The Elusive Total Linux Convergence Dream | Tech Blog

Regular readers know that I usually stick to the well-charted territory of essential terminal commands and practical overviews of Linux history, since they are immediately useful to newcomers. Thankfully for beginners, the basics don’t change very quickly — but that’s not to say that Linux is a stagnant ecosystem. Far from it. Linux can be found at the very frontier of emerging computer trends.

The Elusive Total Linux Convergence Dream

Most current events in the Linux community have little direct impact on the average desktop user, but one recent development that very much does is Canonical’s decision to end development of Ubuntu’s flagship Unity desktop. This was disheartening news for Unity fans this spring, but over the past few months it has been the subject of intense discussion throughout Linux developer and user circles for what it portends for the community at large.

Linux Pioneers

When the Linux kernel was unveiled to the world in the early 90s, there was a rush to devise and release new projects based on it. Without any existing precedents, and with a seemingly limitless field of possibilities, most distribution developers tailored their projects for specific use cases.

That development model served both to increase the likelihood that the distribution would stand out in its niche and to reduce the workforce needed to polish and maintain it.

Red Hat, one of the first Linux titans to emerge, optimized its operating system for running smooth and stable servers. Debian focused on providing a dependable yet customizable desktop (though it could double as a server as well). A number of others blazed their own trails.

Many entrants in the first wave of Linux distributions excelled at their respective specialties, but few were ambitious enough to aspire to dominate multiple markets.

Enter Ubuntu

Mark Shuttleworth founded Canonical in 2004 to launch Ubuntu, one of Linux’s first and most promising attempts to create a distribution that could bridge the traditional use-case divides — and do it with flair.

After establishing a foothold in both desktops and servers, Ubuntu unveiled its own graphical desktop environment, Unity, in 2010.

Most desktop environments are standalone projects, and the vast majority of Linux distributions ship with a default desktop environment or provide users with the choice of many competing desktops at installation time.

Ubuntu’s launch of Unity put it in an elite new class of flagship Linux projects by giving it a look and feel to match — a feat that even today only a handful of distributions can lay claim to.

Still, Ubuntu was just getting started. After the birth and explosion of the mobile device market, Ubuntu in 2013 set its sights on a smartphone and tablet operating system that could provide the core Ubuntu experience without compromise, allowing users to run full-fledged Linux across all their devices.

The initiative, known as “Ubuntu Touch,” was short-lived, but it marked a significant milestone for Linux. Before then, no one had made a serious convergence effort. Since then, Ubuntu has
extended its reach to Internet of things devices and even car operating systems. Uber’s self-driving test fleet
runs on Ubuntu.

The Next New Way Forward

Despite a handful of unsuccessful experiments, Canonical has charted a path of steady growth for Ubuntu for more than a decade. Canonical’s decision to discontinue Unity marks a disappointing development for Ubuntu and for Linux at large.

More than any other project, Ubuntu embodied the hope that a Linux-based operating system could span the same breadth of markets and products as the behemoths of the proprietary software world, Apple and Microsoft, do.

In announcing its decision to bring the Unity desktop to a conclusion, Canonical
outlined its strategy to pivot to the IoT and automotive spaces, capitalizing on the demand for a stable, secure and extensible operating system for these burgeoning computer markets.

As shrewd a business move as this may prove to be, one cannot help but view it as a sign that Linux, even with the backing of one of the ecosystem’s most formidable companies, still can’t keep all the computing market balls in the air at once. Linux may well reach that point eventually — there are more than enough brilliant and determined developers to make it there — but that point has proven farther off than many had hoped.

Viewed from one angle, faith in the conventional expansion strategy for Linux projects — in many ways blazed by Ubuntu — has emerged a bit shaken. However, this may mean only that a new way forward has yet to be found or widely adopted.

Small and scrappy projects like Solus and Elementary have raised the bar for the elegant, modern Linux desktop experience. With desktop-quality mobile Linux still an unscaled summit, ambitious teams from all over the world are hard at work to make their mark. As with the end of any software project, as sad as many are to see Unity go, it means there is more room for a fresh approach.

Jonathan Terrasi has been an ECT News Network columnist since 2017. His main interests are computer security (particularly with the Linux desktop), encryption, and analysis of politics and current affairs. He is a full-time freelance writer and musician. His background includes providing technical commentaries and analyses in articles published by the Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights.

The post The Elusive Total Linux Convergence Dream | Tech Blog appeared first on Nigerian News 24/7 | ElotiTV.com.


by Eloti TV via Nigerian News 24/7 | ElotiTV.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

INEC to issue permanent voter cards in 10 states

Latest blog entries - Eloti tV INEC to issue permanent voter cards in 10 states The National Independent Electoral Commission says it will commence the issuance of the permanent voter cards in 10 states of the federation. The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Benue, Alhaji Baba Yusuf, told journalists on Tuesday that the issuance of the cards would be between May 23 to May 25 while the continuous voters’ registration would hold between May 28 and June 1. He said the commencement of the two exercises were a prelude to the 2015 general elections. Yusuf explained those eligible to register in the CVR included those who were not up to 18 years as at 2011 and those who were unable to register during the last exercise. “Those who had problems with the direct data capture machines and were not captured during the 2011 registration exercise as well as those who could not register in 2011 for one reason or the other can also register this year,” he said. The REC advised vot
Read more

October 1: You are free to live in any part of Nigeria, FG reassures Nigerians

By CALEB AYANSINA ABUJA – FEDERAL Government, Friday, reassured every Nigerian not to panic but to live freely in any part of the country without fear of molestation. The assurance was coming on the heel of growing tension in the country, barely 24 hour to the expiration of the October 1 deadline quit notice issued by the coalition of Arewa youth groups. The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo also challenged religious bodies and other relevant stakeholders in the project Nigeria to leverage on their influence to jettison every divisive groups and their actions in the country. Osinbajo, who was speaking at the public lecture to mark the 57th independence anniversary of Nigeria organised by the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) in Abuja, reiterated the government resolve to achieve just and equitable society. Represented by the Minister of Mine and Steel, Kayode Fayemi, the VP explained that in a society like Nigeria, there is bound to be differences, therefore
Read more

Donna Karan Apologizes (Again) After Defending Harvey Weinstein

Image
Designer Donna Karan says she didn’t know the extent of the accusations against Harvey Weinstein before she spoke out to defend the disgraced movie mogul. “I heard a whisper, but there were whispers all over,” Karan, 69, said of the sexual misconduct allegations during an interview with ABC News which aired Monday on Good Morning America . “It wasn’t until a day and a half after the I truly heard about it.” She added: “That’s my honest truth. I didn’t know.” The fashion industry vet sparked outrage earlier this month after calling Weinstein a “wonderful” person in a  Daily Mail  interview and suggesting women may be “asking for it” by dressing provocatively. She backtracked days later, issuing an apology and declaring that her statements did “not represent my actual views.” She apologized again in the recent interview, declaring, “I made a huge, huge mistake.” She admitted, “what I said is so wrong and not who I am.” “I was exhausted. I had just come from a 14-hour plane trip,”
Read more