X and Eye Candy

[Evan Leibovitch]

D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:

>I have not as yet downloaded Kororaa because I haven't thought of any actual benefit from the candy.  Desktops on the face of a cube sound
>cute but not helpful (how does that work when my desktop isn't square?).  But this is only based on thinking about the thing.
>
>Evan: what does Koraraa do for you?  Why do you find it a worthwhile experience?
>  
>
Simply, it's a great demo.

There is (and will continue to be) a significant part of the
computer-buying public that likes style over substance.
Microsoft and Apple know this all too well.
While it is vital that the bulk of open source development resources go
to those mundane issues of stability and efficiency, having the gloss
available is still a useful component in helping FOSS go mainstream.
Being able to offer style *and* stability *and* freedom is a very
compelling proposition -- and indeed it is necessary to be compelling
(rather than just "better") because we are also fighting inertia.

IOW, it's not for everyone, but it's really really nice for many.

As for me, I can appreciate having some windows that are very
transparent, and the cube paradigm seems slightly more useful than the
current KDE and GNOME panels.

>- the only decent 3d drivers for Linux are proprietary.  Even those
>  don't actually work right with Xgl (maybe that has changed; see
>  http://en.opensuse.org/Xgl and
>  http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_XGL#Prerequisites).
>
My Thinkpad (with an onboard Radeon 9600) worked just fine. A second
attempt to boot on a system with the Centrino Intel onboard video didn't
succeed. The list is at http://getkororaa.com/releases/xgl/xgl-cards

As for the need for binary-only drivers, I guess this is another
potential philosophical fight over the sacrifices in "freedom" people
will make to get the features they like. Anyone wanting to use a
built-in laptop modem or Centrino wireless under Linux has already had
to make that leap. I can respect both POVs.

Release 0.1 doesn't support DRI but future versions will aim at
supporting it.

- Evan

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