Its the weekend so perhaps its blog-time. Seems that I only write these days on the weekends. I started writing some stuff last night about a slashdot story on Linux and where it would be in 3 years; but I stopped. I’ve been using Linux one way or another for about 10 years now. At home, work, selling it, preselling it, managing it, deploying it. The last year or so I’ve moved off center from it. I worked at Visa and only touched Linux things and now I’m more involved at a few levels since I seem to be moving to a place where I’ll be some kind of Product Manager for our Linux line of appliances. That’s to be defined still I guess. But after reading the comments and the article, I’m unsure where the whole thing is going and perhaps that’s part of the mystique and why the desktop environments replicate but really don’t innovate. I cannot find where Linux will be and my questions are:
- Will Linux on the desktop ever truly arrive for the masses? People point at Dell selling Linux as though this is the first time it happened. Here’s a bit of news for ya. In 2001, Dell was packaging 4 different forms of Linux on desktop machines and laptops. Linuxcare Labs certified that hardware for Dell back then and I managed the technical relationship with Dell back then.
- Will KDE and Gnome ever see it will be better to come together? Perhaps there is one integrating platform between the two camps. We also need to evolve applications in general. Applications are organisms. They require feeding and watering and they need to take a dump every so often. Dumps mean learning for developers I think.
I went to the show at Moscone this year. We need something else and I suggest that its SCALE in Los Angeles. Linuxworld has lost whatever vision and participation it once had. Drop the feeble attempts guys. You’ve lost the thread of what the show is. Somehow its some next generation data center show. You’ve lost the consciousness and evolution of things. The show is not a show-case of Linux and it does not capture a meeting place between Linux and users (corporate, personal, company). its some bastardization of open source and show with a dash of feeble representation by dwindling attendees and exhibitors.
For me personally, I love Linux and what it is and does. I’ve just moved beyond using it on the desktop and have gone backwards unfortunately. Perhaps this habilis has gotten lazy and wants something simple. The idea for me is the tool. The tool must deliver and give function. If I have to run one thing to launch another thing which in turn is virtual and I do that to take care of default tools, I have questions. Like Why. Why am I doing things this way and am I doing the best job at tool using?
