Hmm, that's a funny name for a thread ...
On Monday 25 June 2001 16:51, Mark Johnson wrote:
> Let me play devil's advocate: Does the desktop even have a chance in linux?
First of all, "the desktop" is rarely defined by all the people who raise
this issue. At which point does a "business desktop" shade off into a
"workstation"? Is a "SOHO desktop" the same thing as a "corporate desktop"?
And is there such a thing as a "home desktop"? Until all these categories are
cleared up, we might just be shouting past each other.
> The reason I ask this is because I wonder how many of us really use
> office-type products. I might fire up Word here at work because I have to
> write some documentation, and I might dabble in Excel to manipulate some
> data. The biggest office product that I spend most of my "office" time in
> is Visio and Powerpoint for drawing concepts for meetings.
WordPerfect is the big one for me. I use a spreadsheet once a year and I've
never made a presentation in my life. Yes, I mean that - where I live, we
still know how to run meetings without pretty pictures. So that brings us
back to my question. Are you and I talking about the same thing when we
pontificate about "the desktop"?
> If I had to guess the Linux user community is really comprised sysadmins &
> developers (C/C++/PERL/PHP/PYTHON/WEB/etc..). Those folks typically don't
> do a lot of office type tasks and if they have to write something down it
> is usually via an ASCII text file or some minimal HMTL.
And the rest of us could learn something from them! But I think your
characterisation of the community is a little dated. it was like that even 2
years ago, but increasingly all sorts of people are installing Linux now that
it installs on average hardware without any tech-Voodoo being required.
> So, who out there in linux-land will aggressively support office type
> applications that seem to be the corner-stone of building usable/viable
> desktops.
What's with the "support" crap? There are people who write apps and there are
people who use apps. Sometimes the same people on both sides. I've gotten all
the "support" I need from forums like this one. Yeah, you get flamed
occasionally. Nothing personal, shrug it off. It's still tons better than
the "support" I've gotten from commercial software.
(Note to Microsoft: I sent in my windows 3.0 registration card when I bought
it in '92. Will I get an upgrade offer anytime soon?)
>Who out there is willing to pay the money for the hardwork of
> building good apps.
So far, there are a lot of free-beer apps floating around, so of course
getting people to pay is hard. When I see something I just got to have, I'll
be prepared to pay a reasonable amount ... Bring it on! But not if three
websites down the line I can get the same functionality for free.
(While we're on the subject - Bryce and Poser for Linux? Please, anybody ...)
> I'm not too sure that the interest in a general desktop for Joe user is
Sorry to sound like a stuck record, but again, if you can actually define who
Joe User is and what he needs or wants to do with a computer, you'll have
made a big step forwards. Is he related to Joe Sixpack, btw?
> broad enough to see a significant evolution in the liunx desktop. One
> person mentioned that by verison 10 or 11 Mandrake will be there -- I
> really, really hope that is the case -- but honestly I am skeptical; I
> think it will be longer.
I think it is there already. All that is needed is the preloads.
>I don't think the community at large feels the
> urgency to make linux viable for the desktop
Then why does the subject come up so regularly?
> Is "Linux on the Desktop" a political battle between us an Microsoft, or is
> it simply a technical challenge we place on ourselves to see how much fun
> we can have?
Get organised and incorporated to battle the monster of Redmond, and it will
crush you. Have fun, and you may simply outlast it. It seems to have worked
so far ...
--
Michel Clasquin, D Litt et Phil (Unisa)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]/unisa.ac.za http://www.geocities.com/clasqm
This message was posted from a Microsoft-free PC
"Hi, is that the U S Patent Office? I'd like to patent the FOR-NEXT loop,
please ..."
