What if they released an OS and nobody cared?

[mdlbear]

Vista at the tipping point | Tech News on ZDNet

No matter how much spin is put on this launch, it's a disaster. There's simply no excitement about it. Most quotes from businesses are about how much of a chore it will be to upgrade, with warnings about how much old software will be incompatible and how people will have to buy new machines just to run it. No one actually wants this new system, except Microsoft and some of the hardware vendors who are desperately hoping Vista will revitalize moribund computer sales.

I think the day of the big-bang operating system release will die with Vista. This kind of upgrade has become obsolete. It might have made sense in the age of disconnected computers, where an upgrade involved a PC technician going to each desktop with a CD-ROM, but with the advent of Internet-connected PCs it's crazy. People want to simply keep patching their existing systems remotely and securely until eventually all of the original code has been replaced and you're running a new operating system. This at least is something we in the Open Source/Free Software community have become very good at, as it mirrors the very environment we need to create our software in the first place.

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Of course one will note that the author of the article is just a little biased - Jeremy Allison of Samba fame. That said? If Ubuntu had been smart they would have targeted Feisty Fawn for an uberdesktop release... and just blew the *hell* out of Vista.

Ah, well. They'll figure it out in time. Free software, or take it up the wazoo from BillCo.

[mdlbear]

Of course, Ubuntu is already a desktop system, and pretty close to the bleeding edge; it's not clear what sort of "uberage" would be required -- or possible.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Maybe an option for the 3D desktop like Tiger is doing... one of the gentlemen here has a wm where you can grab its edge and flip it like a cube, and see two surfaces simultaneously... I wouldn't make it the default; it would violate Least Surprise for us old codgers... but six months' serious spiffage concentrated on the desktop and (secondarily) on the install experience, and you could put it up against Windows...

Actually, come to think of it, somebody needs to put together a consortium to negotiate a license for MP3, CSS, and all those little things you have to do to an Ubuntu box that aren't Free in order to get it to do all the things a Windows box will do with respect to media, and start selling a CD for, like, $14.95 (remember when that's what TRSDOS cost?)... I'm not saying it's the Final Solution, or even that I'd buy it, but if somebody did that then the "but you can't..." argument goes away, and I think that might open some doors...

[mdlbear]

I haven't seen any 3D in Tiger except for the rotating-cube effect, and that's apparently done by cheating. There are at least two real 3D desktops for Linux; one is Beryl and I haven't seen the other one.

EasyUbuntu grabs all the non-free codecs and libraries; there's something similar for Debian. Be nice if there were a central licensing clearinghouse for anyone who wanted to preload Linux on a box.