Distros Fighting The Good Fight
Whether you agree with Canonical or not,
Ubuntu is certainly proving to be the front line of Linux innovation. However,
Ubuntu isn’t the only fruit in the bowl.
For a number of years now we’ve seen the
rise of Linux Mint, as its popularity on the likes of Distrowatch’s contentious
charts has shadowed that of its main rival, Ubuntu. Despite being package based
on the latest version of Ubuntu, Linux Mint has become something of a refuge
for those whose distaste for overelaborate desktop environments and the latest
offerings from Microsoft have forced them to hop operating systems.
Best
Linux desktop of 2012: Linux Mint 13
Linux Mint in itself is more of an ideal Linux
starter’s operating system than its parent Ubuntu. As many of you will already
know, it comes with numerous bug fixes from the main package base, along with
the various controversial codecs required to play anything remotely
interesting. The software included is well established and proportioned and the
desktop environments on offer, MATE and Cinnamon, are a welcome break from the tablet
centric displays we’ve come to loath so readily.
Another distro that’s rapidly coming of age
is Zorin. Now on version 6.1 of the core, Zorin is another Ubuntu based
distribution that welcomes new users by attempting to be more Windows-like in
its approach. The ultimate goal of Zorin OS is to provide a healthy alternative
to Windows while allowing the Microsoft refugees to enjoy the many pleasures of
Linux without too much hassle.
The result is something quite special: a
stable, well thought out distro with some interesting features. We won’t go
into them all here, but suffice to say Zorin OS is certainly a distro to keep
your eye on. If you’re interested, then consider having a look at Micro Mart
forumite Bruce R’s experiences with Zorin on a number of machines and in a
number of environments, an example of which can be found at goo.gl/vw5Jq.
Zorin
OS 1.0 Screenshots
The Fedora Project has been churning out
some pretty good distros of late. Number 17 had some interesting technologies
in use, although Fedora has adhered lovingly to the much maligned Gnome 3
desktop environment. The work involved with Fedora 18 (due out early 2013,
possibly January) sees an enhancement with many features, but more importantly
the release has been put back due to the team ironing out a number of bugs. The
one to look out for is Fedora 19, which is supposedly due out sometime in May
2013. This is an especially interesting release, as it will be the first Fedora
distro to take advantage of Red Hat’s RHEL Distribution for ARM CPUs, so those
who run ARM-based devices could see a version of Fedora on their screens very
soon.
Final Thoughts
One thing that endears Linux to so many is
the fact that, despite the problems it inherently has, its lack of popularity
or the image it portrays, Linux keeps on evolving into something else. One
minute it’s a text based operating system used by the computing elite, the next
it’s offering full graphical capabilities for the movie industry; one minute
it’s a slow moving desktop environment, the next it’s evolved into the most
used mobile operating system ever.
Whenever a writer comes to pen the words
‘Linux is dead’, it reemerges as something totally different and takes over the
world without the common user ever realising that they’re using a Linux-based
system. It’s quite an astonishing feat really.
The future of Linux used to be a fairly
easy one to predict. You’d simply say that yes, it will be around next year and
may even claw another half percent of the world’s computer users. Things have
changed this year, though, and it’s not quite so easy to predict any more.
There’s little doubt that this time next year we’ll still have a traditional
Linux desktop, because there’s far too much work from the community involved to
let that die over the course of 12 months, but will Linux evolve once more and
become something else entirely?
We’ve already seen Linux being renamed and
rebranded as Android, despite the purists declaring that Android isn’t Linux.
Could we see the combination of commercialisation and the interest of big
companies rebranding Linux as a new entity?
Without doubt, we’ll find out soon and
there’ll be much ‘told you so’ and the pointing of digits should things go
either way for the future of Linux. One thing is sure, though: Linux is here to
stay, either as Linux or as something mutated by the aspirations of those who
wish to exploit it.
Is The Linux Desktop Dead?
There are undoubtedly some big challenges
ahead for Linux. More importantly, though, Linux needs to know who it’s aimed
at and who it wants to attract. For the moment, Linux still remains firmly in
the court of the enthusiast and the techie. Having read some of the comments in
our own forum and after a recent conversation with fellow contributor Roland
Waddilove about the ‘dd’ command, it’s no wonder Linux isn’t more popular. The
fact is when you mention Linux to a non-techie individual, you’re generally met
with a blank stare.
Is
The Linux Desktop Dead?
Bringing on the gaming elite and
advertising with Amazon is hardly going to usher in a new era of Linux desktop.
What’s essentially needed is a Linux-based operating system that stands out from
Microsoft and Apple as the one that everyone needs on the desktop much in the
same way that Android came across on the mobile platform. An operating system
that a user can turn on and use without having to drop into the terminal to
work some functions and features, or having to constantly refer to numerous
forums to gain the knowledge needed to perform basic tasks.
Linux on the desktop isn’t dead for the
moment at least. It may have lost the race to produce a viable and
all-encompassing consumer operating system, but it will still continue to
provide a novel desktop for those who wish to use it. It is, however,
floundering and the coming year may prove whether the desktop Linux OS will
disappear under the waves or become the commercial success that it so rightly
deserves to be.
Moving on from this, a good question would
be the one Canonical recently asked its users prior to them downloading the latest
Ubuntu.iso: how much would you pay? For the common user who’s out to purchase a
new PC, they waltz into the likes of PC World and buy the latest desktop as
offered by the sales person. They see the item as a whole, including the
operating system that comes on it, be that Windows or Mac and they don’t
usually consider the cost that has been added to the machine to cover the OS.
If, instead, they were required to purchase the PC as hardware then have the
option to purchase Windows or Mac OS or get Linux for free, I wonder what they
would choose? Choice is a wonderful thing, but only when it’s offered and the
customer knows of it.
