[Ubuntu-PH] Fwd: Are open source developers too dominant? Ubuntu, Firefox prove yes

["Yosif ali" Roque Morales]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Yosif ali Roque Morales <queroph at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 7:42 PM
Subject: Are open source developers too dominant? Ubuntu, Firefox prove yes
To: cpu at googlegroups.com


March 2nd, 2009
Are open source developers too dominant? Ubuntu, Firefox prove yes

Posted by Andrew Nusca @ 9:59 am

Categories: Browsers, Linux, Operating Systems


ZDNet readers are excited about Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope. And who
wouldn’t be? With each incarnation, the Linux-based operating system
steps further from the shadow of its geekiness.

But as more is revealed of “Jaunty Jackalope,” officially the upcoming
Ubuntu 9.04 release, experts seem to be less and less impressed.

Take ZDNet Hardware 2.0 blogger Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, who expresses
his disappointment in the latest alpha 5 release of the Linux distro
and its pending successor:

   There was very little to get excited about (OpenOffice.org 3.0 …
woohoo … yawn). In fact, even the next release (9.10, or Karmic Koala)
which is over six months away, has nothing that really gets my blood
moving. Sure, there’s dedicated netbook support, but I don’t see
myself getting all that enthusiastic about that.

   Has Ubuntu development plateaued? Is the best that we can expect
the from now on evolutionary changes rather as opposed to
revolutionary ones?

Furthermore, PC World’s Keir Thomas says the most successful open
source desktop projects — Mozilla Firefox and Ubuntu — have settled
into complacency. First, Firefox:

   Do you remember why we all switched to Firefox back in 2003? One
phrase popped-up constantly: “It’s small and light, yet has all the
features I need.” [...] But the Firefox people seem to have forgotten
this. Nowadays Firefox takes at least five seconds to start on any of
my computers. [...] Most people’s favorite Firefox features aren’t
part of Firefox at all, and are provided by plugins.

   The problem is that the Firefox developers have lots touch with
what made Firefox so great. If Microsoft pulled itself together and
introduced, say, an ultra-light browser that had a plug-in structure
and guaranteed security, then I suspect many Windows users would
switch at the drop of a hat (Google Chrome developers: take note).

Second, Ubuntu:

   The most exciting thing is OpenOffice.org 3.0 and, well, that’s
not actually very exciting. It’s the same with the recently-announced
9.10 release. This will bring a focus on netbooks, we’re told, which
is very wise. But it appears that, apart from a snazzy graphical boot,
the desktop experience will be left to stagnate once again. As with
most Ubuntu releases, there will probably be furious tweaking under
the hood, or in the backroom support services, but this means nothing
if it isn’t visible, and if it doesn’t improve the end-user
experience.

Sobering words, indeed.

In the case of Firefox, I am completely in accord. What was once a
fast-and-light browser is no longer (and I don’t even run more than a
couple of plugins!), and I’ve since given Google Chrome center stage
on my desktop after a lengthy trial period, despite its own
shortcomings.

As for Ubuntu, well, that’s your call, readers.

Are open source developers too dominant? It both of these cases, it
seems each program’s developers were mindful of crossing their “T”s
and dotting their “I”s but neglectful of the overall end-user
experience. In both these cases, the result is an alternative to
current offerings that isn’t as compelling as its predecessor was,
then.

Or, as Adrian put it, is the OS simply “slowly becoming irrelevant” in
an application-focused world?

What do you think?
--
Yosif Roque Santos Morales
====================
School Administrator
Asian Academy of Business and Computers
Professor, Sociology, Strategic Studies and Islamology
Ubuntulinux user
Linux machine # 365046.
http://lamundofloss.blogspot.com/
http://mafatihulhikmah.blogspot.com/
http://strategicresearchinstitute.blogspot.com/
Mobile number +639275642816



-- 
Yosif Roque Santos Morales
====================
School Administrator
Asian Academy of Business and Computers
Professor, Sociology, Strategic Studies and Islamology
Ubuntulinux user
Linux machine # 365046.
http://lamundofloss.blogspot.com/
http://mafatihulhikmah.blogspot.com/
http://strategicresearchinstitute.blogspot.com/
Mobile number +639275642816
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