Management
Technology
- Applications
- Business Intelligence
- Development
- Hardware
- Mobile & Wireless
- Networking
- Internet
- Operating Systems
- Security Products
- Servers & Datacentre
- Storage
Toolbox
Training
Books
White Papers
Webcast
Resource Centre
July 04, 2007
Linux guru calls for coordinated drive on open source desktop
Ubuntu Linux founder Mark Shuttleworth wants common release cycle
By Rodney Gedda, Computerworld
Ubuntu Linux founder Mark Shuttleworth is urging the three large desktop projects of KDE, GNOME, and OpenOffice.org to agree on a common and regular release cycle.
Advert
During his keynote address at this year's aKademy KDE conference in Glasgow, Shuttleworth suggested that KDE move to a more predictable, preferably six-month, release schedule.
The rhythm and beat of publicity, according to Shuttleworth, would be a frightening prospect for proprietary competition.
KDE's blog editors said the comments "certainly prompted heated discussion, which is still going on".
With a significant release coming in the form of KDE 4 later this year, the KDE project is committing to a six-month release cycle but "who knows what the exciting future will bring", say the project's contributors.
Ubuntu Linux has become renowned for delivering a new version of its operating system every six months, a schedule which resulted in a lot of publicity for it in April with the release of 7.04 "Feisty Fawn."
In his presentation titled "13 Lessons for the Free Desktop", Shuttleworth spoke about the top challenges for the free desktop, from look and feel to licensing and collaboration.
He said differences in packaging open source software, while once meaningful, should now be consistent as differences are just barriers to broader adoption of the free desktop and lead to a lot of duplication and useless work.
With a new generation of mobile phones emerging, Shuttleworth believes interoperability with the latest digital cameras and multimedia devices is becoming more important.
Other emerging technologies the free desktop should foster are sensory immersion, real-time cooperation, and the 3D experience.
Now read
Shuttleworth: Microsoft and Linux united on patents
Follow highlights from ComputerworldUK on Twitter
Sign up for our Daily Newsletter
The UK IT News widget Get it for your site!
« prev article | more development news | next article »
Advert
Email this article to a friend or colleague:
PLEASE NOTE: Your name is used only to let the recipient know who sent the story, and in case of transmission error. Both your name and the recipient's name and address will not be used for any other purpose.
- This article is now being printed.
What are your views on this subject? Use the form below to post a comment on this article up to 1000 characters.
Click below to add 'Linux guru calls for coordinated drive on open source desktop - Software Development - ComputerworldUK' to your blog.
If you do not have a ComputerworldUK Account and would like to use this feature, please Register.
If you are a registered, logged-in user, this will post the title and first paragraph of this story to your blog to share with your readers.
Advert
Newsletters
Our Daily & Weekly Newsletters highlight breaking news, vital issues, expert analysis and solutions to help you stay ahead of developments in the industry.
WHITE PAPERS
-
Legal risks: Employee use of the internet and email
Exploring the challenges facing IT Mangers today and vital steps to ensure safe internet an email use by employees. -
Phishing for victims
This White Paper examines the phenomenon of phishing. It explains the potentially catastrophic threat it presents to all kinds of organisation. Exploding some widespread myths, it lights up the murky waters where phishing first emerged and where it continues to evolve. But it also highlights what your business can do to blunt the threat.
Comments received
Terry Davis said on Thursday, 05 July 2007
You speak of spiritual things in spiritual terms and the Biblical "water" is like nourishment. I have a competing operating system by way of mindshare, but not directly competing. I stopped to think what Linux should do. I guess they're doing the right thing, but instead of playing catch-up with Windows, they might be better off innovating. How about a killer app that only ran on Linux, giving a real incentive to switch. Price isn't that compelling, is it?
Some people are messing with me for crazy stuff I said about perfumes.
Once, I thought it might be good for software to always challenge hardware makers, lest improvements stop. It's a little like tha auto industry doing big vehicles. If the need for better hardware stopped, what would happen to the industry?
One thing I use new hardware for is making life easier for programming. My code is simpler thanks to powerful hardware...
www.losethos.com
NotAltered said on Thursday, 05 July 2007
Terry, are you high? The Internet police need to pull you over for Posting While Under the Influence.
rob said on Thursday, 05 July 2007
Terry, do you work for microsoft?
Dante said on Friday, 06 July 2007
Wow Terry, awsome! You should consider a career in politics or homeopathy. Not one sentence made sense and you steered all too close to seeming the Eliza program.
What ever substance you're abusing - back off now!
ubuntuwho said on Friday, 06 July 2007
Personally I wouldn't hold my breathe. By the time anyone in the linux world can agree on some standards it will be so behind evrything else it wont matter.