

What Comes After the Windows Era? - edw519
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/what-comes-after-windows-era

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axod
It's already arrived. The "I don't care what OS you have, as long as you have
a reasonable browser" era. The browser is the new windows.

~~~
duane
Hah. Can you...

\- Play your music online?

\- Play your video game online?

\- Type papers online? And no, google apps _don't_ quite cut it :P

\- Watch a dvd online?

\- Do your taxes (in a Turbotax) fashion online?

Well, none of the above, really. So, whoops! Guess the browser isn't the next
operating system!

~~~
nailer
> Play your music online?

Yeah, provided you have the bandwidth. If you don't, any OS has music
management software.

> Play your video game online?

You got me there - not yet. Half life doesn't work in Flash.

> Type papers online? And no, google apps don't quite cut it :P

You can, but if you don't want to, any OS has productivity software.

> Watch a dvd online?

Yes.

> Do your taxes (in a Turbotax) fashion online?

Yes.

~~~
duane
And just where could you store this music? ;)

And you can't type papers online. Google apps are so crippled.

You can't watch a dvd online last time I checked...

...And I know of no way to do (Turbotax style) taxes online.

~~~
axod
Store music? huh? * go to one of a billion music playing websites * Search for
the track you want * Click play

It depends what you mean by DVD. If you're talking about a physical DVD, then
obviously no you can't. If you mean play the movie/tv show, then yes obviously
you can.

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sysop073
Cheering

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globalrev
I would like something like a splashtop and lets me run emacs+whatever
language I'm using to run via the browser.

Distributed emacs, business idea?

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Hexstream
I like how the favicon distracts me every 5 seconds. Classy.

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trezor
While I obviously agree that in the age of the internet, what OS you run
becomes less important, this article is simply too biased to be readable.

I'm sure the Linux fanboys will love it though. I could almost _hear_ the
author cheering "Linux! Linux!" in the background while I was trying to get
trough it.

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weegee
a great article. the OS is a thing of the past. Our 4 year old Windows PC
takes about 2-3 minutes to boot up and allow Firefox to browse. It's too long.
I'm NOT willing to re-load everything, that would take an entire DAY. My Mac
takes half the time to boot. Interesting that they say Apple is the one to
beat, I agree. Having an "instant-on" computer would be a great thing, even
waking up my MacBook when I get home takes maybe 15-20 seconds to browse. But
Windows is a dinosaur these days. It's just been drug into the ground and bled
dry of it's useful life.

~~~
gaius
_Interesting that they say Apple is the one to beat_

Well, no, it's obvious really. OSX is ultimate proof that you can take Unix
(BSD in this case) and put an interface on it that ESR's Aunt Tillie can use.
The Linux community has invested squillions of hours in improving the desktop
and given it away for free, and people would _still_ rather spend $$$ on OSX.
Why do you suppose that is?

~~~
jodrellblank
They have collectively invested squillions of hours, but I question whether
they have done so "improving" the desktop.

My stock answer to this, and I am picking on them somewhat unfairly but it
feels representative enough to make a point, is Linspire. "Come on baby, run
Linspire" they sang at me. "We have photo organisers and music players" they
advertised.

And showed a picture of LSongs Media Player.

<http://media.linspire.com/mailers/mm/lsongs-shot.jpg>

Need I say more? Is anything else needed to tell you why people are willing to
spend $$$ on OSX?

~~~
gaius
There is still at attitude among many self-professed geeks that people who
can't write their own software should take whatever they're given and like it.
After all, it's free, right? Such ingratitude!

I think if there's hope for the Linux desktop it will come from Google,
because they have a data-driven culture (and a pile of money). If they set up
a usability lab and the statistics show that 79% of users completed their
tasks 62% faster when the interface was _like this_ then that's what they'll
do, no-one will argue, they'll just get on with it.

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globalrev
me

~~~
ashleyw
Please dont. :)

