desktop

There was a posting on the Linux forums that caught my attention mainly because its title and subsequent logic was so twisted that it was hard to ignore. Why Ubuntu Got It All Wrong is a fairly lengthy posting about how Ubuntu Linux, arguably the most successful Linux of the last few years, is completely wrong and should be viewed as a dismal failure. It is an interesting concept, Ubuntu is certainly showing signs of being too popular too fast, but the logic behind the argument is wrong. The weirdest statement made is that a 'revolutionary' Linux desktop should not resemble the current desktop (i.e. Windows/OSX) at all. In fact in the eyes of the author Ubuntu seems to fail because it is too conventional and the money invested by Mark Shuttleworth would have been better spent on experimental, never to be seriously adopted concepts like Project Looking Glass.

Novell has announced a public preview release of Novell Linux Desktop 10. It is looking really good, that new 'Computer' menu (aka Start) they have introduced looks really slick and extremely functional. There is a tonne of good looking things in the upcoming NLD10 release, many of which are demonstrated in the some very good promotional videos from Novell.

OpenSUSE 10.1 running Google Earth and Skype natively (Click to enlarge)

What is even better is that larger software makers like Google and Skype are releasing their flagship software for Linux. On my OpenSUSE 10.1 test system I have easily installed Picasa, Google Earth and Skype and had them work first time without any issues. It is really good to see that the application offerings are beginning to be fleshed out from the basic OS/browser/productivity offerings.

I was listening to the Gillmor Gang yesterday and the guest was Jason Calacanis, CEO of Weblogs Inc (now part of AOL). He put forward the most logical argument for Google bringing out an operating system I have heard that actually sounded like it could be a success. He believed Google would release a free Linux-based operating system that would be distributed pre-installed on Dell and HP computers. Not only would the operating system be free but it would make extensive use of AdSense in order to deliver targeted advertisements in some integrated manner to users. A good portion of this income would be shared with the PC manufacturers (up to 80%), which would provide significant incentive to ship and support Google OS instead of Windows. Also this post-sale income stream would allow Dell and HP to significantly lower their retail prices on the basis that a good portion of their income would occur post-sale.

Some of my favourite places to get desktop backgrounds and icons for Mac/Windows/Linux:

http://www.joejoe.biz/joejoe/walls/
http://interfacelift.com/icons-mac/
http://desktop.dvdesign.com/