[Ilugc] How far we are going to Compromise ?
- From: mbchandar@xxxxxxxxx (balachandar muruganantham)
- Date: Sun Aug 20 19:51:54 2006
hi
On 8/20/06, Chakkaradeep C C <chaks.yoper@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi all,
Before reading my mail, I would like you all to read Open Source guru
advocates ideological
shift<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/17/eric_raymond_linux_compromise/>
i did
Thats running in my mind for more than 6 months. How far GNU/Linux is gonna
compromise on the Desktop Market ?
it depends on the user.
The people who are going to use GNU/Linux as their Desktop arent geeks(like
us). They do not even know what a "command line tool" and no way you can
make him/her to learn, as he/she would tell, why would he/she has to learn
!.
correct me if i am wrong, as for as i know, GNU tools are created as
an alternative to UNIX command line tools. Its not targetted to a end
user. its target is that people who are interested in learning the
tools alternative to UNIX
We do know that there are patent rights with Mp3,DVD etc., There are no
support for many plugin formats for the same reason too. If one needs such
things to be done, he/she is redirected to pages like ,
- For Ubuntu <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RestrictedFormats>
- For Novell/SuSE<http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT7527984757.html>
- For
RedHat<http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ForbiddenItems#head-480f1c231662c4279ebc75f7298db407ee0a5593>
it cannot be done unless the org which possess the copyright releases
the specification.. as an alternative to mp3 format, i guess OGG is
there. for DVD, i am not sure.
Dont these have to work out of the box if you really want it to be used by
the normal people ?
not necessarily. if normal people wanted to use, they should first
understand what linux is for and what it is not.
Yes, companies need to compromise and thats what M$ had done during the
start (Gud or Bad,one has to admit).
you are correct and they did because thats their business.
I would say this is one of the reasons, people fear of adopting GNU/Linux
into Desktops.
you are correct. you said people. whom does this people refers to? if
its includes me, then i am using fedora linux in my laptop for all my
needs.
When companies like Novell,RedHat have decided their target are Desktop
Users, why would they not get exclusive rights like how M$ has ?. Sure,
there should be a way. If M$ is able to do things, why not WE.
M$ is willing to pay and get the copy rights of the format and
incorporate the same in the windows OS. Redhat, Novell decided to
target corporate Desktop users because they find that they could lot
of money. and corporate desktop users dont need mp3 support and all i
guess and also they wont listen to mp3 music or play DVD while at
work. If they are really targetting at end user desktop, they would
have done everything before itself. since they found that no revenue
would be generated in end user desktop, they are concentrating on
corporate users.
Take a GNU/Linux Desktop Oriented Distro, list out things what would be
required to make it still better(in terms of out of the box support), let us
prepare the list, take survey, and submit online the results.This will help
the companies understand that there are quite large number of people needing
these requirements.(I am sure they would know already)
This will not happen and different people will have different
requirement.(i am not against this survey, but how far the survey is
real)
There are many other things also that we need to compromise. There are many
proprietary products in Linux itself (like, CrossOverOffice) which are great
deal for Desktop Users. If we neglect them,and just strive for only FREE(as,
Free of Cost), I think the situation would be the same and sure normal
people would not be able to use GNU/Linux.
the decision is left to the people whether they want to use
proprietory products or GNU Tools
Am not at all telling that GNU/Linux is not growing or there are only
pitfalls. These issues are something we need to keep track of.And my kind
advice would be to spread the word FREE as in FREE TO USE/REDISTRIBUTE and
not as in FREE OF COST. That leads into a different scenario.
i use lots of free to use / redistribute tools(for which source code
were available for download). GNU tools are growing and becoming
mature than before. Either way it is possible. the word Free can be
Free to use / redistribute or it may be free of cost. say tools like
GIMP are free to use / redistribute / free of cost. It depends on the
author setting the License for the software he writes.
We are doing a good job in spreading about GNU/Linux by conducting LDDs at
various institutions. Is there any way to conduct LDD for the normal public
?. If so, then , it would be great show and sure our voices will reach the
Public, Media.
you are going in a wrong directions. we are spreading about GNU /
Linux to create awareness among school students who are inturn very
much interested in learning stuff. Normal public wont care whether its
linux / windows. they all think about getting their work done. there
are some people who understands GNU / Linux and use them and some not.
One of the main reason for me to be with Freespire <http://freespire.org> ,
is their Vision on how to make GNU/Linux best in the Desktop Usage. They
have legal rights in giving out the restricted
formats<http://wiki.freespire.org/index.php/Summary_of_Proprietary_Components>out
of the
box.Please dont think am here to spread about Freespire. These things are
the basic needs for a Desktop User.
Great and good going for freespire. i guess freespire is derived from
linspire. linspire is not free. i guess linspire didnt go well in the
market and that is the reason they have release the freespire version.
also restrictred formats which u have mentioned, source code for those
are available in public? all the tools incorporated in freespire are
GNU tools or comply with GPL license?
The future of GNU/Linux is good if we make GNU/Linux the best in Desktop
Usage as stated by Eric Raymond.
Its good if it happens. what are the criteria that makes best in
Desktop usage? Even i could say windows is difficult to use for people
like my father. they find it difficult to understand stuff in it or
even normal operations like opening a file, editing it, saving it etc.
In that case, how he can able to switch to linux? because end users
have different requirement and that is why companies like M$ releasing
versions by versions to satify the user.
--
<name> balachandar muruganantham</name>
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<Hotmail> mbchandar</Hotmail>
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