What's Required for Linux to Overtake Apple Mac OS X?
As this site has noted, Canonical and Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth at OSCON called for Linux distributions to leapfrog the quality of Apple’s Mac OS X user experience. Here’s how the Linux industry can fulfill that vision.
Shuttleworth mentioned that this innovation needs to happen within the next two years, and on both the desktop and on mobile devices. Apple has created a smooth interface, one that is similar on both the computers and on the mobile device. Of course, it helps to have a computer and operating system that is produced by the same company.
What Mr. Shuttleworth said is far more important than just a simple goal — it’s the future direction of Ubuntu and the Linux desktop. It certainly is a lofty goal, but one that I personally believe can be achieved, especially when you consider the efforts of Mozilla with Firefox.
So, what will be needed? Here are some thoughts.
A smooth interface, for one. There need to be application design guidelines, just like those on Mac OS X and Windows Vista. Creating a smooth application interface takes more than just a good looking theme. An interface must also include flow, so applications that are included should work together, and for the most part work alike.
Another goal should be standardizing the interface and applications for Linux by creating a default set of applications that become the focus of development. Apple has applications that are standards on their desktops. They all work together and work alike, and also come by default, leaving the user with little desire to use something different.
For example, KDE distributions should automatically come with Firefox in place of Konqueror. It will certainly be a challenge; many people have many different ideas about what should be done with the desktop. Look at GNOME and KDE, for example. They both have very different approaches to the desktop experience. I believe it can be achieved, but only if the designers work together and put aside their differences for a better result. GNOME and KDE will never merge, but rather it would be a step in the right direction for GNOME to innovate, and for KDE to regroup after the KDE 3 vs 4 battles that took place.
Ubuntu is ready for this challenge. The two year time frame is between the next two anticipated releases of Mac OS X. In Ubuntu-time, however, that is four releases — four releases to innovate and create a superior desktop experience. There will even be Ubuntu-powered mobile products available by the end of this year. Ubuntu will become the new Linux standard, but there is an opportunity (and invitation from Mark Shuttleworth) for other Linux distributions to join the effort. It will interesting to see where we are in the next two years.
[…] doubtful. Hovsepian painted Novell into a corner when the company agreed to partner with Microsoft on Linux-Windows interoperability last year. Some mutual Microsoft-Novell customers are certainly […]
Why is it that the people at the forefront of Linux rarely seem to ask users what they want?
A smooth interface is nice, but a lot of work still needs to be done under the hood. Interface isn’t everything. For example, isn’t about time that someone fix the Linux audio mess? How about suspend and hibernate? What about finding ways to get us legal codecs, or better integration with PDAs and other handheld devices? And better font rendering that neither kills my eyes with jaggies or kills my eyes with blurriness. Hey, what about the tens of thousands of bugs still present in the Ubuntu stack? Oh, and let’s not forget better dual monitor support, better printer support, and getting rid of that horrid Samba mess and a bunch of other stuff that Windows and Apple got right YEARS ago.
Why is it that critical functionality is always overlooked because someone thinks it’s more important to make “art?”
The Linux desktop can be prettier than all the rest, but if I can’t use it with the same level of functionality found in Windows and MacOS X, it’s a waste of my time.
If you want to know why Ubuntu will not be able to overtake Mac OS X, or any other OS, read this blog: http://linuxhaters.blogspot.com/
Josh has point. Many users are upset about this announcement because it does not focus on what needs to be done. His site Linux Haters is usually pretty accurate with the state of things “wrong” with Linux. I think that blogs like this help keep a check on enthusiasts from thinking Linux is perfect. It always needs work.
That being said, there are many posts that seem to lose the point of the whole blog. Some seem to say that Windows is better, but it doesn’t tell me much about why Linux is so bad. Others focus on applications. There are some very interesting and insightful posts there, but I feel they can be buried under fanboy posts about other things. While I will honestly say that Linux has lots of things to work on, so does any operating system, and I don’t find Windows to be any better. In fact, I find that for more things I like to do, I can get it done faster, and better in Linux.
I have to pile on here… as a music teacher, I find myself unable to break free of MS due to the fact that the Linux audio mess prevents me from having an easy time doing simple tasks my job requires. Finale and Reaper are part of my daily life and I have trouble with them in Linux. I tried to get Reaper to work with Jack, wineasio, etc. and did BRIEFLY, but then it stopped working. Finale – forget it.
At BEST I’m a linux dual-booter thanks to this situation, and I would bet that I have more patience and drive to shoehorn my work into linux than lots of others. Add that to my wireless hassles with my new laptop… amazing I’m still here 😉
Still – if anyone can clean up some of these funcitons, we could really be in for something great!
The people at the forefront of Linux ARE the ones listening to users. You won’t find many other distributions who do listen to users. Remember Ubuntu Brainstorm? That’s listening to users. We are growing into user bases, and creating a great GUI is just the next step. Those at the forefront of Linux know this. I know this because I work “in the field” giving out CDs to users and introducing them to Ubuntu.
That being said, I hear y’all… there still needs to be work done on the compatibility front. But, it’s not that bad. Usability in applications could still use some work, especially in specialist applications. Creating a great interface is not just art, but comes in part from quality programs.
Being part of the project gives a better perspective on exactly how good things are, especially on LoCo teams like mine that spread Linux. You have to understand that Linux is at a crossroads in usability, and is gradually crossing into the average user category.
FYI, since you (Josh) are apparently not in the know, the Linux Hater’s blog (read Ubuntu Hater’s) is one of the biggest trolls around. He’s just looking for attention — attention that I don’t give him.
@Jon
I myself am an active member of a LoCo, and I started out in the Ubuntu community over a year ago with a lot of enthusiasm because I had assumed that Ubuntu was finally going to be the distro that tackled the difficult problems (such as Linux audio/video/DRM/interoperability, etc.)
Now it seems that Shuttleworth is interested in chasing Apple’s small market share. Apple has one of smoothest UIs around, but it still has a small user base, so obviously people aren’t switching because of a smooth UI. And Vista is beautiful but it still sucks, so its adoption has also been slow. Can’t we learn from this? Eye-candy is great, but it has to be a bonus, not a core feature.
As for the LinuxHater’s blog, I have no idea who he is, but he’s incredibly informed about the internals of Linux (including low-level stuff), and the majority of his posts are dead-on. You just have to take the condescending, snarky rants with a grain of salt. Give it another read. There’s a lot of good stuff there.
When you say “[t]here need to be application design guidelines”– but there are, aren’t there? Don’t both Gnome and KE have guidline documents?
Here: Gnome and KDE.
You may be saying they need to merge– but I think you’re correct in implying that’s not likely to happen.
Stuff needs to just work. Things like clipboards, for instance, are unpredictable. Printing mostly works through CUPS but not completely– and not in every application.
Documentation needs to be improved. Audio, video, settings, etc have to be reliable and predictable.
Actually I think Mark Shuttleworth is bang on. The smooth interface and applications that all work alike are the goal. To reach that goal Linux developers are going to have to make hard choices and start to rationalize some stuff.
To make sound work properly with all applications and to make it work the same way with all applications, the sound mess will need to be sorted. Only when the sound mess is sorted will it be “smooth”.
But then we hit the thorny issue of multiple desktop environments. Apple only really has one. Windows only has one. Linux has dozens and dozens and dozens more you haven’t even heard of. Gnome and KDE are very different beasts.
quote: I had assumed that Ubuntu was finally going to be the distro that tackled the difficult problems (such as Linux audio/video/DRM/interoperability, etc.)
I’ve noticed that Mandriva seems to be doing a much better job of tackling those issues.
🙂 Thanks, it’s good idea.
It’s the APPLICATIONS, not the desktop! How much time is spent looking at the desktop, compared with running applications??
Josh raises some important points, unfortunately many of the points he raises are either very difficult or impossible to fix. Otherwise they would have been fixed already (as in many other areas)
gt;Why is it that the people at the forefront of Linux rarely seem to ask users what they want?
Compared to Windows, Linux is made by users, not by some company that does a release (Vista) that nobody wants and everybody tries to avoid.
gt;For example, isn’t about time that someone fix the Linux audio mess?
Yes, it is a little messy. But I produce Audio on Linux and Jack is a thing that I wish for on Windows. If you got trouble with Audio on Windows, you can shoot yourself in the head, you will never find out what is going wrong. Jack is a server, with logs and you can see what is going wrong. Also, the connections configurator is a thing jack offers, lovely how you can connect things together, save the settings. Windows does not have this, there it is different in every audio application. But this thing belongs into the OS, not the application.
ALSA is a mess, no logs, no nothing. I went through hell already configuring it, nasty.
I understand that people put force behind ALSA, because Jack is overkill for many things, but just much more clean. There is the pain with real time audio, which does not work out of the box and the RT kernel is not very mature yet.
But I still prefer Linux over Windows for Audio. On Windows it is just very hard to get by decent free audio applications and always having to pay a Windows License, if you want to setup a machine somewhere is a nono. I used to use Gigastudio, because I have instruments that run on that and now have replaced them with Linuxsampler, which works as well, but is still a little green.
gt;How about suspend and hibernate?
Unfortunately, that is not the fault of the Linux community, but of the OEMs and their crappy ACPIs…
It looks like they are real chaotes and not good engineers. Even Windows has trouble with that, but they probably get the specs, because they pay for it.
Many OEMs just ignore Linux, sometimes on purpose it seems to me.
gt;What about finding ways to get us legal codecs,
Well, for free? Impossible. These are proprietary things that companies just want to get cash for. (even as trivial as the codecs are.)
So if we keep Ubuntu free, that will always be a problem.
gt;or better integration with PDAs and other handheld devices?
Nothing to do with the Linux developers. It is the devices and their OEMs that block Linux at every turn and refuse to release software or drivers for it.
But it is annoying.
I am looking around for a new cellphone or handheld and so far had no luck (requirement: sync contacts and mails to Ubuntu)
I made a point of avoiding manufacturers at all costs that ignore Linux so purposefully, even when buying Hardware for Windows:
HP for example is doing a very good job in Printers and scanners, providing software for Linux. You actually have less hassle installing a printer or scanner on Ubuntu than on Windows (driver installs are just so yesterday)
gt;And better font rendering that neither kills my eyes with jaggies or kills my eyes with blurriness.
Agreed. THAT is a issue.
gt;Hey, what about the tens of thousands of bugs still present in the Ubuntu stack?
Well, with so many new features built in, that is bound to happen. Let us not forget that innovation is now mainly happening on OpenSource, not on Windows anymore. Take Vista, already 1.5 years old. It’s 3d Desktop does a quarter of what the 3D desktop in Linux does. More features, more bugs.
And desktop development is especially bug prone, since users (especially the non trained ones, that constitute most of the desktop folk) have a skill for stepping on them. But the majority does not help fixing them, they just complain.
gt;Oh, and let’s not forget better dual monitor support,
That is again problem of the drivers or lacking thereof by the OEMs. There is a start already, but it needs to become much better.
gt;better printer support,
Yeah, CUPS is not really so cool. I had my problems with it, it is also far too complicated.
gt;and getting rid of that horrid Samba mess and a bunch of other stuff that Windows and Apple got right YEARS ago.
Now you are being right out unfair. It is not the problem of Linux or Ubuntu that Microsoft are a bunch of self centered company murdering world domination fanatics that want to kill off everything that is not Windows. Windows does not integrate with anything else, never has. Linux is the thing that adapts and tries to get integrated with Windows. Microsoft has been blocking and hindering it at every turn, refusing specifications and making their protocols twisted and wierd just to bother and slow down reverse engineering. That is why Samba is such a mess. It is Windows networking that is a mess.
And let me guess, you would like to access file shares on you Windows Box with your Linux box, right? How else than with Samba would you like to do it?
Windows does not know NFS or anything else.
The stakes are not the same lenght for Linux, Windows is deliberately closed and interoperability deliberately blocked by MS. This is why I always laugh when I hear that MS now wants to improve it.
They don’t, because they fight Linux with everything they have, because they believe that it is their undoing. And it might be, because 10 years ago, 100 % of my computers were running on Windows. Now, only 10% are still on Windows and that just because serious gaming is still not possible on Linux.
The rest I have moved over and with added benefit.
Linux is better than Windows in many aspects, it has to be, otherwise we would not talk about it at all, it would have died. There is no marketing done for Linux, it is used on merrit alone, happy user accounts word of mouth paved the way. In my way, I can get things on Linux for much less money running smoother and more reliable than on Windows. But I agree with you, the problems you mention do exist and need to be addressed. But it is hard, with forces outside hindering and combating this effort.
gt;If you want to know why Ubuntu will not be able to overtake Mac OS X, or any other OS, read this blog: http://linuxhaters.blogspot.com/
It might actually. It surely won’t be as polished as Mac OS, but it will be a much larger system, with much more applications and most important, MORE OPEN… Apple wants to control everything themselves. They are as possessive as MS is. Linux is making inroads in many areas because it can be made into so many things by anybody that likes to.
Linux too large for portables? Somebody found a way to put it on handhelds. The leading brand Navigation tool, TomTom runs on Linux. (not Windows and it could not, because it is too fat)
The eeePC runs Linux (or XP) but not Vista, cutting out Microsoft in the category small netbook with state of the art OS.
Everybody can do with Linux what they want, Microsoft is keepin their hands tightly over Windows and hindering its proliferation.
They for example could not yet find a way to make Windows small enough to run on really small devices, not the main branch of Windows. If Canonical or RedHat alone would control Linux, it is likely that it would have suffered the same fate. Company cannot figure it out, nobody will (or can).
Out of this, it might lack coherence. It will also have 5 programs or tools where Windows has one. low level Users usually don’t want choice, it confuses them. But that is how innovation is done, by showing different possibilities and combining them in new cool ways.
Just my try at constructive critisizm.
Markus
nice info sharing. Thank’s a lot for informatif posting ^_^