Since Windows blew up I’m happy enough running a free Linux desktop, the KDE environment running on the Kubuntu distribution.<\/p>\n
Three big Linux environments are all chasing a new vision: Gnome Shell, Ubuntu Unity, and KDE Plasma are all trying to move beyond the 17-year old Windows 95 desktop paradigm of a Start menu button on a bar that also shows running applications and a handful of system icons. As is Windows 8 Metro. All of these changes are leading to much wailing and gnashing of teeth. But I don’t see any of these efforts actually addressing the yawning chasm between working with in the browser with bookmarks and favorites, and working with local files in applications.<\/p>\n
As I wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n I think there are three competing visions that inelegantly share our “bigger than 40cm” computer screens:<\/p>\n Nobody has figured out how to meld these, so it’s not surprising that Linux desktop environments are in a state of churn along with Windows 8, i\/Mac OS, etc. And average computer users are bewildered; most of the time they do everything in the browser, until they’re faced with a “Save as” dialog or they plug in a camera, at which point they just fill random directories with crap they’ll never find again.<\/p>\n I think the inexorable trend is towards browser-based software (which thanks to HTML5 doesn’t<\/em> imply always needing an internet connection, or storing all your data in the cloud). But Apple\/Google\/Microsoft resist this because they can monetize an app store and because they’re big enough to get platform-specific development. (Note how all<\/em> would-be smartphone and tablet competitors start with “write HTML apps” until they get big enough to sing a different tune “Write proprietary apps for our app store”.) But Linux desktop environments aren’t in the game for $3.99 apps. So I think they should give up<\/em> on applications written for their toolkit and just work on a lighter-weight OS that provides a fantastic browser environment for great HTML5 applications. The raw source code is out there with Chromium OS<\/a>, Boot to Gecko<\/a>, Tizen<\/a>, etc. The innovation lies in figuring out how to present a useful coherent vision for bookmarks, files, application icons, app tabs, recent documents, and all the other paradigms that currently conflict and confuse us.<\/p>\n http:\/\/jalopnik.com\/5895814\/todays-morning-shift-choose-your-own-adventure<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Since Windows blew up I’m happy enough running a free Linux desktop, the KDE environment running on the Kubuntu distribution. Three big Linux environments are all chasing a new vision: Gnome Shell, Ubuntu Unity, and KDE Plasma are all trying … Continue reading \n