Category Software

Why Desktop Linux Sucks

“…And what can we do about it”. Linux usability (and the sorry state of desktop linux) has become a staple of this blog, but bear with me for a bit. Here’s a video by Bryan Lunduke from the Linux Action Show with reasons why the linux desktop still sucks for many (most) users. This comes […]

Moblin 2 Intro Video

Moblin 2.0 is a netbook-optimized linux distribution/environment originally created by Intel and largely based on the work by OpenedHand, a startup bought by Intel in 2007. This is the introduction video to Moblin. And, as far as linux goes this is by far the most advanced, well-thought, usable environment I’ve ever seen. Sure, it may […]

Lopssi 2

Lopsided if anything. Yet another gross error in judgment from Mini Napoleon Wannabe. Yet another nail in the coffin of French Legislation. Much can be said of Sarkozy's predecessors; both Chirac and Mitterrand were accused of corruption, sleaze, excess etc. None were as classless, blatantly ignorant or downright corrupt as Sarkozy has proved to be in less than two years in office.

Straight from Microsoft's Rulebook.

Apple's rumoured upcoming software crippling 'segmentation' for the iPhone stinks of Microsoft's 'Windows Vista SKU' nastiness. But then again Apple is no stranger to controversy or bad decisions.

Benchmarks

When OS X first made its appearance in 2001 and for many years afterwards, the performance of xnu, its kernel, and many of its subsystems was ridiculed as it was way slower than its competitors. Elitism, slower development cycle, closed source etc. aside, Apple has managed to make Mac OS X much faster than the leading linux distributions in the span of a couple of years, while at the same time the desktop linux projects and companies struggle with reinventing the wheel and fixing regressions. The situation on the desktop today for linux users is --- comparatively --- worse than it was a decade: traditional strongholds are gone [e.g. performance] while usability, stability and features are more or less unchanged for many years. Sad for Open Source, sad for competition.

One Big Problem.

If there is any one big problem with kernel development and Linux it is the complete disconnection of the development process from normal users. You know, the ones who constitute 99.9% of the Linux user base.

Con Kolivas, 2007

An interesting interview and some views on the priorities of the linux development community and the history of the personal computer that I generally agree with. Con's quoted statement sadly rings true for Open Source development in general. After years of development, the Linux Desktop, the applications, the libraries, the documentation seem incomplete, archaic, chaotic and riddled with critical, esoteric issues that the 'fix it yourself' mentality of the stereotypical linux hacker is not going to remedy; that --- if anything --- is what keeps the wonderful idea of FLOSS from attaining the position it deserves.

Κλειστό Λογισμικό = Τριτοκοσμική Χώρα

Αυτή φαίνεται --- σε μεγάλο βαθμό --- να είναι η σχέση που μας δείχνει ο χάρτης του Ανοιχτού Λογισμικού της Red Hat, παρά τη κοινή πεποίθηση πως οι φτωχότερες χώρες διεθνώς τείνουν να κάνουν χρήση αλλά και να αναπτύσσουν ανοιχτό λογισμικό. Και για όσους αμφέβαλλαν, η Ελλάδα στο νούμερο 53 στη γενική κατάταξη μεταξύ 75 χωρών, είναι ίσως το κατ'εξοχήν παράδειγμα 'τριτοκοσμικής' χώρας, ενώ παράλληλα η Ευρώπη οδηγεί τον κόσμο σε χρήση και ανάπτυξη ανοιχτού λογισμικού. Και γράφωντας 'Ευρώπη' δεν εννοώ μόνον τις πλέον ανεπτυγμένες χώρες όπως η Γαλλία, η Ισπανία, η Γερμανία κλπ. Συμπεριλαμβάνω ακόμη και γείτονες σε εμάς χώρες, που πολλοί Έλληνες γρήγορα θα έσπευδαν να χαρακτηρίσουν ως οπισθοδρομικές.

Nokia is The Past. Welcome to the Future.

I have written about Nokia and the need for the company to reinvent itself several times in the past. When the iPhone was announced in early 2007, I was lukewarm and slightly frustrated that the Mac, Apple’s former, at times sole and by far most important strategic product was complemented by a formidable ‘opponent’. I […]

Conceptual clutter of the Bad Kind.

If there’s anything like Good Clutter. Have you ever used Ubiquity for Firefox? It’s quite nice, yet somewhat inaccessible for most people. The idea is that with an easy key combination on your keyboard you can bring up a text field that can understand a large number of commands and bring you information related to […]

Το Στοίχημα της Πληροφορίας.

Σύμφωνα με εκτιμήσεις, μέσα στο 2009 θα ‘παραχθούν’ 4-5 exabytes — δηλαδή τέσσερα με πέντε εκατομμύρια terabytes — νεας, μοναδικής πληροφορίας παγκοσμίως από ιδιώτες και επιχειρήσεις, εξαιρώντας αυτή που παράγεται σε μεγάλα επιστημονικά κέντρα στα πλαίσια ερευνητικών προγραμμάτων (βλ. CERN) ή κυβερνήσεων. Στην εποχή των πολλαπλών διαθέσιμων Terabytes για οικιακή χρήση στην Ευρώπη, τις ΗΠΑ […]