

Resistance to the Linux Desktop - liotier
http://www.datamation.com/open-source/why-linux-isnt-a-desktop-alternative.html

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RichardFord
The author (and others who use desktop Linux) can't be happy with his personal
choice of desktop. Instead he's bitter and angry that others don't make the
same choice that he does. That's way too common in many facets of life these
days.

There are many factors why desktop Linux didn't take off. One is the whole
Gnome/GTK+/KDE/Qt debacle. Many know the details, but with limited resources
and not being radical enough in your designs, then there had to be more
collaboration and not division (Gnome vs KDE).

Distros were similar enough to not be very differential, but incompatible
enough to make support a nightmare for ISVs.

The other direction that could have been taken is a whole lot more
experimentation with radical designs. Trying to be better than Windows was
always going to be a losing strategy. Just don't be Windows.

I guess there is some redemption in Android, but I think the diehards will
never accept Android as a real desktop Linux.

~~~
hindsightbias
Interesting that 'desktop' success is relative to android. If you were going
to design an OS for phones and pads, would a sane person have come up with
android?

Seems like a shoehorned solution, a phyric victory.

~~~
RichardFord
My comment about Android was all about market share and nothing about the
quality.

