The future of linux

[Charles C. Bennett, Jr.]

This discussion comes around from time to time.

Try building a MIDI sequencer on Linux or NT that supports 480 clocks
per quarter note at 255 BPM.  OS/2 suffered here as well.  It maybe
that some entertainment applications will have to wait for a desktop
Linux that is more like the 8086 embedded kernel.

For there to be serious Linux uptake on the home desktop there must be
software for kids.  Not Quake or Civ, but stuff similar in purpose to
Reader Rabbit, Freddy the Fish and Lego Loco.

I think a real desktop distribution of Linux will place the OS "below
you" and not "around you".  The frame of reference for an end user
logging into a personal computer should be "from the top", not from
/usr/users/myname.  Perhaps uid=1000(tux) gid=1000(tux) should own the
stuff at / and all the serious stuff should live elsewhere (/linux?).

End user desktop Linux must be by default a Client operating system,
not a Server operating system.  It should take a concerted effort to
open a conduit to your desktop Linux box for the folks from Planet 10.
The very windowing system itself conspires against us in this regard.

Those that would try to halt the movement of Linux would like nothing
more than to portray Linux as a "server-only" operating system.

That being said, I think Linux is inevitable, especially embedded
Linux in webphones, netputers, cablecorders and all of the other
"convergence" gear we're going to see in the next five years.  It just
may not be as fun as using it to coax life out of aging 486 gear.


ccb

--
Charles C. Bennett, Jr.			VA LiNUX Systems
Systems Engineer, Northeast US		25 Burlington Mall Rd., Suite 300
+1 617 543-6513				Burlington, MA 01803-4145
+1 888 LiNUX-4-U x 5738			+1 888 LiNUX-4-U
ccb at valinux.com				www.valinux.com

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