>> I was at a local LUG meeting today and was very distressed that the >> above >> view >> should be expressed, and forcefully. I found it distressing because >> that >> is >> quite some allegation - that we and Mate users and Cinnamon users etc., >> (all >> splinter groups) are actually damaging Linux, doing it harm. >> >> The fact that we are free to digress and disagree is why I like open >> source so >> much. Take away that freedom and we might as well all use Windows. It >> seemed to me a quite extraordinary allegation. And as I say, I found it >> personally upsetting. >> >> Since Linux without its freedom would not be Linux, nothing would seem >> to >> me >> more terminally harmful to Linux than to destroy that freedom. >> >> I am a congenital maverick. I claim the right to remain a maverick and >> to >> swim against the tide as much as I like! >> >> Lisi > > My take on this is that we are observing the first major split between > producers and consumers in the computing market. Prior to the iPhone and > similar devices, both consumers and producers had to use the same hardware > and software for their disparate tasks. Now that hardware has become > smaller and software more powerful, consumers can for the first time use a > "computer" that functions more or less like a video game--i.e. it is "easy > to use", "pretty", "simple", it "connects people together", etc. > Producers on the other hand will continue to demand more and more power to > fuel their increasingly complex tasks and meet their wall clock deadlines. > > I have had comments from people who "got used to" KDE4 and Unity, and when > they tried TDE again years later, they found that they were vastly more > productive in a tasks accomplished vs. hours spent metric. > > Consumers will always outnumber producers, therefore they will always have > the largest vote. Producers on the other hand know what they need and > will pay lots of $$$ to get it, even as the software they require becomes > more and more of a niche item. TDE is one of the few projects that can > continue to satisfy those needs, and in reality it will have very little > impact on the consumer market for Linux. > > Just my $0.02. :-) > > Tim One further thought: What if all Linux users were forced to use a GUI exclusively, simply because the GUI is "newer" and a "step forward" compared to the command line? Users could adapt, but tasks that naturally favor a command line would become cumbersome when forced into an exclusively graphical environment. Instead of taking such radical steps, developers chose to offer both a GUI and the original command line functionality. What I see at the moment is a large group of people attempting to fully replace the mouse and keyboard interface with a touch-only interface, simply because the consumers demand it. Personally I like touch technology, but only as an *addition* to the mouse+keyboard interface, not a full replacement. As an aside, touchscreens tend to to produce repetitive stress injury much faster than the mouse+keyboard interface, simply because one must keep one's index finger and arm in a very still, unnatural position for the entire time one is using the interface. Tim