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Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux

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Re: Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux

#61

Post by muyuu »

SeanDav wrote: post #48
themstheones wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently you've never tried gentoo.

"Apparently you've never tried gentoo." and this right here (sorry Parent, just using this as an example) is the reason that Linux has always been consigned to the ranks of the also-rans on the desktop. Someone will always come up with a reason why flavour x is better than flavour y. No matter what aspect of Linux is discussed, there will always be a significant proportion of users that think their flavour is better.…

I applaud Mark Shuttleworth and his vision.

Sadly we're missing "something else" other than Mark Shuttleworth.

What he does, is what most others are doing in a half-hearted, compromised way: providing a "packaged" system that works without much hassle and which is based in pretty much the same interaction principles of the 70s and 80s.

Being Open Source, Linux could do a lot more than that. But nobody explores these avenues, it just aspires to be Windows/OS2/Mac in the desktop and Unix in the server. Linux could exploit the fact that it doesn't need to hide its workings, that it can allow any level of customisation in the workflow, in the windows manager, in permission management, etc etc because the user owns the software running in his or her computer. This basically has been exploited just for virtualisation.

The problem with that is monetisation. But a lot of development in the Linux community is non-for-profit anyway.

Re: Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux

#62

Post by mkr-hn »

hollerith wrote: post #16
arkitaip wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, what kind of bizarro world is this where Android doesn't exist? You know, the Linux distro/interface that's leading the development on the consumer side? Smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices is the future for Linux and computing in general.

You have not explained how Android is relevant to a conversation about desktop Linux. >Smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices is the future for Linux and computing in general. Even if that is true, it does not automatically make Android relevant to a conversation about desktop Linux. Will you concede that at the current time, essentially no one uses Android as desktop OS?

What is a desktop but a tablet or smartphone with a keyboard and mouse? It wasn't long ago that "Desktop" meant a rarely moved laptop or a tower attached to a big monitor and some peripherals, so we're not used to thinking of it in more abstract terms. This is changing as the traditional desktop--a computer you set on a surface and do work on--becomes something more modular and tablet-like.

Re: Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux

#63

Post by [deleted] »

kapilvt wrote: post #54
oinksoft wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As they say, "God is in the details."

then buy certified hardware. thinkpads work great. or go pre-install with system76 or zareason.. the new system76 (clevo shell) 14.1 pro looks pretty sweet (quad core, 16gb ram, half the price of a macbook pro, ubuntu preinstalled) https://www.system76.com/laptops/model/galu1

[deleted]

Re: Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux

#64

Post by wyz9 »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #3

Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux because he's the only one with vision, and the means to carry out that vision. He's making the tough, unpopular decisions that are advancing desktop Linux into the mainstream, and the only one with the balls to go at it alone. Despite its issues (and it has them), Ubuntu is by far the most usable Linux variety, both on the desktop and server...

I’m sorry, but what exactly is the vision of Mark Shuttleworth? The only one I can think of right now beyond pushing away other distributions would be Ubuntu as a universal operating system that works across mobile phones, tablets, servers and desktop computers, but that’s pretty recent.

Re: Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux

#65

Post by itsjustpiper »

themstheones wrote: post #17
Mikeb85 wrote: post #3

Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux because he's the only one with vision, and the means to carry out that vision. He's making the tough, unpopular decisions that are advancing desktop Linux into the mainstream, and the only one with the balls to go at it alone. Despite its issues (and it has them), Ubuntu is by far the most usable Linux variety, both on the desktop and server...

Apparently you've never tried gentoo.

When you can buy a brand new laptop/tablet/device running gentoo, we can talk. Ubuntu got over that chicken/egg problem where OEMs don't want to ship linux on their computers because it's not popular, and it's not popular because OEMs don't ship linux on their computers. That, in and of itself, is a huge feat. Unfortunately, it can only really mean something for maybe a few years before casual desktop computing is "gone".

Re: Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux

#66

Post by keithpeter »

general_failure wrote: post #53
keithpeter wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, Shuttleworth has good leadership skills and has pushed an agenda all these years, not to mention putting quite a few $million where his mouth was. Do you think Jobs would have allowed a MacOs X update to badly break the way MS Office worked?

You mean apple and not jobs right?

The post three up mentioned Jobs being concerned to stop poor work reaching customers so I replied in kind.

Yes, for consistency with my original reply, I should have said Apple!

Re: Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux

#67

Post by keithpeter »

wyz9 wrote: post #64
Mikeb85 wrote: post #3

Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux because he's the only one with vision, and the means to carry out that vision. He's making the tough, unpopular decisions that are advancing desktop Linux into the mainstream, and the only one with the balls to go at it alone. Despite its issues (and it has them), Ubuntu is by far the most usable Linux variety, both on the desktop and server...

I’m sorry, but what exactly is the vision of Mark Shuttleworth? The only one I can think of right now beyond pushing away other distributions would be Ubuntu as a universal operating system that works across mobile phones, tablets, servers and desktop computers, but that’s pretty recent.

"Linux for human beings" basically, and Linux that 'ordinary people' can use. That has been a fairly constant thread from the first tentative release (4.10 was it not?).

Shuttleworth has also been active in educational projects especially in South Africa.

Re: Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux

#68

Post by davexunit »

stinos wrote: post #38
vertex-four wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, as a current Debian Wheezy user... this isn't true any more. I haven't had to fix anything since I installed it. It's all Just Worked. If it didn't just work, I'd've bought a Windows license, as I have previously done. This is, in fact, the first Linux install that I've continued using for over a couple of months. The "it's not very usable" argument was correct in the old GNOME2/KDE3 world, but at least GNO…

It's probably better than it used to be. But it just keeps on coming back to me. Like last month I downloaded a live CD of the latest Debian because I coulnd't find the one I normally use, and it didn't even want to start X. Not on an old pc with a recent graphics card, not on a new one with another recent graphics card. Not generalizing this to everything and maybe I just have bad luck but things like that are an un…

I haven't used a live CD of Debian, but you should know that since Debian Squeeze, nonfree graphics drivers are not included. Perhaps that was an issue? If you want something that "just works", use a Debian derivative like Ubuntu. Debian is great and I use it on a few of my machines because I can install a minimal set of packages and build on top of it.

Re: Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux

#69

Post by davexunit »

mikevm wrote: post #57
vertex-four wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, as a current Debian Wheezy user... this isn't true any more. I haven't had to fix anything since I installed it. It's all Just Worked. If it didn't just work, I'd've bought a Windows license, as I have previously done. This is, in fact, the first Linux install that I've continued using for over a couple of months. The "it's not very usable" argument was correct in the old GNOME2/KDE3 world, but at least GNO…

> It's all Just Worked. Try making the fonts pretty on non-Ubuntu distros. Good luck making it "just work".

I have never noticed what people have been complaining about regarding fonts. Ubuntu uses some freetype patches that have not been accepted upstream, right? The fonts look just fine to me. It's a very minor gripe at best.

Re: Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux

#70

Post by keithpeter »

wyz9 wrote: post #51

Mark Shuttleworth and Canonical are important to ‘desktop Linux’ mainly because they are attempting to kill it. Note that they do not even advertise Ubuntu as a GNU or Linux distribution. It seems the current strategy of Canonical is to change enough of the system so that developing cross-distribution will become more and more of a hassle, and trust software developers to just target Ubuntu due to its market share in…

"Mir takes it a step further, now wm and toolkit developers will have to target either just Wayland, and lose out on the vast Ubuntu userbase, or target just Mir."

Won't the toolkits simply support existing widget libraries? I mean GTK-Mir and GTK-Wayland or QT-Mir and QT-Wayland &c? Else there will be something of a dearth of applications! I'm genuinely asking as this is an area I don't know much about.

PS: There is a privacy settings manager in system settings probably as a result of the reaction to the Amazon search thing.

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