19 Feb
2007
19 Feb
'07
11:43 a.m.
Recently, a couple of blogs/sites have come to my attention all of which
address some of my personal trepidations regarding desktop Linux adoption
that have been growing inside my mind for some time now:
http://eugenia.blogsome.com/2006/12/20/the-slowdown-of-gnulinux/
http://blogs.gnome.org/view/timj/2006/12/20/0
Now, while not all will care for Gnome and its current state, apparently KDE
does not fare much better either:
http://cogscanthink.blogsome.com/2006/12/21/not-even-one-line-of-code/
I know that many of you don't care for KDE either. Still, I hope you will
agree with me that this is a concerning trend nonetheless.
So, what does this really mean? I am not sure. It could be simply calm
before the storm (in a positive sense), or it could suggest that both
projects have lost corporate support and consequently vigor inherent to
well-supported initiatives. Yet, reading the comments does bring up some
interesting issues, many of which may very well redefine the future of Linux
as we know it.
So, what do others in the LAU community think? If this is really a
concerning trend, should we care? FWIW, I do care, as I do wish that Gnome
(my current DE of choice) was more refined in certain areas. I don't care so
much for adding customization options--I've used KDE for years and am
relieved to admit that endless hours of tweaking my desktop are now behind
me. Yet, there are still unrefined bits and pieces which stick out in
comparison with the rest of the DE experience, despite the fact that some of
them are purely cosmetic (i.e. dragging icons from menus and panels
introduces super-old icon representation with very kludge-like animation
which is very hard to associate with, while desktop icon
highlighting/dragging is very refined and precise).
Any thoughts?
Ivica Ico Bukvic, D.M.A.
Composition, Music Technology, CCTAD, CHCI
Virginia Tech
Dept. of Music - 0240
Blacksburg, VA 24061
(540) 231-1137
(540) 231-5034 (fax)
ico(a)vt.edu
http://www.music.vt.edu/people/faculty/bukvic/