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What Will Linux Be Capable Of, 3 Years Down the Road?
Posted by
timothy
on Thu Aug 14, 2008 04:47 PM
from the synthesizing-new-species-on-other-planets dept.
from the synthesizing-new-species-on-other-planets dept.
An anonymous reader writes "In a prediction of the open-source future, InfoWeek speculates on What Linux Will Look Like In 2012. The most outlandish scenario foresees Linux forsaking its free usage model to embrace more paid distros where you get free Linux along with (much-needed) licenses to use patent-restricted codecs. Also predicted is an advance for the desktop based on — surprise — good acceptance for KDE 4. Finally, Linux is seen as making its biggest imprint not on the PC, but on mobile devices, eventually powering 40 million smartphones and netbooks. Do you agree? And what do you see for Linux in 4 years?"
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Think Antarctica (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Think Antarctica (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
You might be just right about that. (Score:5, Interesting)
Here's a conversation I found from a fedora discussion [fedoraproject.org]:
Non linear ogg editor/ screencast helper
Status: Proposed
Summary of idea: Still we are missing a good non linear editor for ogg videos. This can be a simple GUI based application to do non linear editing of ogg. Like cutting, mixing the videos. Adding still frames to the video etc. Though this is not a project to be finished within 2-3 months, but we should be able to have a basic application running to do simple edits. May be having feature of upload videos to fedoratv or integrate itself with recordmydesktop to get screencasts directly. I am looking for more ideas on this.
Contacts: KushalDas kushaldas AT fedoraproject {NOSPAM} DOT org
Notes: Recommended choice of language is Python or C
ValentTurkovic: I have 2 suggestions; First is to try and resurrect Diva Project who started as GSC project in 2006. Second is to work with Pitivi Project because it is on a good path and has ogg editing functionality and easy enough interface. To get an overview of this Diva Project rise and fall please read these two posts. UPDATE: There are two projects that look promissing: saya-videoeditor [2 [blogspot.com]] and myvideoeditor [3 [blogspot.com]]
So between these and Cinelerra's successor, Lumiera [lumiera.org], I'm sure 4 years will be more than enough to have an actually usable professional Video Editor for Linux.
And I think that these 4 years will give Krita and GIMP the time they need to become full-featured and more user-friendly, respectively.
(And don't get me started on WINE, these guys are advancing fast!)
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Re:Mod parent funny (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Think Antarctica (Score:5, Interesting)
Well as it turns out. It might never be Linux's year on the desk top. Fours years down the round, multimedia desknotes, UMPCs, smartphone/PDA, smartTVs and, maybe, just maybe, walk around virtual reality will be approaching. Now when it comes walk around virtual reality who seriously would want M$ DRMing your personal view of the world, talk about suck.
The real shift will be a hardware shift,with software supplied 'FREE' as in 'FREE' with the hardware, which combines compatibility across a broad range of different hardware platforms all free of licences. Typical family home, 4 phones, 2 Multimedia desknotes , 4 UMPCS, 2 smartTVs, 1 Family Server(email,VOIP messaging, streaming) yeah we are all stupid enough to pay for 12 OS licences every two years, or even every time we replace the hardware, then add to that another 12 office suite licences every two years now add the cost of fully functional unDRMed family server, plus additional user licences for guests. I am not even going to bother to calculate the cost, as it is obviously way out of the ballpark for the average family. Lets not of course forget some of the other content that still has to be paid for, games, movies and music.
So M$ is doomed, doomed I tell you ;), when it comes to windows and office, why else would ballmer be so myopic is his bid for yahoo as a result of a failing MSN if he did not know the writing was on the wall for M$'s monopoly OS and office suite pricing rip off (that monopoly is slowly but surely being eaten away by millions of voracious piranha penguins) ;D.
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Re:Think Antarctica (Score:5, Interesting)
Microsoft is (and has been for a few years now) fighting hard against the Linux tide on the sub-desktop. Currently, they say its 50-50 [linuxdevices.com]... but that was years ago. I guess that's why the first result in every API search at the time returned the WinCE version.
Fast forward today, and Windows is sliding [findarticles.com] against the Penguin, which could suggest why the first result in every API search returns the .NET equivalent, and how if you install the Platform SDK, you cannot uncheck the option for .NET embedded APIs.
So.. Linux for the future, I reckon so simply because the biggest and best weathervane for increasing Linux adoption is shouting how worried they are (ie Microsoft). If MS were ignoring Linux and F/OSS then I'd think it was all hype, but as they're coughing up cash for various OSS projects, declaring how open-source friendly they are, creating their own OSS repository sites (codeplex), getting various OSS projects better integrated with Windows.. all that just shows how worried they are, so Linux is a big deal at the moment.
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Re:Think Antarctica (Score:5, Funny)
That was my fourth thought, the first 3 correspond to the 3 years in between now and then.
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Re:Think Antarctica (Score:5, Interesting)
I agree 100% - wild and cute enough to make you want to play with it.
Linux has laid the foundation.
Firefox has taken good care of our browsing.
OpenOffice + Google docs have given us portable information.
KDE 4 has given us a flashy desktop, GNOME has given us a simple yet powerful one - both are beautiful in their own right.
VLC/Mplayer have given us independence of video formats.
Linux + Firefox + KDE 4/GNOME + OpenOffice + VLC/Mplayer = desktop independence. Only piece of the puzzle left is gaming. Once we have gaming, drivers on Linux (for anything consumer oriented atleast) will no longer be a problem. I definitely see that happening within the next 3 years, but we as a Linux community HAVE TO back whichever video card manufacturer gives us the best Linux drivers. Make them work for our cash and very soon, Linux will be a standard platform to release for.
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Re:Think Antarctica (Score:5, Insightful)
Why do people continue to insist that PC gaming, which is only done by a small percentage of computer users, is so important to Linux. It would be a simple matter to capture 90% of the PC market without ever having a single 3d driver, let alone anything more than the casual games Linux already has.
Hell, before Aero was announced, most systems had almost no graphics (and thus gaming) ability anyway.
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Re:Think Antarctica (Score:5, Insightful)
I would bet you that 90% of the nerdy guys who know how computers work, support the average user working at helpdesks and IT shops, and sell things to the average consumer at best buy play (or have played) games.
I am one of these nerdy guys. I learned how to use linux when I was a kid to run bots for an efnet channel and bsod windows clients and stupid shit. I liked it because it was robust, I could do things without a GUI, and everything worked off of C, which I knew enough of to get around. So, I imagine I am about as willing to use linux as the average nerd. The thing is, I haven't touched it since I was 16 because it doesn't run games.
I think it's great, but would I be comfortable installing it on a friends' or a coworkers computer? heck no! I don't have the years of experience supporting it that I do with windows based systems, so when they ran into some strange driver error or something, I wouldn't really be able to help.
And again, I want to emphasize that the only reason I don't have this experience is that Linux doesn't support the games I play, so I have no lasting motivation to switch my OS.
When I think about how many people I know who feel pretty much the same, and work in similar positions supporting end users, it's really wholly apparent how important gaming is to the Linux movement. If you truly cared about Linux, it seems to me you would do everything in your power to bridge this divide.
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Re:Think Antarctica (Score:5, Insightful)
(Before I go further, I want to note that I am not trying to start a flamewar.)
With all due respect, I think you're forgetting a few things thing. Let's start with what's the biggest for me: a distro that handles the install properly. I have tried many distros over the last few years, and while they've all moved forward with leaps and bounds, none of them "just work" out of the box.
Let's use Ubuntu as an example. It's far better than it was even a year ago, but it's still not perfect. For example, on Saturday, I started the quest of installing Ubuntu as the primary operating system on an older PC. The install seemed to go fine, but after doing the updates, I suddenly had no sound from my SB Live! I managed to resuscitate it after a bit, but that's the sort of thing that just shouldn't happen. Also, earlier today, BMPx randomly stopped working. I had closed everything and put my computer to sleep, and when I came back three hours later, BMPx refused to start.
You make a good point with your video comment: it's pretty easy to play video on Linux now. Will pretty much any video play? Yes. Is it blindly obvious as to how to play an encrypted DVD? It's getting there. Audio's the problem now. People seem to be focusing so much on video now that information on installing support for such things as WMA audio (c'mon, do you really expect people to rerip everything that they most certainly own? :P ).
And then there's the ubiquitous gaming comment. Thankfully, Wine's making progress, but contrary to what Linux zealots want us to think, it's not actually perfect! Support for games using OpenGL is pretty good, and as someone said earlier today in another comment (forgotten where, sorry), so is support for programs that were actually written the "right" way, but it's still far from perfect.
So, I guess, to sum up: these days, Linux is pretty (or at least, not butt-ugly as it used to be), user-friendly (once it's all working properly), and there's a wide range of utility programs out there. It just needs better gaming, easier-to-find information on installing support and codecs for protected audio formats, and it needs to just work (and keep working!) out of the box.
--- Mr. DOS
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Linux on the desktop (Score:5, Funny)
1998 Nope
2000 Nope
2002 Nope
2004 Nope
2006 Nope
2008 Nope
2011 YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
Re:Linux on the desktop (Score:5, Insightful)
With the way desktop software is heading, to get Linux on the desktop all that has to be done is for it to remain "free", as in "I'm free to do whatever I want with my computer".
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Re:Linux on the desktop (Score:5, Insightful)
I can't think of any M$ product from inception in '70s that was anything but below sub-par, frought with bugs, hard to use and way overpriced.
No love for Microsoft Flight Simulator?
MicroCrud will disappear from the world o' desktop because they've pissed everybody off on this planet. The sooner they're gone the better.
You think so, don't you? Keep dreaming. Most big corporations aren't ready to drop MS on the desktop yet - although it doesn't look promising based on Vista adoption rates.
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Re:Linux on the desktop (Score:5, Informative)
What Will Linux Be Capable Of, 3 Years Down the Road?
And what do you see for Linux in 4 years?
I also will go out on a limb and say it will enable Slashdot editors to make titles consistent with summaries!
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KDE4 (Score:5, Insightful)
based on â" surprise â" good acceptance for KDE 4.
Definitely agree there. KDE4 is going to dramatically improve very quickly. They've made a huge development investment in the underlying libraries, and that will come to fruition this year (and already has somewhat with KDE 4.1). My impression is that it's going to get better. Couple that with a maturing X.org, and you have the makings of a beautiful desktop.
Re:KDE4 (Score:5, Insightful)
Instead of thinking about a beautiful desktop, let's think about a more usable desktop. The underlying base makes it possible and very easy to do everything you want to do with it in virtually no time at all. I have seen eye candy enough... it's time for some serious evolution.
Speaking of evolution: X.org touchscreen support? There already YouTube videos of people gaming on Linux with touchscreens!
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Re:KDE4 (Score:5, Insightful)
Precisely, I'm always confused why Linux so often comes with a default desktop environment which is as bloated as Windows' is. I realize that not all distros are like that, but most of the ones I've tested out over the years have.
It's really a shame considering how much progress has been made over the years to scum it up with a UI which mimics the bloatedness of Windows.
But then again, perhaps that's just my fondness for just a window manager sans most of the environment.
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Re:KDE4 (Score:5, Interesting)
I think we're going to see that Plasma/Plasmoids are the genius invention that will propel innovation. They will do for the desktop what Compiz/Beryl/Compiz-Fusion plugins have done for the window manager: let loads of programmers make up innovative or simply good-looking things they can do.
This, of course, will lead to a boom that will result in a few really good Plasmoids that will draw in additional effort and lots of crappy ones. But I think by 2012 everyone will look back and wonder how they once got along back when XYZ had to be a whole custom application written in C instead of a Plasmoid or Plasmoid containment written in C/C++, Python, Ruby, or any other language with KDE4 bindings.
GNOME will have at least started moving in such a direction, but will have more restrictions to make sure the system stays easy to use.
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Re:KDE4 (Score:5, Informative)
I believe the main difference is the integration that you state, and this enabled the whole desktop to be built with those gadgets/plasmoids/widgets/etc. So the desktop interface (menu, taskbar, system tray, etc etc) and the plasmoids are the same thing and that enables you to make much more integrated stuff. All the other "gadget" systems are not integrated with the rest of the system, they're just living in their own world separate from the rest of the desktop.
I think the ability to create native plasmoids is also unique. When your taskbar is a plasmoid, you don't really want it all to be running in JS or something.
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Compiz FTW (Score:5, Insightful)
Base window manager is irrelevant. Users don't care whether it's KDE or Gnome. Behold the Cube! Behold the wobbly windows. Behold the 3D tiling! Behold I say! [compiz.org]
Show potential Linux users a demo of that floating cube, and you will ship millions of Linux boxes. I have observed this effect, first hand [slashdot.org]. If you've got a business selling Linux boxes and you don't have such a demo set up in shop, you are wasting your time. You think OSX got where it is because of its Kernel features?
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Re:Compiz FTW (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, but too many geeks say that "shiny" doesn't matter. It's "shiny" that sells. Sure looking back Windows 95 and 98 and even XP, aren't all that sexy, but compared to what was available at the time, their interfaces were cutting edge, sleek and sexy looking.
More people are buying Mac purely because of how sexy it looks. It sure as hell ain't the price, it's purely because it looks cool.
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Re:KDE4 (Score:5, Insightful)
I've been a KDE3 user for quite awhile. My first impression of KDE4 was "WTF, are they trying to copy Vista?"
As a whole, I'm hoping it will turn out quite well, but the colour scheme and little boxes everywhere really do seem reminiscent of certain Redmond OS's. C'mon guys, I know you can be more creative than that!
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No Microsoft (Score:4, Insightful)
No it's not predictable. I am not (well at least not trying to be) flamebaiting and/or trolling but given this is Linux we are talking about FLOSS and innovation, so we can't possible know.
Innovation wouldn't be innovation if we allready knew what is going to happen in three years, now would it?
maybe it'll be like ms word? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:maybe it'll be like ms word? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:maybe it'll be like ms word? (Score:5, Insightful)
D-BUS: have you heard of it?
OK, I'll stop the sarcasm and just state the facts. D-Bus is now used by both GNOME and KDE. It can also be installed for any customized DE a user creates. The future for Linux looks like the past, but more so: some distros will go for ease-of-use without customization and others will go for customization over ease-of-use, while the whole system gets more and more modular and scripted.
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Re:maybe it'll be like ms word? (Score:5, Informative)
I'm not very well-versed in OS X development. Could you tell me how those "system services" work?
I go to /System/Library/Services and drop in a file called "Wordservice.service". Then I copy your text into a text box in Safari (or any other program that uses the standard APIs), I highlight it, and select "Safari: Services: Convert: Rotate13" and the text is instantly transformed into the following:
V'z abg irel jryy-irefrq va BF K qrirybczrag. Pbhyq lbh gryy zr ubj gubfr "flfgrz freivprf" jbex?
In this same way Apple has added a (among many) spelling checker, dictionary/thesaurus/wikipedia lookup, and grammar checker to the OS, accessible to every application (they also added a GUI element in the right-click contextual menu for easier access). Before they added the grammar checker, I just added my own, along with the text manipulation service, language translation services, statistical analysis services, and some more I regularly use. I usually assign hotkeys to them rather than navigate to them from the menus. Even more services are offered automatically by other applications I installed, such as Graphiz offering automatic graphing of any tables of numbers I highlight and my LaTeX front end offering automatic formatting of any bibliography information I highlight.
In short it is drag and drop addition of arbitrary functionality that can be accessed from any application without developers needing to do squat to their applications.
Parent
About like it does now. (Score:5, Interesting)
Linux hasn't had any major changes in the past three years, why would you think it'll have any in the next three?
Re:About like it does now. (Score:5, Insightful)
No I doubt it. Linux is a server OS and I really think it is going to stay that way unless there is some huge change in attitudes among the FOSS Community.
Change one: Learning having more features doesn't make it better. Can linux do X... Most likely yes. However its defaults are not really setup for that.
Change two: Easy Drivers. Installing a driver should be as easy as drag and drop a tar ball, if it doesn't work drag it to the trash. It should be done via GUI alone
Change three: Make the command line last resort or if you really want to use it. Still there is a lot of stuff depending on the command line, Geeks like us have no problems but if you are use to Mac or windows and you get a blinking cursor what to type? beats me. For example for those who never used a VAX before login to a VAX terminal and try to move around without googling all the commands...
Change four: If you put it in make sure it works. I have seen many apps that just don't work correctly. If it doesn't work don't put it in.
Change five: Eye Candy is not a good GUI make. Yea it is fun for a bit then it gets annoying. Every eye candy element needs a good GUI reasoning for it.
Change six: Listen to complaints don't marginalize them. Yes yes you have invested emotional interest in Linux however people are having real problems with it, and just saying you are dumb or google it, or you google and give them a non working issue actually take it into account and see if you can fix the problem, or make it better. As well acknowledge it is a problem don't blame hardware for having closed source drivers if your open source one doesn't work. Just say it doesn't work or fix it or both.
Change seven: Learn other usage habits just don't copy your own. A software developer uses a computer much differently then a non-developer. You will be surprised how differently if you are willing to examine it. These people are not dumb they go the path that is most intuitive.
Change eight: Getting threw the boring stuff. There is fun stuff to code and annoying stuff. The stuff that is not really hard or easy just annoying. But it needs to get done to give it polish.
Change nine: Swallow you CS Degree pride. I am not saying make sloppy code but be willing to break the rules when it make sense. I have seen many apps that run very poorly because they try to make their CS Professor happy.
Change ten: swallow your pride, sometimes your ideas loose, embrace the winner and make the most out of it. Keeping you gopher client and adding new features is a wast. Or stop tinkering with the token ring driver in hopes it will kill TCP/IP in the future.
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Outlandish? (Score:5, Funny)
Wait ... are you saying that the Linux kernel will remain free in the future, but that people will pay for extras on top of that, including commercial software in some cases? That is just ... insane! What barking madman would even conceive of such a concept?
Incidentally, how do you go from what that article actually says:
Expect to see a three-way split among different versions of Linux. Not different distributions per se, but three basic usage models: ... For-pay ... Free to use ... Free/libre
...to "Linux forsaking its free usage model"? What are you, running for Congress?
I'm really starting to dislike a lumping of all... (Score:5, Insightful)
In four years Distros made to be user-friendly like Ubuntu will probably be heavier on system requirements but nearing the ease of use of Windows (IE easier driver and plugin installs as some are still a bit touch-and-go)
Distros like Puppy will still be lightweight and have little change to fit on those old Pentium 2s you just can't bear to part with.
Distros like Gentoo will still be hardcore users only with every option available only after heavy config and compiles.
I think usability for the average user will improve on the "fluffy" side of linux, but a lot of the distros do exactly what they're made to.
Finally, I understand... (Score:5, Funny)
This is history, not the future (Score:5, Informative)
Drivers? Codecs? (Score:5, Insightful)
I hope it doesn't become a mess of binary drivers. Binary drivers are one of the worst things happening to Linux. They ruin the stability and the usefulness of hardware. As fas as I am concerned, they are not the pragmatic choice. I consider an idealist to be a pragmatist who thinks about the future. I have found that the "pragmatic' choice always comes back to bite me, at which time it stops being pragmatic.
Anyway, enough of that rant. On to CODECS. That depends on the patent systems in various countries. Currently FFMPEG has had a history of producing extremely find implementations of CODECS. They sometimes lag behind on the very newest ones, but their more mature ones suprass all others in terms of quality and speed. And they generally get better with time. Anyway, software patents don't exist everywhere and they are unlikely to do so within 3 years. So, it looks like codecs will remain free and FREE for a while yet.
What it will look like to me in 3 years.. (Score:5, Funny)
it'll be in things like toasters. (Score:5, Interesting)
I can see linux being on a 2-4 GB flash card and the "computer" being the same size and the entire device running inside your tv, LCD picture frames, microwave oven, toaster, refrigator, dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, or your air conditioner. The price for the computer and storage will be like $2-5 on the bulk side so that cost has to be able to be hidden in the products. Linux'll be running all sorts of things that you never really figured even needed a computer per se or even 2-4 GB of storage. What the heck does my dishwasher or toaster need 2 Gb of storage for? Well, we'd find out when it's "cheap enough" to through in everything. Licensing and cost is what'll get Linux in the door and keep MS out. MS just can't afford to give away MS embedded edition.
Of course Linux will run on things like cell phones and DVRs as well, but you'll shortly find it running things like McDonalds' toys as well. What could a McDonalds' Toy use Linux for? I haven't a clue, but, once the hardware is cheap enough, we'll find out.
2012 will be the year of the Desktop Linux! (Score:5, Funny)
And the US Supreme Court will rule that software is not patentable, software is copyrightable but EULA's are 100% unenforcable. And DRM will be outlawed.
And Microsoft, the RIAA, and most of the telecom industry will be broken up for various illegal activities, and forced to reform as smaller non-profit organizations with strict oversight.
Maybe I'll even have a date by then.
Re:2012 will be the year of the Desktop Linux! (Score:5, Funny)
You had me going until that last one. I almost believed you.
Parent
And what do you see for Linux in 4 years? (Score:5, Funny)
100,000 packages in Debian.
Better filesystems, more uptake (Score:5, Insightful)
Whatever happens, there'll be more people using Linux-based OSes in 3/4 years. However, there's a long way to go before it can properly overtake Windows, IMO: there are several major problems that stop GNU/Linux becoming the ideal consumer desktop OS.
In short, devs need to really get their fingers out and concentrate on creating a truly kick-ass operating system that'll work out of the box on practically any machine you throw it at. This is what led Apple out of its slump in the mid-90s - if the FOSS community can do it now, when the popularity of FOSS is booming, it will truly be a force for Monkey Boy to reckon with.
Re:Better filesystems, more uptake (Score:5, Insightful)
Linux still uses the outmoded FHS at the front end - I know I'll get flamed for this, but look at the other options. Windows installs end-user applications in /Program Files, dependencies either in the application folders or in /Windows/system32, the documentation and resources within the application folders and the rest of the core system files in /Windows, and puts all the home folders in /Users.
I think you're *seriously* oversimplifying the way Windows does it.
For starters, the configuration of a user's applications is usually held in the combination of a folder under "Documents and Settings" and the user's own chunk of the registry which is, to say the least, not the *easiest* place to pull configuration settings out of. Half the time, when you try to copy the Applications folder somewhere else to back them up, the folder is protected & you then have to boot to "Safe Mode" to do it.
And even when you've done that, and somehow worked out what bits of the Registry you need, there's absolutely no guarantee that by putting that chunk of the registry on another machine or another user, that you won't just trash the whole thing.
By comparison, knowing on Linux that your configuration file is likely to be a text file somewhere in /etc or in your home directory and maybe having to read the man page to find out precisely the name and location of the file, is infinitely easier.
Unfortunately, Windows suffers from the *MY* mentality ("My Documents", "My Pictures") without thinking that there might be the remotest possibility you might want to move an application to another machine without having to reinstall it.
You seem to be quick enough to diss FOSS without considering the fact that, by it's very nature, FOSS software at least makes a good attempt at storing configs in an easy to read text or XML file which you can easily back up and put somewhere else very easily - even on Windows.
Parent
Is it just me... (Score:5, Insightful)
...or is the author basically predicting that in 2012 we'll have the things we have now?
We currently have pay distros, free distros, and libre distros. KDE 4 already exists. There are already Linux netbooks, and major OEM preinstalls. In the future apparently we'll have Gmail and OpenOffice.
The author also MAGICALLY predicts storage costs will go down.
Linux will also be on servers, and support virtualization.
Will all this stuff happen before 2012?
I'd say so, considering it is all true today.
Re:Pick me! Pick me! (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Pick me! Pick me! (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Hopefully it'll be huge (Score:5, Informative)
It doesn't have to be huge. Take it from a guy a year older than you: learn Linux programming, learn it well. Get an internship with it in college. This makes your resume better than that of the college-educated code monkeys CS departments turn out nowadays who've never used anything but Java on Windows.
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Re:equilibrium (Score:5, Informative)
"there just aren't enough people interested, for example, to allow linux boxes to be sold at places like Circuit City, and I don't think that will change in 4 years."
Linux boxes ARE being sold at places like Circuit City, and people like them. Asus eeepc and aspire, hp small notepad, etc.
As to the rest? Not equilibrium yet. Linux is growing in datacenters; support for large SMP will improve (especially in management; I'd look for the most growth in virtualization). The "GUI" will improve also. There should be growth with 3D drivers (especially AMD(ATI) chipsets). Intel Larrabee should inspire growth in super-computing.
OpenOffice.org/Firefox/other standard applications are coming along nicely. But, with improved 3D will come standard 3D desktop *and* application support (currently, only available with nVidia's hardware and drivers). This should also be possible with ATI and Intel graphic stacks. In turn, this should inspire extra visual support in applications (think real-time graphics rendered from a spreadsheet). Also, I would expect growth in media transcoding.
What should remain stable is the CLI interface, and base software (VIM should still be VI, with enhancements, GCC should improve, but not be radically different, LaTeX will still be kicking, etc.)
Parent
Re:Drivers (Score:5, Insightful)
network adapter support is problem free? I still hear about a lot of problems with wireless nics. Granted they can often be worked around, but getting wireless working without being flaky is far from brainless. Windows isn't much better here, but I think my mom would figure it out in windows before she would figure it out on linux.
Video card support is good? I'd call it mediocre at best... You can spend 100 bucks or more on a card and you don't have drivers which can reliably utilize that power you paid for. 3d? Possibly, but 2d is more likely. Compositing? That's a maybe also.
I'm a Gentoo user. I actively avoid using windows, but I feel I have a realistic outlook on linux. Some around here do not.
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Re:Drivers (Score:5, Insightful)
Who said I was trying to find a scapegoat to pin the blame on??
It doesn't do what I want it to (yet), therefore it's useless for me. Simple as that.
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Re:Easy questions in the summary. (Score:5, Insightful)
Whether you like it or not, GNOME will be the big one, because nobody controls it.
That makes sense. Just like no businesses would ever use Windows because Microsoft controls it.
Trolltech never controlled KDE and Nokia can't either. Same as Novell can't control Gnome.
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