. they do not care about the things too much. it has to work immediately and never touch a running system (or experiment it to death).

servers need clear blocks of long-term, well designed os support.
desktop hype (OH I REMEMBER the M$ race in the nineties too well) obviously wants rapidly introduced new features. kind of new-to-click-now-junkies.

it is legitimate and ideal for osdn to go with this market, but the overall development branches for LINUX as a base system must be oriented on the blocks of kernelcode, which is needed on typical servers.

let the desktop occupy the rest of the kernel, but i think there should be clear priorities.

this code should have a clear desingn, interoperate well and SHARE functionality, not reimplement things for the N-th time.

---

e.g. storage managment (this is where actual lvm-dilemma, hooks in)

xor/mirr/striping physics should be handled by a clear md managment, since it is far too close to concrete io-paths.
one should clearly know, what one does when organizing md's.
these decisions needs a clear level-0 managment (software & brains).

how to rearrange/group/peruse those chunks of storage based on their abstract characteristics is a clear level-1 decision.

so why introduce evms ?
quote some sysadmin (even on lwn), who said "i want to have this all from one gui" ?
bull shit.

---

e.g. filesystem managment

no big deal to install any *fs and to obeye or give a damn on the subtle interdependencies with the underlying physics and high-level io-characteristics.

but how about snapshotting, cow, ... call it what you want.
it is all about the same : transaction oriented (delayed, assured, dropped, whatever ...)

(i admit, it is not a desktop-issue :-)

where is the clever set of kernel-modules which will handle this alltogether separated from the **-trees in WHATEVERfs ?

---

as i said, facts like these might seem ot here.

i like the diversity in linux very much, since it forces competition and yields an overall gain in quality.

but it is my strong credo, that the battle against other os'es will be decided by parameters like

- quality
- stability
- clear concepts
- clear abstractions
- clever modularity

fulstop.

and please keep in mind, that the #1 desktop is successful because it is a bastard.

other people might say : ... despite it is , and are wondering
or even worse : dont care about the system, the end-user impression must be customer-oriented and easy-to-use.

i object to ruin a potentially good operating system like linux by trying to compete with bastards by getting a bastard too.

and i would not write these lines, if i would not have the feeling, that some developers are drifting towards this direction.

gree.
wolfgang

Linux and the desktop

Posted Nov 4, 2002 7:20 UTC (Mon) by mefistofeles (guest, #3022) [Link]

OK, I'm at it again.
First though. One field where any Linux system seems to fall miserably on its face is in font handling. Why, oh why, does KOffice, OpenOffice and AbiWord need to put fonts in three mutually exclusive places around the system? And why is it often a pain in you know what to change the default font in apps (not members of the K or G desktop systems).

Now,

I've been working in Tanzania for three months (or thereabouts) and have started preparing an IT project for the Lake Victoria programme (for sustainable development around the lake). This crazy mzungo is planning to spark an independent and free software (and possibly hardware) industry in the area by promoting and using free software. Not necessarily Linux, but anything that's free.

Free software (and systems) much be of great benefit to developing countries, and using free office suites in education (like in Twebaye Secondary School, Bukoba) would solve to issue of constantly worrying about where the money for necessary software investments comes from (you don´t really need them).

This is nothing original, many has been saying this lately and even long before that. I just hope this will come to happen now, because this is a real opportunity for empowering the people. Then again, it might be the feverish imagination of a mzungo - who wants computers, software and IT in general when you can't get enough food on the table to feed you familly?
But they are great to keep track of your stock of bananas and coffee.

/Mef.