Why Desktop Linux (Still) Sucks. And What We Can Do To Fix It.

The audio situation is a total debacle. n-1 of the sound systems need to be killed so we can focus on making the remaining one work really well.<p>It's really funny that this is his first point, because I ran into it just two days ago... the microphone jack on my laptop, which worked fine in Ubuntu hardy, intrepid, and jaunty, no longer works in karmic thanks to the upgrade to pulseaudio (bug has existed in launchpad since november). It's insane that something so simple (analog input jack) on such common hardware (Intel 82801i) could be non-functional in 2010. Of all the weird driver problems I've had in 12+ years of Linux use, this one is probably the most shocking.

The major advantage of "Desktop Linux" (that I've been using happily for quite a few years now) is that it's utterly unlike Mac OS X or Windows. We use Linux not because it's free, but because it's more comfortable, the UI is better and friendlier, and developing programs for it is a whole hell of a lot easier.<p>Everything Gnome, Ubuntu and this sort of people do work against these advantages. We use Linux because of its differences - these differences to other systems need to be accentuated (zsh, the suckless project, etc), not fought against (Ubuntu, network-manager, HAL, etc).<p>By every step these people take, Linux gets more difficult to develop for and less comfortable to use. This needs to stop.

The easiest problem to tackle is .RPM vs .DEB debate that should have ended about 3 years ago. If the LSB had said .DEB it might have happened, but since the "official" standard and the actual majority are diametrically opposed it doesn't want to happen. And of course the filesystems don't perfectly match across distros.

I wish talks like these had transcripts. I listened to the first half, but don't have the time for the whole thing.

I think what Linux really needs is to embrace some way of getting software outside apt/yum. Having to go through the package managers forces you to be an administrator to install software, and the developer and user have no say in which version of the application you get.<p>I think Linux distributions should be platforms which developers can develop applications for which they can distribute however they wish. Then users can choose which applications and which versions to install and does not have to go through the AppStore like package management system.<p>I also think applications should be stand alone. If they need anything outside the platform, these dependencies should be delivered as part of the application.

I think it boils down to what he was talking about at the end: Linux users need to be willing to buy software, and Linux software developers need to be more business savy.

If the camera person for that video reads this, I suggest placing the speaker in the bottom-left/bottom-right corner of the video frame and keeping the slide visible at all times. You can pan around when people ask questions, but keep as much of the slide visible as possible and move back when the question is done.

The blog post from the speaker has a link to the slides: <a href="http://lunduke.com/?p=1075" rel="nofollow">http://lunduke.com/?p=1075</a>

So much of Linux is designed and modified by committee, so change is slow and painful. Apple managed to get a seriously hot UI onto FreeBSD in a (relatively) short time. Linux has everyone and their dog bartering to make changes, so the UI goes nowhere.<p>Stop copying Windows, already. Start menu sucks. Dump X.

Here's one suggestion: adopt the drag &#38; drop software installation model of OSX.

If history is any evidence, nothing. :P

Sell Ubuntu (and other apps like OOo, Gimp, etc) for a nominal $9.95<p>Give two options in the download area of your software, one green button with a $9.95 download and one blue button for a free download. Both pointing to the same package.<p>If you want to contribute to open source, click the green one.<p>Also sell it on best buy and walmart for $9.95 to reach the non-tech-savvy audience.<p>Even if they drop it on the trash can when they get home. At least some money goes to the pockets of the open sourcerers, which is better than none.

Linux on Desktop is offering <i>too many options</i> for users to install and configure apps.

Does somebody know who is the speaker? Didn't see it on the blip.tv page.

I gave up on Linux. Not fodder; ^ if you agree.