Whenceforth the Ubuntu fanboyz now?

[Robert Brockway]

On Thu, 8 Feb 2007, Stephen Allen wrote:

> Yeah I don't think the Linux desktop is ever going to be reality. It

I think you've made the same fundamental mistake as so many others. 
Assuming that there is some fundamental need that will make one desktop 
win over another.  A common question in industry rags is "Is Linux desktop 
ready?".  The question is meaningless as it is too general.  The only 
viable question is "Is Linux desktop ready for $USER" where $USER may be 
Bob the butcher, Sally the accountant or a whole class of users in a 
particular industry.  The answer is entirely subject to how you set $USER.

A Linux desktop is a reality because it is available and it is used by 
many people.  Different people have different needs.  I've been using 
Linux on the desktop since 1994 & exclusively since 1996.  This is not as 
unusual as some may think.  For me a Linux desktop has been a reality for
13 years, and it is so because it fulfills my needs.  It may not fulfill 
yours but that's ok too.

Will we reach a point in which most people (or even many people) run Linux 
on the desktop?  Maybe not but that is entirely different to suggesting 
that a Linux desktop is not a reality because it is.  I'm typing this now 
from pine in a window managed by fvwm2.

So long as open standards exist there need not be one all pervading 
desktop, Linux or otherwise.  Microsoft has a desktop monopoly right now. 
Once this monopoly is broken[1] I hope we never see another desktop 
monopoly again.

Remember too that the desktop of today did not exist 40 years ago.  It may 
not exist in another 40, except in a computer museum.

[1] This will happen eventually as forever is a long time.

Cheers,

Rob

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