[TriLUG] Steam says that two percent of its users are now on Linux

Brandon Van Every bvanevery at gmail.com
Thu Mar 7 15:59:08 EST 2013


On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 3:44 PM, John Vaughters <jvaughters04 at yahoo.com>wrote:

>
> So what this has done is get just about every OS available in the world on
> Open Source Dev except Microsoft. So when I can jump on an Apple and run
> GUI programs via SSH on my Linux Servers from any place in the world, I am
> thinking this is what we call standards. Since those trivial standards (Not
> really trivial for coders) are being developed rapidly by the world, we all
> benefit. Then enter Microsoft; they do not beleive in standards and
> constantly are coding what has already been done and usually better.


Apple does not believe in open standards for their user experience.  They
are tight lock-down control-mongers.  There is no repository where I can
download MacOS or iOS and improve the source code, so I have no idea what
you're talking about that Apple is open source driven.  What they've done,
is sensibly leverage an open source base to support an entirely proprietary
business model.

And now Canonical doesn't believe in standards either, unless the standard
is their own.  They may have some survival reasons to pursue Mir.  They may
need to get it done faster than the pace that open source development is
moving, or they may cease to exist as a company.  They may cease to exist
anyways.  I know there are plenty of Linuxers who do not accept this "chase
the wimpy mobile devices!" money paradigm.  It remains to be seen how many
bright new gewgaw consumers Canonical can attract, vs. hemorrhaging old
guard techies.

Meanwhile important determinants of the 3D graphics market, ATI and NVIDIA,
do not believe in open source or standards.  They have huge influence on
the industry segments I care about.  It remains to be seen if Intel can
dethrone them with an open source strategy.  I won't hold my breath.


> Now to preposterous. I will take the my best CLI user over your best GUI
> user anyday and make a bet on a productivity test. I promise you typing and
> knowing the OS from the text side is without a doubt the fastest way to
> manage servers. Less so with Microsoft, becasue they do not follow the text
> file set up as cleanly as *nix, but still very good on CLI. This is
> especially true with scripting for repeating tasks.
>

Do you realize that half of Apple's money comes from iPhone sales alone and
has nothing to do with this server UI world you live in?


Cheers,
Brandon Van Every



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