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Is Android the key to the GNU/Linux desktop? Really? (Free Software Magazine)
Tony Mobily wonders
if Android is the key to the Linux desktop on Free Software Magazine.
"I don't know. First it was "network computing". Then it was
Java. Now Android. As much as Android can be considered mature in terms of
a phone-like environment. If used on a laptop, will it recognise your
scanner or your printer? Will it recognise an external webcam? Will
OpenOffice ever work on it? What about a secondary monitor? Will we ever be
able to create proper Android applications in Python, or Ruby?"
(Log in to post comments)
Is Android the key to the GNU/Linux desktop? Really? (Free Software Magazine) Posted Jun 12, 2009 18:39 UTC (Fri) by kragil (guest, #34373) [Link]
For a technical magazine editor he sure does not know how to use a spellchecker.
Other than that I found that opinion piece very weak. Android on real desktops or netbooks makes no sense.
On small tablets or MIDs sure. That could work. For bigger devices Moblin might be the better choice.
BTW: Am I the only one thinking that the editor of the FSF magazine shouldn't have that much OSX experience ;) ?
Is Android the key to the GNU/Linux desktop? Really? (Free Software Magazine) Posted Jun 12, 2009 18:43 UTC (Fri) by kragil (guest, #34373) [Link]
s/FSF/FSM/
Is Android the key to the GNU/Linux desktop? Really? (Free Software Magazine) Posted Jun 12, 2009 19:32 UTC (Fri) by puntium (subscriber, #58115) [Link]
Because being able to write first tier apps in python or ruby is a true sign of a desktop OS.
Hmm.. lets see.. where are all those Windows and OS X ruby and python apps...
Is Android the key to the GNU/Linux desktop? Really? (Free Software Magazine) Posted Jun 12, 2009 22:15 UTC (Fri) by alecs1 (subscriber, #46699) [Link]
I guess I could guess what "scripts" software I am directly interacting with:
KDE-power-guidance - because I have enough time to see how the Cancel button animates when pressing escape.
Is Android the key to the GNU/Linux desktop? Really? (Free Software Magazine) Posted Jun 13, 2009 0:18 UTC (Sat) by cowsandmilk (subscriber, #55475) [Link]
http://pyobjc.sourceforge.net/ ?
It's packaged by Apple in Leopard and on every mac. Plenty of GUI apps on the mac are written in
Note, you can create desktop apps for linux using python and ruby and there are plenty of those as
Is Android the key to the GNU/Linux desktop? Really? (Free Software Magazine) Posted Jun 16, 2009 16:36 UTC (Tue) by __alex (subscriber, #38036) [Link]
> Plenty of GUI apps on the mac are written in Python.
Name 5 that have any sort of significant user base. I'm a pretty heavy OS X user and I don't think I
Is Android the key to the GNU/Linux desktop? Really? (Free Software Magazine) Posted Jun 18, 2009 18:11 UTC (Thu) by docwhat (subscriber, #40373) [Link]
You probably just don't know you're using one. Python and Ruby are shipped with XCode.
At the moment, I have five python and no ruby ones. Admittedly, not much, but not zero either.
My understanding is the ruby bindings aren't as good as the python ones.
Ciao!
Is Android the key to the GNU/Linux desktop? Really? (Free Software Magazine) Posted Jun 12, 2009 20:30 UTC (Fri) by engla (guest, #47454) [Link]
Android has nothing to do with what is collocially known as "Linux" or "The Linux Desktop". Android uses the Linux kernel and that is the technological connection; a part of the Linux desktop movement, it's not.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux
Is Android the key to the GNU/Linux desktop? Really? (Free Software Magazine) Posted Jun 13, 2009 10:34 UTC (Sat) by fb (subscriber, #53265) [Link] Contrary to most posters here, I believe that Android will be the key to a Linux desktop capable of escaping MS grip on the OEM/retail chains (though certainly not of a "GNU/Linux" desktop).I agree that Android is not part of what is meant by talking about "Linux desktop", by which people normally mean stuff like Gnome, KDE and friends being managed by .rpm's or .deb's. However ;-) while there still isn't any released version of Android running on a desktop (actually netbook) system. There are loads of people working towards releasing one. Once it gets released, one will have to apply rather arbitrary rules to keep from calling it "linux desktop". In that sense, Android will be the key to the _second_ chance people will have of going to a regular computer shop and buy a fully supported Linux desktop computer. The first of these chances was the EEE, and we all know how that ended. Dell sells models with Ubuntu, but only in selected markets (I can't buy one), and you have to search specifically for it. Android is not perfect. But the G1 was the first (sort-of) hackable and working phone that I could just walk into a "normal" shop and buy. Android in netbooks will probably be the second system running Linux I will see in shops as well, and I hope it will have a longer life than the EEE generation of Linux netbooks.
Is Android the key to the GNU/Linux desktop? Really? (Free Software Magazine) Posted Jun 13, 2009 12:56 UTC (Sat) by tzafrir (subscriber, #11501) [Link]
How is it more hackable than iPhone? (the version you can buy on the store)
Is Android the key to the GNU/Linux desktop? Really? (Free Software Magazine) Posted Jun 13, 2009 13:35 UTC (Sat) by fb (subscriber, #53265) [Link] Without rooting
The G1, like the IPhone, can be rooted. Stuff you can do with a G1 (but not with the iphone) once you have root:
The first two of these "rooted" phone differences are at the core of (what I understand to be) FOSS. Read source, change source, and redistribute. The current bred of Android phones sold in shops are not openly hackable, but the platform is.
Is Android the key to the GNU/Linux desktop? Really? (Free Software Magazine) Posted Jun 15, 2009 1:58 UTC (Mon) by wmf (guest, #33791) [Link]
But why would netbook makers choose to ship Android, poorly matched to the hardware as it is?
Why not Moblin or Ubuntu Netbook Remix?
Is Android the key to the GNU/Linux desktop? Really? (Free Software Magazine) Posted Jun 15, 2009 7:51 UTC (Mon) by fb (subscriber, #53265) [Link]
The reasons I can think about are:
1.
Cannonical may sell support to a particular version of Gnome, but they don't really "maintain/develop" X11/GTK/Gnome. They mostly just package it. Nor can they assure any long term API stability (without getting loads of money for it).
Intel just handled Moblin over to the Linux foundation.
Google has developers in Taiwan with the sole purpose of helping local companies getting Android up and running. How can you beat that?
2.
3.
Is Android the key to the GNU/Linux desktop? Really? (Free Software Magazine) Posted Jun 12, 2009 21:54 UTC (Fri) by atai (subscriber, #10977) [Link]
Android is not GNU/Linux, unfortunately.
Is Android the key to the GNU/Linux desktop? Really? (Free Software Magazine) Posted Jun 16, 2009 11:46 UTC (Tue) by nye (guest, #51576) [Link]
This is an important point which, to me, validates the point of those who have consistently used the term GNU/Linux.
It is Linux, but not *GNU*/Linux. The kernel itself is, relatively speaking, fairly interchangeable - see eg. Debian GNU/k*BSD - and that's the only part of the GNU/Linux system which is actually part of Android.
Is Android the key to the GNU/Linux desktop? Really? (Free Software Magazine) Posted Jun 13, 2009 0:03 UTC (Sat) by flewellyn (subscriber, #5047) [Link]
No, it is not.
Simple question, simple answer.
Is Android the key to the GNU/Linux desktop? Really? (Free Software Magazine) Posted Jun 15, 2009 15:39 UTC (Mon) by allesfresser (guest, #216) [Link]
What's with the fad of ending a question with "Really?" to be all snarky-facetious? It's getting a little old.
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