Hello,
Without trying to sound pessimistic, I get the feeling that Linux is lagging behind M$ and at a time when its chances of catching up were the best. The gaps that Linux had created in the M$ environment through alternate compatibility appear to be getting slowly filled by M$ through the process of vendor lock-in. Small changes are taking place but in a way that brings people back to Windows. My bank's netbanking website worked superbly in Linux but a recent upgrade in their software has made the entire system Windows IE7+ only. OpenOffice upto 3.3 is unable to save .docx files so it is being rendered useless for the new office systems. Mobile phones still come with Windows only software for their 'Suites' for full functionality on the pc. There is not much happening in accounting, architectural CAD and multi-media packages too, in a way that can replace the use of current commercial Windows based software. It looks like it has hit the pause button. The big Linux giants do not look interested either.
Hello Rony,
The platforms will vary. MS might complain the same about browsers. Very few people are preferring to use IE. And phones are getting more Android.
Regards, Amish.
-----Original Message----- From: linuxers-bounces@mm.ilug-bom.org.in [mailto:linuxers-bounces@mm.ilug-bom.org.in] On Behalf Of Rony Sent: Monday, November 21, 2011 6:35 AM To: GNU/Linux Users Group, Mumbai, India Subject: [ILUG-BOM] Is Linux Lagging Behind After Its Initial Headway?
Hello,
Without trying to sound pessimistic, I get the feeling that Linux is lagging behind M$ and at a time when its chances of catching up were the best. The gaps that Linux had created in the M$ environment through alternate compatibility appear to be getting slowly filled by M$ through the process of vendor lock-in. Small changes are taking place but in a way that brings people back to Windows. My bank's netbanking website worked superbly in Linux but a recent upgrade in their software has made the entire system Windows IE7+ only. OpenOffice upto 3.3 is unable to save .docx files so it is being rendered useless for the new office systems. Mobile phones still come with Windows only software for their 'Suites' for full functionality on the pc. There is not much happening in accounting, architectural CAD and multi-media packages too, in a way that can replace the use of current commercial Windows based software. It looks like it has hit the pause button. The big Linux giants do not look interested either.
On Mon, 2011-11-21 at 20:05 +0530, Rony wrote:
Without trying to sound pessimistic, I get the feeling that Linux is lagging behind M$ and at a time when its chances of catching up were the best.
I think your focus is wrong. If you feel our job is to 'catch up' with doze, then you will be forever disappointed.
On Tuesday 22 Nov 2011 07:45:24 kenneth gonsalves wrote:
On Mon, 2011-11-21 at 20:05 +0530, Rony wrote:
Without trying to sound pessimistic, I get the feeling that Linux is lagging behind M$ and at a time when its chances of catching up were the best.
I think your focus is wrong. If you feel our job is to 'catch up' with doze, then you will be forever disappointed.
More like fall into the doze cesspool.
On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 8:05 PM, Rony gnulinuxist@gmail.com wrote:
Without trying to sound pessimistic, I get the feeling that Linux is lagging behind M$ and at a time when its chances of catching up were the best.
When you say "Linux" what do you mean ?
On Tue, Nov 22, 2011 at 8:21 AM, Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay wrote:
On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 8:05 PM, Rony wrote:
Without trying to sound pessimistic, I get the feeling that Linux is lagging behind M$ and at a time when its chances of catching up were the best.
When you say "Linux" what do you mean ?
In the OP post, the answer to this (above) to this question is really important.
-- Roshan Baladhanvi
On 11/26/2011 08:34 PM, Roshan wrote:
On Tue, Nov 22, 2011 at 8:21 AM, Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay wrote:
On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 8:05 PM, Rony wrote:
Without trying to sound pessimistic, I get the feeling that Linux is lagging behind M$ and at a time when its chances of catching up were the best.
When you say "Linux" what do you mean ?
In the OP post, the answer to this (above) to this question is really important.
I was referring to the LInux platform and its associated software on desktops.
I was referring to the LInux platform and its associated software on desktops.
As Linus stated in this interview, Desktop space just a huge mess. What he says makes a lot of sense.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPUk1yNVeEI
Swapnil
On Sat, Nov 26, 2011 at 11:40 PM, Rony gnulinuxist@gmail.com wrote:
I was referring to the LInux platform and its associated software on desktops.
There are many kinds of "Linux desktops". The two major kinds are the commercial desktop/workstation space and, the personal-user desktop space. Linux distributions and ISVs have a good presence in the former (barring specifically DTP). The latter is a different story. The need to keep lock-step with the latest applications, devices and, the quick release cycle of the distributions has meant that I've probably read about "the year of the Linux desktop" around 10 times now. Having said that, the non-commercial/free Linux desktop space has seen tremendous improvements over the last 3 years - more devices work out of the box, more support for formats (even if via non-free repositories).
I get a bit sad when we trumpet about quotes from folks like Linus saying the "desktop is a mess". Sound bytes are impeccable constructs for page hits. Unfortunately, they don't help introducing new users to a Linux desktop. Couple this with the trend that over a period of time a lot of application/use cases for a standard user is moving over to SaaS/web-based services. And, you generally don't get a nice feeling even if the Linux Foundation tries its level best to keep upbeat about it. For what it is worth, the server space was a much messy side a decade back. We've progressed from there, haven't we ? Personally, I don't really think that we will see all pervasiveness of the Linux desktop the way we see Windows on the desktop or, OS X.
Your original question was not specific. That is, it didn't have any pointers as to why you think Linux is lagging behind viz. features, prices, users/consumers, device support etc.
On 21 November 2011 20:05, Rony gnulinuxist@gmail.com wrote:
Without trying to sound pessimistic, I get the feeling that Linux is lagging behind M$ and at a time when its chances of catching up were the best. The gaps that Linux had created in the M$ environment through
Is it? I think slowly but steadily it is making inroads into the desktop market. This is going to be a loooong struggle, but I expect it to reach eventually there.
As far as OpenOffice is concerned, I switched to LibreOffice a while back and it works great. I have not yet encountered a .docx file that it cannot open or save.
Multimedia, CAD etc. I have no view. But MS is hurting where it matters - take a look at this (specifically, at the chart):
Netbanking - vote with your feet. There is no trouble operating HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank etc. netbanking on Linux. Switch - don't bitch :-) And tell your bank WHY you are switching.
Binand
On Monday 21 Nov 2011 20:05:21 Rony wrote:
Hello,
Without trying to sound pessimistic, I get the feeling that Linux is lagging behind M$ and at a time when its chances of catching up were the best. The gaps that Linux had created in the M$ environment through alternate compatibility appear to be getting slowly filled by M$ through the process of vendor lock-in. Small changes are taking place but in a way that brings people back to Windows. My bank's netbanking website worked superbly in Linux but a recent upgrade in their software has made the entire system Windows IE7+ only. OpenOffice upto 3.3 is unable to save .docx files so it is being rendered useless for the new office systems. Mobile phones still come with Windows only software for their 'Suites' for full functionality on the pc.
Android phones sales are orders of magnitude higher than. M$ phones are 3% !.
There is not much happening in accounting, architectural CAD and multi-media packages too,
ALL upn/dlna clients, servers and controllers are linux. M$ had ONE product - Xbox360 - en passant, now obsoleted.
in a way that can replace the use of current commercial Windows based software. It looks like it has hit the pause button. The big Linux giants do not look interested either.
On 22 November 2011 10:20, jtd@mtnl.net.in wrote:
ALL upn/dlna clients, servers and controllers are linux. M$ had ONE product - Xbox360 - en passant, now obsoleted.
From what I have seen of the Kinect (admittedly only at mall
displays), I wouldn't call it "obsolete" - it is really a nifty piece of work.
On the other hand, in that market I believe M$ is a distant third (after Nintendo and Sony in some order).
Binand
On Tuesday 22 Nov 2011 10:14:05 Binand Sethumadhavan wrote:
On 22 November 2011 10:20, jtd@mtnl.net.in wrote:
ALL upn/dlna clients, servers and controllers are linux. M$ had ONE product - Xbox360 - en passant, now obsoleted.
From what I have seen of the Kinect (admittedly only at mall
displays), I wouldn't call it "obsolete" - it is really a nifty piece of work.
Kinect, by being linked to the Xbox, had a noose and a millstone on it's neck. It was saved by independent hardware and software hacks.
It is one of the rare pieces of unintentionally useful stuff from the M$ garbage bin.
On the other hand, in that market I believe M$ is a distant third (after Nintendo and Sony in some order).
Binand
On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 8:05 PM, Rony gnulinuxist@gmail.com wrote:
Hello,
Without trying to sound pessimistic, I get the feeling that Linux is lagging behind M$ and at a time when its chances of catching up were the best. The gaps that Linux had created in the M$ environment through alternate compatibility appear to be getting slowly filled by M$ through the process of vendor lock-in.
Microsoft is not longer the dominant force in computing for consumers. For example, Adobe flash has near 100% coverage on windows desktops but that did not help it and it Adobe is gradually moving to html5.
Reason was, it did not work on iOS and performance is pretty bad in Android and OSX (I have an Android Tablet with dual core 1 GHz CPU and Mac with 2 Xeon CPUs, flash is slow on both) .
So, vendors have to make sure that products work not only on Windows but also on other operating systems. For example,
1. Games Like Angry birds (Now available for iOS/Android/Html5/Windows Mobile) 2. Toolkits like Webkit. It works on pretty much every OS
Another good this is, ALL other platforms are now UNIX. So, it i easy to write code like Chrome/Firefox that would work across OS.
-
Amish Munshi -
Binand Sethumadhavan -
jtd＠mtnl.net.in -
kenneth gonsalves -
Rony -
Roshan -
Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay -
Shamit Verma -
Swapnil Bhartiya