Is The Linux Desktop In Trouble?

'"I believe that, as Microsoft keeps moving Windows to a
Desktop-as-a-Service model, Linux will be the last traditional PC
desktop operating system standing," writes ZDNet contributing editor
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols.

"But that doesn't mean I'm blind to its problems."

First, even Linus Torvalds is tired of the fragmentation in the Linux
desktop. In a recent [December 2018] TFiR interview with Swapnil
Bhartiya, Torvalds said, "Chromebooks and Android are the path toward
the desktop." Why? Because we don't have a standardized Linux desktop.
For example, better Linux desktops, such as Linux Mint, provide an
easy way to install applications, but under the surface, there are
half-a-dozen different ways to install programs. That makes life
harder for developers. Torvalds wishes "we were better at having a
standardized desktop that goes across the distributions."

Torvalds thinks there's been some progress. For software installation,
he likes Flatpak. This software program, like its rival Snap, lets you
install and maintain programs across different Linux distros. At the
same time, this rivalry between Red Hat (which supports Flatpak) and
Canonical (which backs Snap) bugs Torvalds. He's annoyed at how the
"fragmentation of the different vendors have held the desktop back."
None of the major Linux distributors -- Canonical, Red Hat, SUSE --
are really all that interested in supporting the Linux desktop. They
all have them, but they're focused on servers, containers, the cloud,
and the Internet of Things (IoT). That's, after all, is where the
money is.

Linux desktop distros "tend to last for five or six years and then
real life gets in the way of what's almost always a volunteer
effort..." the article argues. "It is not easy building and supporting
a Linux desktop. It comes with a lot of wear and tear on its
developers with far too little reward."

His solution? Having a foundation create a common desktop for all
Linux distros, so the Linux world could finally reap the benefits of
standardization. "This would mean that many more Linux desktop
developers could make a living from their work. That would improve the
Linux desktop overall quality.

"It's a virtuous cycle, which would help everyone."'

-- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/19/04/13/0151256

Cheers, Peter
-- 
Peter Reutemann
Dept. of Computer Science
University of Waikato, NZ
+64 (7) 858-5174
http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/
http://www.data-mining.co.nz/
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