Window manager variety [LWN.net]

Window manager variety

Posted Apr 12, 2012 7:33 UTC (Thu) by daniels (subscriber, #16193)
In reply to: Window manager variety by nybble41
Parent article: LFCS 2012: X and Wayland

IMHO, it's a bit hypocritical for a Linux user to argue against the possibility of multiple, competing alternatives.

It's really not.

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Window manager variety

Posted Apr 12, 2012 15:31 UTC (Thu) by nybble41 (subscriber, #55106) [Link]

I'm afraid I have to disagree. One of the replies to your cited e-mail made a more accurate statement, that Linux *distributions* are about limiting the user. That I can agree with; one of the factors in choosing a particular distribution are the choices which have already been made for you. Few individuals want to design their own distribution from the ground up; even Linux From Scratch has a standard template for the base system.

However, were it not for the freedom to make unpopular choices, including the choice to develop an alternative to an existing "good enough" solution, we wouldn't have Linux in the first place. Anyone who works on Linux is already exercising that freedom, which makes it hypocritical to talk about denying the same freedom to others.

Window manager variety

Posted Apr 12, 2012 15:40 UTC (Thu) by daniels (subscriber, #16193) [Link]

Yes, it would be if anyone had said that, but you're arguing against a strawman. Anyone who wants to work on an alternative desktop environment is more than free to do so; no-one is denying them that right. However, it doesn't mean that everyone around them has to care about it, and/or pander to their needs, requests, and demands of other projects.

Window manager variety

Posted Apr 12, 2012 16:28 UTC (Thu) by nybble41 (subscriber, #55106) [Link]

>...> If there is one thing I would like to happen, then that would be that nobody would replace Weston with anything else. We don't need 20 window managers, just 1 good enough one. I desperately wish this point was more widely appreciated.

> Yes, it would be if anyone had said that, but you're arguing against a strawman. Anyone who wants to work on an alternative desktop environment is more than free to do so; no-one is denying them that right.

Sure, it's not literally _denying_ the freedom to work on alternatives--that was a bit of justifiable hyperbole on my part--but the original comment was clearly disparaging the idea of developers working on anything but the "1 good enough" solution, which, if consistently applied, would include anyone working on Linux.

> However, it doesn't mean that everyone around them has to care about it, and/or pander to their needs, requests, and demands of other projects.

I agree completely. However, while we're on the subject of strawman arguments... who said anything about providing support? The original comment was simply about developing alternatives to Weston. No mention was made of any expectation of interest or "pandering" by others.