Re: sad but true, Linux sucks, a bit
On Thursday, January 16, 2014 10:40:40 PM Zenaan Harkness wrote:
> On 1/16/14, Ma Xiaojun <damage3025@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 10:08 PM, Jarth Berilcosm <jarth@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >> Looking back on using Linux as a desktop OS for almost 15 years we've
> >> seen tons of features added but not much in terms of 'bite'.
> >>
> >> Also, how many projects can one need for a specific purpose built on the
> >> libraries of a parent project providing 80% of the functionality. How
> >> much of these improvements go upstream, if at all ? I suspect the open-
> >> and-free-model lacks the incentive to go forth with fusing projects to
> >> making delivery of targets more timely.
> >
> > I don't understand what you mean.
> > What I see is that Red Hat is being more and more like a dictator.
>
> I'll bite - I DO want to see an end to this type of 'meme'! :
>
> Red Hat has been an absolutely outstanding Free/Libre software
> corporation, steadfastly sticking to fully libre licenses, including
> for numerous acquisitions the company has made!
>
> Time and again, Red Hat has developed software in house, and released
> it under a totally libre license!
>
> Time and again, Red Hat has purchased some external software house,
> which was under proprietary license, and then just to turn around and
> release it under a totally libre license!
>
> Of course they are judicious with what they purchase (just to turn
> around and release as libre software).
> Of course they are judicious with their in-house development human
> resources.
>
> Rightly so! And let's hope Red Hat the company remains judicious, and
> exemplary, and an outstanding member of the free software community
> (my definition thank you).
>
> For just one example:
> - I am unable to use systemd, due to some mismatches (bugs) between I,
> my current usage and knowledge patterns, and how Debian, and other
> software I use, currently all work together.
> - But based on all I've read, systemd, for Linux based systems, is
> quite superior to anything we've seen before, for what it does. We
> want a top-notch tradition computer desktop? I certainly do, and
> systemd, AFAICS, will certainly help us get there. And note: systemd
> was only adopted (by Red Hat/ Fedora) may be two years after Lennart
> started developing it in his own time.
> - Based on Red Hat's history alone, I believe that systemd has been
> chosed for technical superiority reasons. Yes, it will help servers.
> Yes, it will help desktops.
>
> I think that the main problem we libre software community face at the
> moment is as has been mentioned elsewhere in this thread - the talent
> pool has shifted at least somewhat to more exciting projects (a shiny
> new Android IM app anyone? we really could use another! :) :)
>
> We who are able ought to step up to those plates which are important
> to us (eg audio drivers, input systems, whatever).
>
> But let's not bash one of our community's greatest corporate allies
> ever - Red Hat!
>
> Regards,
> Zenaan
>
> PS, I even tried to use Red Hat once, not long before the community
> edition was split into Fedora, or perhaps just after, but at that time
> I was all command-line-only, and the different locations of things and
> different ways of doing things, just wasn't worth it to me.
I think this attitude toward Red Hat stems from a subculture developing in the
FOSS movement that "corporation == evil." Thing is, you're right: Red Hat has
been doing an examplary job, especially in developing technologies for Linux
to make a usable personal desktop.
I'm an Arch user on the desktop, and I use Debian Stable on my server. Let me
tell you I would jump for joy if I could switch to systemd on my server
without having to hand-write most the unit files I'd need to get it back in
working order. Instead I'd rather see Jessie go to systemd. I know this would
alienate Debian Hurd and Debian BSD people, but let's be perfectly frank here:
They're fringe projects few actual real-world Debian users care about, and
shouldn't slow real-world, actual Debian progress over.
I definitely am for at least giving most of Red Hat's ideas they try on Fedora
a spin. Systemd works like a charm on systems designed to make use of it (Arch
and Gentoo (As a fully-suppored alternative to OpenRC.). No need to mention
Fedora.)
The worst option to follow these days is actually Ubuntu, which uses Upstart,
which does what systemd does, only backwards and in a poorly thought out way,
and the fact they want to jump to Mir (A half-baked, half-assed "alternative"
to Xorg and Wayland minus compatibility for either.), which is going to
effectively kill their usable software library as most upstream projects like
KDE, Qt, and GTK+ have said in no uncertain terms they won't support Mir,
which will mean Ubuntu will lose compatibility with 95% of the established
desktop software base for Linux.
Following Fedora on the desktop is a good idea. Following Ubuntu on the
desktop is a BAD idea.
I disagree that the FOSS talent has jumped ship, though (Heck, a great deal of
mobile software is straight up crapware, so I get the feeling it was not
TALENT we lost.). I haven't seen too much of a shift in quality in software
except in the likes of GTK+ and GNOME.
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