Linux Developers Unite!!
Linux as an operating system has grown in leaps and bounds in the server market. I believe there is a lot more room to grow in this vertical market, but the biggest area for growth is the desktop environment. Microsoft has a stranglehold on the market in this area and the reasons for this monopoly are simple. Microsoft is designed so that anyone can use their operating system. Can Linux do this without losing some of the powerful features of the operating system that make it so popular with the IT professional? I believe the answer is yes, and in the following paragraphs I am going to address some of the key development issues that are holding Linux back as a desktop contender.
Linux succeeds in the server market for a couple of reasons. Cost of the operating system is generally nil. This fact, coupled with the overall power of the operating system make it attractive to those of us that are technically inclined. If you take the time to learn the command line interface, and how to configure the sometimes cryptic .config files, Linux is a much more powerful OS than Windows.
There are some very real and very big problems with the Linux development community. Everyone is working on their own proprietary distribution and every distribution is different. One developer will name the directory one thing, and one will name it something else. You install applications one way on one distro, and another way on another distro. The point I am trying to make is that the Linux community needs to develop standards. Instead of building hundreds of different distributions the community needs to get together and build a richer experience in a smaller amount of distributions. If there was a standard filing system, for example, the end user could adapt to the change much easier. I am not saying, “Make a Microsoft-like product.” And I am not saying to take away the powerful features of Linux. What I am saying is build around standards. Don’t do one thing a hundred different ways, but do one thing well and move on to develop a richer experience around those standards.
Linux succeeds in the server market for a couple of reasons. Cost of the operating system is generally nil. This fact, coupled with the overall power of the operating system make it attractive to those of us that are technically inclined. If you take the time to learn the command line interface, and how to configure the sometimes cryptic .config files, Linux is a much more powerful OS than Windows.
There are some very real and very big problems with the Linux development community. Everyone is working on their own proprietary distribution and every distribution is different. One developer will name the directory one thing, and one will name it something else. You install applications one way on one distro, and another way on another distro. The point I am trying to make is that the Linux community needs to develop standards. Instead of building hundreds of different distributions the community needs to get together and build a richer experience in a smaller amount of distributions. If there was a standard filing system, for example, the end user could adapt to the change much easier. I am not saying, “Make a Microsoft-like product.” And I am not saying to take away the powerful features of Linux. What I am saying is build around standards. Don’t do one thing a hundred different ways, but do one thing well and move on to develop a richer experience around those standards.
posted by Nathan at
5:05 PM
1 Comments:
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Anonymous, at 5:09 PM
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