Google: "Android is the Linux desktop dream come true" (der Standard)

Posted Jul 13, 2011 2:58 UTC (Wed) by gmaxwell (guest, #30048)
Parent article: Google: "Android is the Linux desktop dream come true" (der Standard)

I think this is a kind of a weird claim which must be revealing the existence of a rather potent reality distortion field.

Android is "Linux" only in the it uses the Linux kernel but the development methodology, the level of openness and freedom, the application APIs, the common software tools, are pretty much entirely unlike the software stack we associate with "Linux desktop".

I'm pretty sure that, assuming compatible hardware, I could swap out the Linux kernel for the Freebsd one on 99% of Linux desktop users and they wouldn't notice.

I doubt anyone had much of a dream of a Linux desktop which only included the Linux kernel, burred away under layers of non-linux-system-stuff with a mostly Java userspace.

Google: "Android is the Linux desktop dream come true" (der Standard)

Posted Jul 13, 2011 5:40 UTC (Wed) by sramkrishna (subscriber, #72628) [Link] (2 responses)

I recently mailed the Google Music folks complaining that their music importer didn't support Linux distributions. My argument is that if you're main platform uses pieces of Linux desktop infrastructure then you should try to support Linux desktop because you'll be investing in those pieces as well by making Linux distributions more palatable.

Of course after reading this article, if most of the google folks have linux desktops how are they enjoying Google Linux themselves without a Linux based importer?

Google: "Android is the Linux desktop dream come true" (der Standard)

Posted Jul 13, 2011 9:04 UTC (Wed) by petur (guest, #73362) [Link] (1 responses)

indeed, and the same goes for most of their other products. Linux support is an afterthought, and always some revisions behind.

I observe that Google is good at *using* linux and other open/free tools to create their business, but then don't care about supporting that community.

Google: "Android is the Linux desktop dream come true" (der Standard)

Posted Jul 13, 2011 16:16 UTC (Wed) by imitev (guest, #60045) [Link]

> "but then don't care about supporting that community"

I agree Google could do better, but you're not very fair - for instance they invested/invest quite a lot of money in GSoC, which many projects benefit from (maybe not the one Google is *using*, but at least there's some feedback to the "community" at large.)

Google: "Android is the Linux desktop dream come true" (der Standard)

Posted Jul 13, 2011 12:46 UTC (Wed) by tialaramex (subscriber, #21167) [Link]

While the main thrust of your argument is sound I'm more than dubious about your 99% estimate

I suspect it's as sadly mistaken as the idea that Ubuntu, Fedora or similar Linux distributions would be a seamless "upgrade" for many Windows users.

Google: "Android is the Linux desktop dream come true" (der Standard)

Posted Jul 13, 2011 16:32 UTC (Wed) by tuna (guest, #44480) [Link] (2 responses)

"Android is "Linux" only in the it uses the Linux kernel but the development methodology, the level of openness and freedom, the application APIs, the common software tools, are pretty much entirely unlike the software stack we associate with "Linux desktop"."

I thought Linux was a kernel. So what you are basically saying is that Android is not Fedora or Ubuntu?

Google: "Android is the Linux desktop dream come true" (der Standard)

Posted Jul 13, 2011 16:51 UTC (Wed) by gmaxwell (guest, #30048) [Link] (1 responses)

Or gentoo, or arch, or slackware, or anything even remotely like them.

Can you really say you've had dreams of a "Linux desktop" which would have been met with by copy of windows with the NT kernel swapped out for the Linux kernel but everything else kept the same?

I don't think it's unreasonable to say that kind of "linux desktop" that anyone would care about having would have more than just the Linux kernel in common with the Linux systems we use today especially since the kernel is basically invisible to desktop users so long as it works correctly.

Google: "Android is the Linux desktop dream come true" (der Standard)

Posted Jul 17, 2011 9:26 UTC (Sun) by tuna (guest, #44480) [Link]

I have never dreamed of a "Linux desktop". But if MS Windows used Linux as its kernel it would of course be a "Linux desktop".

It seems that you are confusing a "Linux desktop" with the current Linux/Xorg/Gnu/Gnome/KDE/More... based free OS distributions we have today.

Google: "Android is the Linux desktop dream come true" (der Standard)

Posted Jul 13, 2011 19:00 UTC (Wed) by Pawlerson (guest, #74136) [Link]

"I'm pretty sure that, assuming compatible hardware, I could swap out the Linux kernel for the Freebsd one on 99% of Linux desktop users and they wouldn't notice."

I'm pretty sure it won't work for 99% of Linux desktop users on random hardware. Other would notice slower response times.