Ian Collins wrote:
Erik,
I think you are understating the usefulness of the the OpenSolaris
desktop. I have been testing an OpenSolaris box with a friend who has
a real computer phobia and keeps messing up her windows box.
Everything she wants to do either just works, or is quickly available
via the package manager. Even her printer just worked (which as a
long term Solaris user still surprises me!).
I think there are a lot of users out there who just want to access the
internet (and don't understand anti-virus software) and work with
documents. Yes a Mac would do all that's required and more, but at a
price. OpenSolaris is an ideal and safe solution for them and it has
one really useful desktop feature other desktop OSs lack - the time
slider.
I'm certainly not saying that the current state of OpenSolaris isn't
entirely usable as a desktop. It is, even for many non-technical folks.
We gain a lot of functionality by simply recompiling the Linux apps for
OpenSolaris. That should continue. Always catch the low-hanging fruit
- minimum effort, maximum gain.
The issue is that once we get these low-hanging fruit, and actually have
to put effort into coding and design/feature work, where does that
effort go?
What I am saying is that in the priority queue for requests for
improvements and bug fixes, things like "better firewire connectivity
for digital cameras", "support for ZyyX video codec", "failure to enter
sleep mode properly for laptop brand Y", and "redo the X clipboard to
make cut-and-paste work across all GUI apps", should all fall at the
BACK of the queue, behind any enterprise/server-oriented work like "fix
ZFS ZIL stall" or "improve Crossbow tcp throughput" or "implement new
distributed package management tools".
Steal (metaphorically) what we can to try to stay only a few steps
behind Linux, but spend our development efforts on the features that
make OpenSolaris unique, and which will help us dominate the niche we've
selected.
--
Erik Trimble
Java System Support
Mailstop: usca22-123
Phone: x17195
Santa Clara, CA
Timezone: US/Pacific (GMT-0800)
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