[Tfug] 2 weeks of Hackintosh fun..

[Bowie J. Poag]

>
>
> My problem with the original direction of the thread was that Bowie (and
> later others) were "calling out Linux" for their inability to use the
> available desktop environments to suit their needs.
...You realize you're talking to someone who wrote his own desktop, 
right? I'm thinking I might be more qualified than most to call Linux' 
desktop deficiencies out. :)  I got tired of waiting for GNOME and KDE 
to do what I needed it to do, and did it my way. Then I got tired of 
having to do it my way, and found that OS X was basically doing the same 
sort of thing that I was. Why reinvent the wheel? Especially when i'm 
not getting paid to do it? :)

Here's what it looked like before I stopped working on it in June '04.. 
(I still have the source around here somewhere, if you're curious.)

Halogen v0.1:

http://home.comcast.net/~bpoag/desktop.jpg


>
> I don't think that TFUG is the appropriate place to call out dedicated
> (in most cases unpaid) programmers on the basis of preference.
> Additionally, defending this preference with the suggestion that
> proprietary OSs are in some measure free just serves to raise my hackles.
Free as in free to criticize....
> If we are to compare proprietary OS to FOSS OS in this forum further, I
> think we should stick to discussing the free portions or to compare them
> as objectively as possible on their merits as opposed to our anecdotal
> notions about them.
Providing opinion, or commentary is not dispensation of law..  Until 
someone pries your eyeballs open and sits you down infront of a screen 
full of nothing but TFUG discussion, you're free to ignore conversations 
you don't wish to take part in. Saying Linux on the desktop isn't ready 
for prime time isn't sacrilege, nor is criticism of the direction of 
different projects in the OSS community. KDE is not a sacred cow, nor is 
GNOME, and saying that Linux is ready for the desktop doesn't make it 
so. The numbers speak for themselves, better than anyone one of us, 
really.... Among the general public (read: non-hobbyist, non-technical, 
casual computer users) the number of people using Linux and Linux only 
as a desktop is so near zero demographically that it might as well be 
non-existent as a category. I wish it were different, believe me. My 
point is, i'm beginning to think the race is over.  If mainstream Linux 
on-the-desktop were to happen, it would have happened by now.... And the 
longer we ignore that, the more cult-like Linux becomes. There is no UFO 
hiding behind the comet, ready to swoop in and take us in our new Nike 
shoes to la-la land.  Unix on the desktop is here..it's just that it's 
not on the free Unix you are using.

> The idea that FOSS OSes are only for tinkerers is an idea that I think
> is false these days (although oft invoked), and very damaging to a very
> valuable community.
Okay.

Cheers,
Bowie







>
> Shawn
>
> - --
> Shawn Nock (OpenPGP: 0x4E549994)
> nock at fastmail dot fm
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