On 14/08/2023 08.48, Peter Reutemann wrote:
'Why aren't more people using Linux on the desktop? Slashdot reader technology_dude shares one solution:
Jack Wallen at ZDNet says establishing an "official" version of Linux may (or may not) help Linux on the desktop increase the number of users, mostly as someplace to point new users. It makes sense to me. What does Slashdot think and what would be the challenges, other than acceptance of a particular flavor?
There is the issue of choosing 'which one'. Such a decision is likely to come down to 'power' or to 'compromise'. Does Linux's very existence come out of the former? The most famous example of the latter is possibly "UTC" - there were competing versions of a term (and abbreviation) to replace "GMT" or "Greenwich Mean Time". "UTC" doesn't properly-expand into either English or French words/terms - so it exists as a 'solution', but doesn't make anyone particularly happy! Do we (Linux users) compromise as readily?
the one variable is the package manager. And there are ways to work around that."
Is this the only major issue? Who is prepared to give-up his/her preferred GUI/Window Manager? (for example)
It's not exactly the same thing, but days after ZDNet's article, CIQ, Oracle, and SUSE announced the Open Enterprise Linux Association, a new collaborative trade association to foster "the development of distributions compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux."
Indeed not. Corporations prefer to set a single standard - whether they are 'selling' or 'buying', because of the ease of maintenance and support. (does this in-turn stem from the average user's disinterest in taking responsibility for his/her choices/preferences?) We see this already. RedHat haven't been selling 'Linux', they've been offering corporate-clients a standardised set of software and method of doing things. This is why Oracle used recent IBM/RedHat announcements (https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/furthering-evolution-centos-stream) as an excuse to fire 'a shot across the bows' with the equally self-serving (and somewhat obfuscatory between title and content) "Keep Linux Open and Free—We Can’t Afford Not To" (https://www.oracle.com/news/announcement/blog/keep-linux-open-and-free-2023-...) - essentially written to 'the rest of us' cf to RedHat; suggesting that we move from RedHat systems, over to the Oracle stack. This added to a sense of disquiet at SuSE, leading (coincidentally?) to the idea and publicity of the aforementioned "Open Enterprise Linux Association" (https://www.oracle.com/news/announcement/ciq-oracle-and-suse-create-open-ent...). Are these the people to crusade for, and/or to lead us into the future? Does their motivation (also) include a substantial dollop of 'open-washing' and/or raw business-opportunistic self-interest? Might such leads down the path to proprietary-Linux? Perhaps also explaining Jack Wallen's jumping on their band-wagon? Accordingly, see earlier in the OP, that end-users need to be represented! Is a range of choice, one [wo]man's anarchy, but another's "freedom"? -- Regards =dn