Standard Linux - is it possible?

I've read a post by Dana Blankenhorn, who "has been a business journalist for nearly 25 years and has covered the online world professionally since 1985".

Here's a trackback to a story.

He's talking about running a "standard" Linux distribution. Not choosing one, but rather, using one.

I like his way of thinking actually. If mostly used distribution is Ubuntu, doesn't that makes it "standard"? Wouldn't it be easier for all to create and distribute products that would work with this vendor? Wouldn't it be great to optimize ourselves to work with/on it the best way possible?

Well, yes and no.

Yes because all Linux distributions (and Ubuntu in particular) are built alike. All of them include the kernel (it is a kernel what makes Linux after all), basic software, X server system (with great graphics support), management tools and software, which is generally the same on all of them. So, when an application or product is "ready" for Ubuntu, is will not be daunting or hard task to make it work with almost any other Linux distribution.

And no because it seems to me we already been in this scenario. Just imagine: a real alternative to Microsoft's and Apple's OSes, and a good one. It is so good, that many vendors start creating a products for it and based on it. Hardware vendors provide drivers and optimize their hardware. Accessories are made. Software is getting better. Ain't it great? The world, where at least one distribution becomes as good as commercial operating systems?

But that is exactly the world we're trying to change. We don't want the "lock-in" on a single vendor. I don't want to be forced to use something I don't choose by myself. We already have such vendor in our midst. Wanna guess who that is?

Isn't that the reason we do what we do with free software in the first place?

I'm all for innovation. I'm in favor of competition. I am in favor of trying to achieve high goals.

But I can't stand a choice forced on me. Even with best intentions in mind.

Technorati : Linux, Ubuntu, technology

Removing Packages from Gentoo, video editing tools and How Importants OSes are? 7-14, Nov 2006

OK, so this time there's still nothing much. Not a lot stuff happening in Gentoo, at least not on the surface.

Few things then:

1. Antarus has suggested a new official way of getting rid of packages from the tree. The main point being that old packages being removed are not completely deleted, but moved to alternative tree. Such a tree would have to be manually added to a system, and then packages which are removed from "official" tree are moved there and don't exist on official tree anymore. In addition, bug reports on such packages in official bugzilla will get INVALID resolution.
   The logical implementation would be, of course, an overlay. Call it "obsolete" overlay or something similar, so noone would question what is it for.
   
2. I've been playing around with 2 video editing tools: Cinelerra and Lives. While Cinelerra seems more able and professional, some things are much easier in Lives, such as sound-movie mixin'.
3. Jonathan Shwarts SUN CEO, says that OSes will probably stay like forever: "It reminds everybody again how central OSes are to the evolution of the Internet, ...... Every 10 years, it seems like everybody wants OSes to go away so we all dismiss them."
   Although I do understand an importance of an operating system, I don't really agree with him. I think that with time, our computer use distinctively becomes combination of 3 usage types: web (and web-based), media and games. For those, OS do not really matter, especially for web and media, because even today you can surf the web and experience music/movies on almost any platform and in universally the same way. So while OS might matter for low level development, it matters less for users.
4. I saw Mark Shuttleworth's (Ubuntu leader? initiator? mover? doesn't matter, go for person) at Ubunto Developers Summit at Google (link to a video, its 55 minutes), and what I liked especially was what he said about Gentoo: "....and there are Gentoo, which solves things in a way which attracts some people.....so we would like to figure out how to work with them [Gentoo developers] more closely"...
   Man, I like this guy, but more than that, I like his attitude to open source ideas. Maybe because I think the same way?
5. I just saw this little toy, which "offers 5832 1GFlops 64-bit processors, each dissipating just 600 milliwatts of power" and "our Gentoo portage tree points you to all of the source code in the system, both community-developed and SiCortex-specific".
   Me want !!!!!

That is about it. Council reports are not in yet, as well as bugday (or at least I haven't looked at them yet).

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