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GNOME Shell to support a "classic" mode

Posted Nov 23, 2012 10:09 UTC (Fri) by dgm (subscriber, #49227)
In reply to: GNOME Shell to support a "classic" mode by ovitters
Parent article: GNOME Shell to support a "classic" mode

It was not my intention being sarcastic. I don't find it funny in any possible way.

I'm sorry that I cannot provide you with specifics. The problem I have witnessed is this:

I work for an engineering company, developing custom automation products. It's very rare to find Linux based developments running there, all important automation packages run on Windows.

One of our clients, though, bought a system for classifying defects based on video cameras. The system was running in an very old Ubuntu (Dapper I believe) PC. When the time came to replace that computer they first tried with a recent Ubuntu. The application refused to run. They called to me and I had to explain what Unity is, and that they need to install Gnome, which they did. The application crashed. The only way they found to make it work was to install an old version of Ubuntu (10.4). I don't know what the concrete problem was, just that they could not fix it. After that, they have been regretting their decision of buying anything based on Linux.

What do you think they will do if I suggest to them to buy something based on Linux?

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Backwards compatibility over features

Posted Nov 23, 2012 16:10 UTC (Fri) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091) [Link]

That is a disgrace; your experience should be sent to all Free software developers. It is OK to stop adding features if you don't have the time; but it is not good to stop maintaining old stuff. I think we have it backwards most of the time.

However, let us put things in perspective here. Dapper was released in June 2006 and it has been supported for five years. At the time of its introduction Vista had not yet been released (January 2007), so the most current version of Windows was XP (released in October 2001). If your story had read thus:

The system was running in a very old Windows XP PC. When the time came to replace it they first tried with Windows 7; the application refused to run. They called me and I explained what Aero is, and that they needed to install Windows XP Mode, which they did. The application crashed. They had to install an old version of Vista. I don't know what the problem was, just that they could not fix it. After that they have been regretting their decision of buying anything based on Windows.

who would you think that your client would have blamed, Microsoft or the original devs?

There are two important differences: first that Microsoft is supporting XP with SP 3 until 2014, and each service pack is essentially a new version of the OS. Second that your client did not pay for Ubuntu, probably. If they had chosen Red Hat they would be happily running RHEL 4 on the new machine (supported until 2015). I think you could do worse than recommending anything based on Red Hat. (Note: I am a happy Debian user, and would be grateful to recommend Debian oldstable; but I also value what Red Hat gives to companies.)

Backwards compatibility over features

Posted Nov 23, 2012 17:08 UTC (Fri) by sorpigal (subscriber, #36106) [Link]

The other difference is that Linux is perceived as riskier. To succeed there must not be cases like this where people's suspicious appear to be confirmed; on compatibility the Linux desktop needs to set a *higher* standard than its proprietary counterparts, not a lower or even an equal one.

GNOME Shell to support a "classic" mode

Posted Nov 23, 2012 22:16 UTC (Fri) by jjs (guest, #10315) [Link]

1. Try installing Debian - especially stable.
2. Related to that - did anyone do a scan to see what libraries the application used? Once that is determined, you can download the libraries as .deb files.

This is one of the standard problems with proprietary software -and I've seen it on Windows quite a bit. However, I can run my old WordPerfect for Linux (from mid-90's) on Linux, as long as I install the right user-space libraries.