What is your opinion on that?

[geokok1981]

I read today an article about a guy talking in Linux conference
(dont remember his name, sorry, but from what I understood his opinion matters.).
Anyway the basic idea of what he said was that Linux may have now the one and only chance to penetrate into the desktop world. But
in order to do that the community needs to do some compromises.
In example, "young people want their ipods to just work. So the community needs to make sure that they get that sort of support."
(more all less what he said....
So u think linux should back down a bit in regarding issues such as some proprietaryt drivers and related stuff that will make the experience better for the non-techies (people that want it to just work and don't care about the details).
Or should it stick to the path it is now on with the (big) risk of loosing the desktop market forever (he said it would take another 30 years before the next big transition in pc's that would open another window for linux.

I believe, and it is just a personal opinion, that we cant expect the others to come where we are and it is not wanted for us to give up everything. But perhaps, giving a little now would gain much more for linux in the future. Because once u got them on the platform u can make the rules youself. (I am not saying (ok lets trick the users), but when u have a big user base companies will play along your needs more happily.And then everyone will give open (or closed)drivers for harware, photoshop-autocad will be available, etc, etc)

What are your opinions (based on what the article says)?

Original article:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/17/eric_raymond_linux_compromise/

PS dont take it out on me because of what that guy said...just looking for opinions from the pros. I have a view but may be wrong. I can accept that. It is your opinion that I am after!

[catlett]

I think you need a history lesson. Linux is not a business adventure nor is it in competition with any other company. It grew out of a philosophy and has become a desktop alternative.
That person you are quoting is not "important" in GNU/linux. There is no way someone who is a believer in a free open source system for everyone would say linux needs to stop being open source and free.

Here is the history behind your OS


The project to develop the GNU system is called the ``GNU Project.'' The GNU Project was conceived in 1983 as a way of bringing back the cooperative spirit that prevailed in the computing community in earlier days---to make cooperation possible once again by removing the obstacles to cooperation imposed by the owners of proprietary software.

In 1971, when Richard Stallman started his career at MIT, he worked in a group which used free software exclusively. Even computer companies often distributed free software. Programmers were free to cooperate with each other, and often did.

By the 1980s, almost all software was proprietary, which means that it had owners who forbid and prevent cooperation by users. This made the GNU Project necessary.

Every computer user needs an operating system; if there is no free operating system, then you can't even get started using a computer without resorting to proprietary software. So the first item on the free software agenda obviously had to be a free operating system.

We decided to make the operating system compatible with Unix because the overall design was already proven and portable, and because compatibility makes it easy for Unix users to switch from Unix to GNU.

An Unix-like operating system is much more than a kernel; it also includes compilers, editors, text formatters, mail software, and many other things. Thus, writing a whole operating system is a very large job. We started in January 1984. It took many years. The Free Software Foundation was founded in October 1985, initially to raise funds to help develop GNU.

By 1990 we had either found or written all the major components except one--the kernel. Then Linux, a Unix-like kernel, was developed by Linus Torvalds in 1991 and made free software in 1992.. Combining Linux with the almost-complete GNU system resulted in a complete operating system: the GNU/Linux system. Estimates are that tens of millions of people now use GNU/Linux systems, including Slackware, Debian, Red Hat, and others.

However, the GNU Project is not limited to the core operating system. We aim to provide a whole spectrum of software, whatever many users want to have. This includes application software. See the Free Software Directory for a catalogue of free software application programs.

We also want to provide software for users who are not computer experts. Therefore we developed a graphical desktop to help beginners use the GNU system.

We also want to provide games and other recreations. Some free games are already available.

How far can free software go? There are no limits, except when laws such as the patent system prohibit free software entirely. The ultimate goal is to provide free software to do all of the jobs computer users want to do--and thus make proprietary software obsolete.

[fuscia]

if they just want their ipods to work, then why not just tape their heads to a tv and not worry about which operating system they use?

[meng]

I disagree, I don't believe that it is now or never. The proprietary stuff involves some complicated (for me) legal issues, but that said, users who need it done for them can choose Xandros, Linspire, PCLinuxOS. As for ipods, you can easily transfer data/music files with Linux, but iTunes won't run native.

It's an interesting discussion topic but I don't see much substance advanced so far.

[geokok1981]

@catlett
What you say is true. I do need a history lesson 'cause the open source movement has only recenlty caught up with me.
However, I am not making my own remarks here. I am merely copying the words of somebody else (I really wish I remembered the name, if someone read that article please post it) and I add my small and humble opinion in the end.That' s all.

Basically what I want is NOT to comment on my opinion but on what HE said. He is an open source believer and he was at the world expo!!! Surely someone read that!!!No need to be absolute about things dont u think???

Edit: I just found the article. I added the source at the first post.....feel free to read and comment....
PS dont take it out on me because of what that guy said...just looking for opinions from the pros. I have a view but may be wrong. I can accept that. It is your opinion that I am after!

[meng]

Regardless of how much of a bigshot this guy was, the movement is bigger than one person. Even if that one person is Stallman!

In other words, the arguments sink or float on merit, and what I've read does not strike me as having great merit.

[aysiu]

I thought we talked about this (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=238516).

[OffHand]

My opinion is that the guy obviously doesn't use an iPod himself or he would have known that an iPod automaticly mounts and is easily controlled by gtkpod.

[B0rsuk]

My opinion is that I don't care about topics with very vague and uninformative names. And I'm not alone.

[geokok1981]

1. Sorry I didn't spot the other thread. I kindly ask the mods to remove this thread cause its a double to another.

2. Sorry about the topics name. I tried to modify it as you can see from the title of my first post, but I dont really know how :(