In the course of putting the January 2004 issue together, the LinuxWorld editors circulated forward-looking questions to a wide selection members of the Linux community whose opinions we respect. Here’s what they had to say. Elsewhere, “Linux will continue to make headway in 2004, but the path to success is rarely a straight line. The number of installed instances of Linux will continue to shoot straight up, but revenues for service providers will not” says David Johnson.
Linux Looking Forward in 2004
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
58 Comments
2004-01-03 2:22 am
Anonymous
An article about the future of Linux on the desktop, and guess what!!! All the OS zealots come out to play!
yes, that includes pro-Windows people (for this series of comments,. you seem to be worse than any Linux fan by picking an argument that has bugger all to do with anything said in the article – more of a knee-jerk “linux sux0rs – I want my apps! (bawl! sob!)” response than anything).
Notice that the Mac ppl are very quiet. That’s cos they’ve got all these apps plus a sexy UI. Wish I could get one!
btw, I’m running Oberon on a 486 – don’t tell me about apps! 
(preparing to be modded down!)
2004-01-03 2:23 am
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2004-01-03 3:29 am
Anonymous
It’s not fair to say that the only reason people use Linux is ideological. I certainly use it for more than just ideological reasons:
– Its security is a big help on a campus network with 15,000 virus-infested Windows machines.
– Its smoother under heavy load, which is important for somebody doing a lot of compiling.
– Its prettier. I like KDE + Crystal + Plastik rocks! Also, I like FreeType’s rendering better than Cleartype’s on my LCD.
– Maintainence is easier. Windows Update is intensely manual, compared to Apt and Portage, which are fire-and-forget.
– It fits my workflow patterns. The filesystem layout is more amenable to CLI-ing than Windows’s. KIO lets me access remote shares (which I need to do very often) transparently. And the sheer configurability of KDE lets me set things up just how I want. For example, putting the menubar at the top of the screen, but allowing Windows to overlap it, gets just a little more space out of my 15″ screen.
– Its overall less flaky. I’ve got three XP machines at home, and none of them work perfectly.
One will randomly drop its WLAN connection. Driver updates do nothing to fix this.
Another gets laggy at odd times, and can’t print to one of our printers. A recent Windows Update borked networking on it for a month before I could come and fix it.
On the last machine, XP refuses to use DMA on the hard drive. Linux uses DMA on it just fine. And I know that because after a driver update it got borked so bad I needed to use the Gentoo LiveCD to back up its files and reinstall Windows.
– Its easier to recover when things (inevitably) go wrong. Just looking at XP the wrong way is enough to render it unbootable. The “recovery CD” is completely useless. Instead, I use a Linux LiveCD. Nothing makes you look cooler than backing up files from your friend’s almost-dead HDD to your computer on the other end of campus, all while surfing Slashdot in Konqueror 
2004-01-03 4:30 am
Anonymous
Oh audio apps, give it a year or so.. you will have most if not everything there.. for example:
Cubase:
Rosegarden needs to reach the 1.0 version, and ardour do
midi integration. you will probably never see VST instruments as such (or maybe yes) but you will see separate apps (lots of softsynths) integrated via alsaseq/jack
Gigastudio:
Linuxsampler currently reads gig files and plays them with streaming and everything,(for now with some features missing and some clicking). I contribute to this project so i’m sure that in some months it will be usable.
Pro53/FM7/Absynth/etc:
Thats my speciality! I’m working on a few softsynths (FM and additive), you also have zynaddsubfx,spiralsynth, amsynth, and supercollider is being ported to linux as it became GPL.
Adobe Audition (Formerly CoolEdit Pro):
I’m not this much in the audio area, ask the LAD people about something like this. I really like sweep but it’s probably not what you wish to use.
Propellerheads Reason:
This is something that you will NEVER see implemented as such in linux, instead you can get the same or more funtionality by combining several apps. Unfortunately, i dont think the GUIs will be as cheesy
Blitz 3D:
I am sorry but I consider this a joke. Blitz/Dark basic
are not serious apps. There are a LOT of 3D libraries (even really high level) and languages you can choose to do things like this much better/faster/etc. Of course that not with fancy GUIs
Dreamweaver MX:
The use of this is very arguable. Dreamweaver is an hyper
huge application aimed to a lot of different targets at the same time. You can get smaller apps that do the same individually, and there are excellent and fully featured code/html editors
Streets & Trips 2004:
I dont have a clue about what this is, sorry.
MPEG VCR:
Not a clue, but there was a nice article here regarding this kind of apps on linux.
Treepad:
No idea either, maybe someone else more familiar with this can answer.
But as you see, things in many cases are not the same but different. That being the case, it is easy to say that several linux apps are not being available for windows either. Of course many still need some work, but most of them are nearnig the 1.0 releases!
2004-01-03 4:51 am
2004-01-03 5:21 am
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2004-01-03 12:06 pm
2004-01-03 4:34 pm
2004-01-03 4:52 pm
Anonymous
>Wow you sure know your software!
There is a lot of quality software available for Linux but
most Windows people do not even know its there because its not on sale a buy.com or in their Windows favorite magazines.
@Darius && @Software,
Sure there is always more software on Windows, i agree with that but most of the time it is the person that interacts with the software that does the job not the software on its own. I think (i hope ) i can deliver better and more complicated graphics/pre press designs in Gimp, Scribus and OpenOffice (all Free) then most people can with the whole Adobe suite. Know your tools is half of the power, maybe even more…
2004-01-03 5:44 pm
2004-01-03 6:26 pm
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2004-01-04 3:29 am
2004-01-04 3:40 am
2004-01-04 10:11 am
Since they’ve already “ported” Acrobat Reader, when will there be a Photoshop for linux?
Uh…ported Adobe Reader to what? You can only get it on Windows and Mac, I thought. At least, I haven’t seen it at Adobe.
You can find Adobe Reader on about any existing platform, including Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, etc.
You can find Adobe Reader on about any existing platform, including Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, etc.
Well, actually there’s no native BSD one yet. All *BSDs are using the linux version.
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/acrrsystemreqs.html
Adobe Reader for Linux is available from the Adobe website. The latest version ported to Linux is 5.08.
Adobe Reader is also available for OS/2, AIX, HP-IX as well as all of the Windows versions.
No, Adobe *Acrobat* Reader is available for Linux. I want Adobe Reader (== 6.0). That isn’t out. I love 6.0’s usability upgrades over 5.0x on Windows, and would really love it on Linux. In fact, is even 5.08 RH/FC usable yet? Or do you still have to use ENV=C junk to run it?
In the end, I suppose I just want something better than xpdf but faster (dear lord faster) than gpdf.
Windows and Linux will always be very different because they have completely different architectures and different goals. ‘The Art Of Unux Programming’ sheds some light on this subject.
The goals of Windows are not the goals of Linux.
Bring more software to Linux, and not only OpenSource software.
– Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, PDF Writer.. The GIMP is nice but not enough.
– Corel Draw.
– AutoCad or something as good.
– Better Office Suite (OpenOffice needs some work)
– Good full feature scanning software.
– Good full feature MediaPlayer that can handle every file format, or as a nice plug-in thing to add new file format but again, VERY easy to use/configure. No need to search and install patch to play MP3, DivX, or else…
– Linux has to be frendly, easy to use, fast, easy to install, with someting like InstallShield for distributing package/software. Where is the ICON of the application that I just installed? Where is it in the endless start menu of Gnome or KDE? Where is the UNInstall feature? Is it easy? Do I have to go to a command line?
– Linux need to have a Killer Apps… Or something else to catch the eyes of people.
Windows comes pre-installed on most PC. We all pay for Windows so why format the HDD to install Linux? That’s the question that needs an answer. What will Linux give me that Windows don’t. What ease of use will I get? And just saying that Linux is free and OpenSource is not good for average joe user. They can care less….
– Good full feature MediaPlayer that can handle every file format, or as a nice plug-in thing to add new file format but again, VERY easy to use/configure. No need to search and install patch to play MP3, DivX, or else…
MPlayer seem to handle every format I’ve thrown at it, and it plays it quite nicely and it’s not very hard to configure, granted some of the formats may be missing from MPlayer compiled and put of by Distros, but grab it yourself and compile and install.
“Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, PDF Writer.. The GIMP is nice but not enough. ”
Recently, Codeweaver (www.codeweavers.com) got Adobe Photoshop working in their CrossOver product (Wine). Seems a few hollywood production companies subsidized them, around $50k worth – it’s supposed to work fine
Looks like KMplayer or Totem is what you’re looking for. Handles more files than WiMP, DivX Player, and QuickTime put together, and is very streamlined and simple.
with someting like InstallShield for distributing package/software.
—–
InstallShield is shit. It’s too complex for doing something like installing software. Something like Click N Run (or a simplified Synaptic) is the way of the future.
Where is it in the endless start menu of Gnome or KDE?
——
I don’t get this one. The GNOME and KDE Start Menus are generally rather short. My KDE menu has 18 entries. On one of my Windows machines there are 49 entries just in the “Programs” submenu. Windows has the stupidest way of organizing menus — they do it by program name (or company name) in a flat list, and include links to totally extraneous items like registration webpages!
Crossover is good. I even got aol running to some extent in crossover and winex and even wine. AOL has a lot of graphics so it is pretty hard to emulate.
I’ve run Brutus and Superscan from within emulation also. I’m pretty impressed with what you can with the linux packages. There’s very little that linux doesn’t have natively.
As far as killer apps, linux certainly has them, just most aren’t desktop apps. I personally find the KDE gui to be a lot prettier than luna in many ways. I simply enjoy my time within linux more. Perhaps the experience with windows would pay off more in the job market, but it’s just a hobby for me at this point.
I know about Crossover, I know what it can do. But since you still use Windows software, why not stay with Windows then… When I say more Linux Software, I speek about NATIVE Linux apps. No emulation/crossover.
Mplayer : “but grab it yourself and compile and install”, compile? Yes, that easy for joe user. Think diffrent please. Compile should NEVER be something that Linux (joe user) has to do.
Rayiner : When talking about KDE or Gnome start menu I was talking after a software installation. Many package don’t even create a desktop ICON or start menu folder/icon for the apps you just installed. This is basic…
Linux PRO/geek user, Linux Developer may need to do what Xerox did at PARC years ago, learn the basic. Learn that not all users are geek. Learn that not everybody NEED or HAS to know everything about computer to use them. Using Linux should not required knowledge of compile or any other dev stuff.
Again, my 0.02$
I’m tired of this bullshit, sorry.
1-it misses yaddayadda CMYK yaddayadda
2-i hate yaddayadda floating windows yaddayadda
3-yaddayadda no vectorial layers yaddayadda
4-yuddeyadda allways not enough filters yaddayadda
5-yaayaaa no layer effects!!! yayaya
Those are basically the “three important missing features”,
then again
1-Its only useful for people that does printing
2-Group the windows and use a dedicated desktop,
photosshop for mac is like this and mac users dont complain.
3-Photoshop existed for too long without this, and it’s not a key feature, plus you can allways use sodipodi and import
the layers.
4-It has all the “useful” filters, and some much better ones (like gimpressionist, flare designer, resynthesizer, etc)
5-again photoshop didnt have this for a long time, and you can achieve the same effects with a bit of work.
Gimp is also way more than enough for people doing artistic stuff, since that hasnt changed much over the years.
And what is more amazing, is that every single artist that I asked why did they say “gimp is not enough” they just say that they couldnt find the feature or way of doing it in the very brief time they used it, so it must not be there.(and it is in all cases).
Well-packaged software doesn’t have those problems. I install a KDE app in Debian, and its right there in my menu. I presume the case is the same for other apps, though I don’t use many non-KDE apps.
As for the start menu, you spoke of the “endless start menu.” Other people have complained about the size of the start menus as well. But they’re not any longer than the Windows start menus I’ve seen! Personally, I don’t get it. It contains one link (unlike Windows, where most apps install a *folder* full of links) for each app you have installed. If you don’t want so many links, don’t install so many apps.
Well, people will go on using the software they know and are confortable with. And again, CrossOver is not something that will help Linux. Linux need to get native software.
Then again, mabe we need some training center to teach how to use Linux or any of the software that run under Linux (like The GIMP). Exactly like we have for Microsoft Windows and all the other software that runs under it.
Mabe this is all bullshit to you. Now think of all the other joe user that thinks this is no bullshit… Get out of the box…
Software: I work for a small digital media company which is primarily involved in converting old, out of copyright books of historical interest into .PDF format on CD-ROM’s. We are currently a Windows-only shop primarily due to inertia and extreme technophobia on the part of the founder. Windows is what he feels comfortable with, its what he knows. He hates to change anything, and seems to accept the network crapping out 3x a week acceptable. I don’t, because then I’m forced to theraputically re-boot everything with an old guy ranting behind me about how he “hates computers”.
I would love to switch to SUSE or something other than Windows, but until Codeweavers can do better than an honorable mention with Acrobat, we’re basically stuck. An Acrobat Reader is nice, but we need the full app.
To answer your question of “why”, Windows is flaky and insecure in numerous ways, expensive and filled with bloat, this we all know, but until Acrobat works well on linux, we seem to be stuck with Windows. If anyone can show me a linux distro that can run Acrobat, i’d be glad to recommend it. If anyone can point me to a reliable Acrobat emulator, I’ll start testing it out tomorrow.
“On one of my Windows machines there are 49 entries just in the “Programs” submenu. Windows has the stupidest way of organizing menus — they do it by program name (or company name) in a flat list, and include links to totally extraneous items like registration webpages!”
That’s not the fault of Windows, it’s the fault of the developers who make the apps. Same thing can happen in Gnome or KDE.
“To answer your question of “why”, Windows is flaky and insecure in numerous ways”
Are you talking about Windows XP? Or even Windows 2000Pro? Yeah, you need to apply the Service Pack but I find them rock solid. With any good ant-virus that plugs into Outlook you can flush just about any virus. Then again, you can use something else for your e-mail, no need to stay with Outlook. Insecure? That’s what hardware firewall are for in most case. Even home rooters can do the job.
“expensive and filled with bloat, this we all know”
Well, Windows come pre-loaded on most PC sold today. Upgrading may cost more but remember that those software developers don’t live on air. Bill Gate is rich, we know that but we cannot say that for any other Linux company.
I like to think that the bloat is what we can call feature rich. I know many of this is not allways needed and it would be nice to be able to uninstall them. That is a problem with Windows. Think about MAC OSX with iLife, it’s even more bloat than Windows XP! But iLife is realy cool and in many case, needed.
My .02$
Nice job trolling everyone! All you had to do is ignore their correct answers, and pounce upon any weak answers! These folks are pushovers.
”
Mplayer : “but grab it yourself and compile and install”, compile? Yes, that easy for joe user. Think diffrent please. Compile should NEVER be something that Linux (joe user) has to do.
”
So “Joe User” cant double click on a fricken RPM? Either your an idiot or a troll.
Don’t try linux, stick with windows.
at home i use XPpro because of the Acrobat issue, and to a lesser extent for games. At the job, we use both XPpro and Win98 machines basically mickey-moused together on the same network with some Sharp industrial scanners.
The primary purpose of my post wasn’t to slam windows(although i couldn’t help myself), I find it adequate for my purposes. I was just giving an example of why a company would stay with Windows, and a reason why I would use Crossover. If I could demonstrate to the boss that linux + Crossover was a viable alternative to our current situation, I’d do it in a heartbeat. Disruption of day-to-day business is not an option for us, since any lost production is lost money. Even the way our computers are set up now is preferable to losing a day.
I’d like to hear stories from anyone here about succcess or failure to run Acrobat 4 or 5 under linux, in any way.
I know software developers don’t live on air, dude. We generally don’t have any problems with paying for products that work. I have a problem with paying for things we don’t need, and there’s plenty in Windows we don’t need in a production envoironment(i.e. bloat)
MacOS X would be nice, but in terms of expense it’s not an option at this time.
“Don’t try linux, stick with windows.”
I’m running Lorma 4.0 right now on my second PC and XP on my main PC. Lorma is quite nice even if based on Fedora. I can even play my MP3!
Idiot, Troll? Nope, i’ve got opinion. I’m not a geek and I just hope that others will open their eyes. My feet are on the ground, i’m not floating on a Linux or Windows cloud. Windows need some improvement, Linux too. But the facto standard is Windows. What does Linux need to get better? Just remember that it did not take Microsoft 10 years to become the facto, they did that very quickly, since Win 3.0. Linux is here since when? 1996? In 2006, when Longhorn will be out the doors, I just hope that Linux will have something as strong to show us.
This is the typical thing I see from Linux users:
I use Linux – it does everything I need! I use Mozilla for web browsing email, Open Office for writing documents, and K3B for CD burning!
And besides some of them doing some coding and graphics work with The Gimp, it seems that’s about all they do with their computers. Hell, if that were the case in my situation, I would’ve probably switched to Linux a long time ago.
My take is that the one thing Linux has over Windows is security. However, to make Windows secure, you pretty much need anti-virus software and a firewall, which is only one more app than you would need with Linux. That and not using IE, and you’ve got a reasonably secure system. All the other stuff I hear is mostly idealogical – well, if that’s what floats your boat …
>Bring more software to Linux, and not only OpenSource >software.
>- Adobe Photoshop
Gimp, VIPS, Photopaint
>Illustrator
PageStream, CorelDraw!
>PDF Writer..
OpenOffice, PageStream, Scribus
>AutoCad or something as good.
Maya, Softimage, LinuxCad
>Good full feature scanning software.
VueScan
>Good full feature MediaPlayer
Xine, Mplayer
Need more?
>My take is that the one thing Linux has over Windows is >security. However, to make Windows secure,
Impossible!
>you pretty much need anti-virus software and a firewall,
This is a typical Windows user, i install some software and the machine is secured. Good luck!
>which is only one more app than you would need with Linux.
I do not know about you but i use a lot more apps under LInux that a browser and a firewall.
>That and not using IE,
And outlook and windows network etc.
>and you’ve got a reasonably secure system.
sure….sure??
>All the other stuff I hear is mostly idealogical
or well over thought, Windows is for gaming and newbies but hey if that’s what floats your boat …
If this is not a Troll, I don’t know what it is.
Where were you when the news got out that Linux has as many security problem than Windows, if not more? Yeah, I read the news.
Come on guys! Linux is great, Linux is good for many things but it’s not the answer to everything. NOTHING is perfect.
Does anyone know where I can get a demo of maya for linux w/o becoming a member?
Where were you when the news got out that Linux has as many security problem than Windows, if not more? Yeah, I read the news.
You got a link to that? All I see is the newest worm traveling through Windows messanger( http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-5134559.html)
NOTHING is perfect.
I agree. Linux isnt perfect, but its better than windows.
>Where were you when the news got out that Linux has as many
>security problem than Windows, if not more? Yeah, I read the
>news.
You read to much osnews…
I reall troll feeds like:
<troll> Windows is more secure than Linux </troll>
@Software,
You can read whatever you want but i work in an evoirment with a lot of Unix (Linux/BSD/MACOSX) and Windows machines desktops and servers, and we have not ever had a security / troja /virus issue with the Unix machines, the windows machines on the other hand….please get real. Windows computing is very unsecure computing!
“Don’t try linux, stick with windows.”
I’m running Lorma 4.0 right now on my second PC and XP on my main PC. Lorma is quite nice even if based on Fedora. I can even play my MP3!
Idiot, Troll? Nope, i’ve got opinion. I’m not a geek and I just hope that others will open their eyes. My feet are on the ground, i’m not floating on a Linux or Windows cloud. Windows need some improvement, Linux too. But the facto standard is Windows. What does Linux need to get better? Just remember that it did not take Microsoft 10 years to become the facto, they did that very quickly, since Win 3.0. Linux is here since when? 1996? In 2006, when Longhorn will be out the doors, I just hope that Linux will have something as strong to show us.
Don’t worry about the aggresive replies, the fact is that there are too many people who take any criticism of Linux personally. They remind me of the zealots who refuse to listen to reasoned arguements that may possibly challenge their dogma.
The fact is that you bought up and issue I have been moaning on about for a good 3 years. The fact is people want applications and quite frankly they don’t give a shit about “alternatives”, they want to run the same applications they would under Windows and able to purchase these programmes off the shelf from their local department store such as Harvey Norman or Dick Smiths.
The end user doesn’t give a toss about GIMP or some other OSS, TLA centric, half baked, semi-working clone of a commmercial application. If the end user wants to use Photoshop Elements, then that is what they want to run.
iPhoto is a great tool. My father bought a camera, hooked it up to his new eMac, iPhoto instantly loaded, he clicked on “import” and voila, he had his pictures ready to use. No installation or intervention required. He selected the picture, removed the red eyes and tweaked it up a bit. That is what users want. They don’t want to use some half baked, sorry excuse for a Photoshop clone, aka GIMP, which has a usability and ugliness issue greater than the Windows XP Luna theme.
People want applications, they want them from well known vendors so that they know who to scream to when the shit hits the fan and most of all they want to be able to hook up hardware and it works, install software and the short cuts actually APPEAR in the menu along with the software being PROPERLY tested with distributions to ensure that there are no “quirks” the end user has to contend with.
Need more?
Alirhgt. I don’t normally do this, but I’ll bite …
Cubase
http://www.steinberg.net/en/products/music_production/cubase_sx_20/…
(Not to mention good replacements for VST Instruments such as The Grand and HALion)
Gigastudio
http://www.nemesysmusic.com/index.php
Pro53/FM7/Absynth/etc
http://www.nativeinstruments.com
Adobe Audition (Formerly CoolEdit Pro)
http://www.adobe.com/products/audition/main.html
Propellerheads Reason
http://www.propellerheads.se/products/reason/index.cfm?fuseaction=m…
Blitz 3D
http://www.blitzbasic.com/Products/_index_.php
Dreamweaver MX
http://www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver/?promoid=home_prod_d…
Streets & Trips 2004
http://www.microsoft.com/streets/default.asp
MPEG VCR
http://www.womble.com/vcr-text.htm
Treepad
http://www.treepad.com/
Well, there’s 10+ apps … that oughta be enough to get you started.
Since you say ‘Windows is for gaming and newbies’ then I expect that Linux has functional equivalents for all of the above apps.
Dreamweaver MX