Google Chrome OS. Or, how KDE and GNOME managed to shoot each other dead

[newbie2]

Whoever said that competition was good, that it was OK for GNU/Linux to have two competing desktop environments, was crazy. The harm done to GNU/Linux was simply immense. When Google decided to build a web-oriented operating system, they ditched them both. With Google Chrome OS, both KDE and GNOME are suddenly less relevant — and they will become less and less relevant as time goes by.
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/columns/google_chrome_os_or_how_kde_and_gnome_managed_shoo t_each_other_dead
:rolleyes:

[Xbehave]

LOL gnome and kde have never "shot each other", nor is Chrome a competitor to full desktops.

[Skripka]

http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/columns/google_chrome_os_or_how_kde_and_gnome_managed_shoo t_each_other_dead
:rolleyes:

Stupid article and writer are both stupid.


Yea a non-existent OS based on an age old paradigm, hurts Linux due to KDE/Gnome infighting.

[Psumi]

What about XFCE?

[Skripka]

What about XFCE?

It got shot too. Simply for good measure, it didn't want to feel left out.

[Psumi]

It got shot too. Simply for good measure, it didn't want to feel left out.

And LXDE? Enlightenment? OpenBox? FluxBox? ...

[Simian Man]

Meh whatever Google comes up with will just be another system in the mix. It's possible more "Linux Users" use Android as their interface than Gnome or KDE, but it still doesn't affect desktop Linux. This article just seems to be going for shock value.

BTW I was wondering why he kept saying "GNU/Linux" even when talking about just the kernel. Then I realized what website I was on :).

[Skripka]

And LXDE? Enlightenment? OpenBox? FluxBox? ...

Bullets were too expensive at the time. They got the acid bath.

[Regenweald]

Much like the Nexus has fizzled out to lukewarm sales of just another smartphone, so will ChromeOS. No browser is going to beat *any* DE, be it in windows or linux. ( At least until Opera 10.5 has stable html5 support and video support using the gstreamer framework. Now there's an impressive platform waiting to happen :))

[caravel]

"Competition"? Some people need to think outside the proprietary box. This is "apples and oranges"... KDE has it's following and so does gnome.

[MasterNetra]

Bullets were too expensive at the time. They got the acid bath.

Nah. they piled up some explosives and stood around it then blowed the living crap out of themselves. Just for good measure.

[Techsnap]

It's just a typical article where the author knows nothing about Linux.

[NCLI]

It's just a typical article where the author knows nothing about Linux.

Unfortunately, this is an article written for the Free Software magazine, so the author doesn't even have that excuse. He's just an idiot.

[FuturePilot]

LOL. Gnome and KDE aren't going to become less relevant because of Chrome OS. Chrome OS is going to fill a niche market, mainly on netbooks. I don't think people are going to be putting it on their desktops. Sorry but I'm not going to turn my computer with 16 cores into a dumb terminal. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumb_terminal#Dumb_terminal)

Note: I don't actually have a computer with a 16 core CPU, but it makes my point more obvious.


Stupid article and writer are both stupid.


Yea a non-existent OS based on an age old paradigm, hurts Linux due to KDE/Gnome infighting.
Agreed.

[NoaHall]

I expect it will be a novel little thing, sold side by side with Windows, just like the fast-boot thing. It's not going to hit the desktop market.

[Skripka]

Note: I don't actually have a computer with a 16 core CPU, but it makes my point more obvious.


Treat yourself to an Early St. Patricks Day, and buy yourself a Dual LGA1366 eATX board, 192GB of DDR3, and 2 Nehalem CPUs. Problem solved....wash down with some Jack D's to celebrate.

I so one of these days want to build and run a dual CPU machine-but don't have the money or the excuse.

[MaxIBoy]

LOL. Gnome and KDE aren't going to become less relevant because of Chrome OS. Chrome OS is going to fill a niche market, mainly on netbooks. I don't think people are going to be putting it on their desktops. Sorry but I'm not going to turn my computer with 16 cores into a dumb terminal. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumb_terminal#Dumb_terminal)

Note: I don't actually have a computer with a 16 core CPU, but it makes my point more obvious.+1. Best way of phrasing this point I've seen so far.

Computers are getting more and more powerful all the time, but Internet latency and connectivity, not so much. Some people need to understand the difference between the 60 Mib/s hard drive I/O which can just barely manage load OpenOffice in 5-10 seconds, and 500 Kib/s Internet connection. SSDs are getting popular precisely because 60 Mib/s linear I/O with 6ms seek latency has become obsolete and insufficient for common everyday usage. And now you propose that I switch to a 500 Kib/s Internet connection with 110+ Ms latency, which might not even be available 100% of the time? Oh please. Go get some holes drilled in your skull, let all the evil spirits out.

[Mr. Picklesworth]

Load of nonsense. Reminds me of something I wrote in a comment to a curiously similar osnews article (http://www.osnews.com/story/22548/How_KDE_and_GNOME_Managed_To_Shoot_Each_Other_Dead ), which I'll just copy & paste here...

ChromiumOS does use A LOT of existing desktop Linux stuff, including technology that is nice and desktop-neutral because of the whole KDE vs. GNOME thing, which is leading us in a positive, modular direction as a whole.

Lots of the technology used in ChromiumOS is shared with GNOME in particular, but a larger portion involves standards which actually thrive on having multiple implementations (instead of diverging standards). This OS, like any mobile OS (my favourite being WebOS - PulseAudio FTW!) is helping to chart the path for the future of Linux desktop interoperability.



First of all, it uses Xorg with a unique, simple and transparent window manager.
Chrome / Chromium on Linux use GTK. This also lands in ChromiumOS, although of course it isn't a prominent piece of that platform since third party app developers will have nothing to do with it.
Clutter. It is making its home in GNOME (and uses GObject). Google is using this for pretty visual effects in its window manager.
Chromium uses dbus, I think gstreamer... all the usual underlying fun stuff.

Looking through a few sources, it appears they use ibus and devicekit - two very new things that are aiming at desktop neutrality.


I don't see how it is surprising that Google has not built on top of a particular desktop environment, since their operating system is a web browser. Surrounding it with GNOME or KDE's default experience would be insane. Especially insane since one of the big points of the Linux desktop experience is that it is very modular, so third parties can build their own environment out of those pieces.

I don't think it is remotely relevant that they aren't running, for example, gnome-panel, Nautilus or Plasma. With that said, the next logical extension of that quote's argument would be that Google has not used the underlying technologies of GNOME or KDE. However, I think I have demonstrated otherwise.

This is a GOOD matter for the open source desktop environments, because it means that Google is using the same technologies that are shared between KDE and GNOME. They have a lot of money and a lot of developers, and of course they have a lot of reason to contribute to those components. Everybody wins.

[adeypoop]

I use Gnome, and also tried KDE for a while recently. Neither are dead, I can truthfully say I've seen both of them alive and well. phew we can relax all again.

ps even my netbook won't ever get google's OS on it.

[Regenweald]

What does look really interesting however, are the rumored specs for the ChromeOS smartbooks: Nvidia Tegra 2, Arm Cortex A9 proc, 32/64 gig ssd, capacitive touch screen 10/11". Big IF this is the case, all I have to say is that Ubuntu and Opensolaris have arm ports.

[Skripka]

What does look really interesting however, are the rumored specs for the ChromeOS smartbooks: Nvidia Tegra 2, Arm Cortex A9 proc, 32/64 gig ssd, capacitive touch screen 10/11". Big IF this is the case, all I have to say is that Ubuntu and Opensolaris have arm ports.

With the money needed for a system of that spec, I could treat myself to my St. Patty's Day dual-LGA3166 system...as well as the bourbon.

[Regenweald]

With the money needed for a system of that spec, I could treat myself to my St. Patty's Day dual-LGA3166 system...as well as the bourbon.

Rumor is sub 300, but then I guess that is why we call them rumors :D

[Skripka]

Rumor is sub 300, but then I guess that is why we call them rumors :D

Lemme look on NewEgg...what'd ya know, a 64GB SSD costs $200USD and up much right now....a 12" touchscreen can be had for $500USD...then there's box and mainboard/CPU etc. All to run an OS which can be crippled by your ISP being unavailable.

No thanks. I'll take my Early St. Patty's Day System any day of the week for the coin. The bourbon is also mine BTW FWIW TIA!

[k64]

I tested Chromium on my netbook (Acer Aspire One AOA110-1545) and it pales in comparison to GNOME and KDE, or XFCE, or even window managers. It is nothing more than Chrome browser shell with a few extra tweaks.

On top of that, it is much closer to Ubuntu than Android at the terminal and core utility levels.

However, thanks to Google's backing, forked variants will probably include GNOME, KDE, or something else. Besides which, the forks will totally revamp what was Chrome, and Linux will have reached the masses.

[LowSky]

How do you write an article claiming GoogleOS the campion over Gnome and KDE?
Gnome and KDE are only enviroments ChromeOS is supposed to be a full on operating system. Secondly ChomeOS isn't availbe from any vendor yet, nor isit a full product and you need a Linux distro to install it right now.

Until I can install it using a LiveCD its not a operating system yet.

[nothingspecial]

I don`t use gnome or kde (I have used gnome extensively in the past) but -


That article is a prime example of 91654 trWJRN# wgt

[Bios Element]

Why...post stupid articles by ignorant writers to give them more hits? I mean really...I swear just bashing linux people to visit...ya know EXACTLY what they want? So don't do it for heavens sake.

[xpressense]

Maybe KDe & Gnome really do need to finnish the fight between themselves before they start on other systems.:o

[mgmiller]

There is a very well thought out response to this article:

http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/community_posts/chrome_os_and_death_free_desktop_response

[beetleman64]

Wouldn't quite agree with that, although having the constant battle between GNOME and KDE is now doing more harm than good now. I reckon with the likes of Ubuntu and Fedora now using GNOME, KDE is gradually going to fade into oblivion as its main support now comes from Novell and (for what it's worth) Mandriva.

By the way, I also say that Chrome OS isn't so much an OS as a kernel with the Chrome browser on top.

[Regenweald]

Why...post stupid articles by ignorant writers to give them more hits? I mean really...I swear just bashing linux people to visit...ya know EXACTLY what they want? So don't do it for heavens sake.

This essentially, : "hey guys, google analytics reports our ad revenue and page hits are down, somebody pen up something stupid on linux quick. They're always good for a few thousand hits...."