Re: sad but true, Linux sucks, a bit

[Ma Xiaojun <damage3025@gmail.com>]

On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 9:38 AM, Robert Brockway
<robert@timetraveller.org> wrote:
> The whole question of whether Linux is 'ready for the desktop' is specious.
> This statement presumes that everyone has the same desktop requirements
> which they demonstratably do not.
>
> I've been using Linux on the desktop continuously since 1994.  It is clear
> that it was ready for my desktop in 1994.

I guess Unix junkie can claim xterms with whatever window manager a "desktop".

> A lot of Linux geeks spent a lot of time worrying about Microsoft's desktop
> dominance over those years.  I would often hear people claim that Linux had
> to get on to the desktop *now* (1999, 2004, 2007, etc) or it would be locked
> out *forever*.
>
> I concluded some time in the late 90s that sooner or later a disruptive
> technology would come along and completely rewrite the rules on computer
> interfaces, making any current desktop dominance irrelevant.
>
> Mobile computing is a sufficiently disruptive technology that it has done
> this.  Note that I did not know *what* the disruptive technology would be
> but I was sure there would be one.  In particular I used to make the point
> that 40 years ago the desktop as we know it didn't exist and I was sure it
> would not exist in 40 years time.
>
> FWIW I expect yet another disruptive technology to come along soon.  I very
> much doubt we'll be using a single finger or thumb to type on small mobile
> screens to get anything done in 10 years time.

The problem is that "disruptive technology" is actively developed by
companies like Apple and Microsoft, rather than FOSS "community".
The current touch paradigm is pioneered by Microsoft in forms of a
research project [1].
Apple somehow picked up this also and released iPhone.
Android is merely a follower.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PixelSense