MESSAGE
| DATE | 2005-12-16 |
| FROM | From: "Inker, Evan"
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] OSDL cautiously optimistic on desktop Linux
|
OSDL cautiously optimistic on desktop Linux
By Gavin Clarke
Published Thursday 15th December 2005 16:58 GMT
http://www.theregister.com/2005/12/15/osdl_fsg_desktop_linux/
The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) has voiced cautious optimism
that its latest initiative could finally herald a mass-market for Linux
on the desktop.
OSDL is pushing ahead with Project Portland, to develop a common set of
core technical requirements for Linux and open source software on the
desktop, following a meeting of 47 companies and organizations it hosted
earlier this month.
Portland has identified a core set of areas, spanning the interface,
plug-and-play, drivers and the kernel, that OSDL members will flesh out.
The goal is to create a common framework for greater interoperability
between different Linux and open source software components on the PC. A
framework is expected to reduce usability issues for the end user and
remove technology hurdles for ISVs who want to be able to not only port
desktop applications from closed to open source but to also ensure their
software works on different Linux desktops after just a single port.
In case any of this sounds familiar, it should. The Free Standards Group
(FSG) in October announced the Linux Standard Base Desktop Project,
which will standardize common libraries and application behavior in
Linux for the desktop. Portland, which will be incorporated into the
Linux Standard Base (LSB) (http://linux.sys-con.com/read/46188.htm) 4.0
next year, will produce a common interface framework.
FSG's LSB was last month ratified
(http://www.freestandards.org/news/press.php?id=1&view=full) as an ISO
standard after five years' work, but only after it saw limited success
in the early days thanks - in part - to a lack of support from
distribution market leader Red Hat.
OSDL believes the level of support already expressed for Portland
demonstrates the project's potential to be more successful than LSB at
an earlier stage. Among the first meeting's attendees were
representatives from Adobe Systems, AMD, Eclipse, FSG, Gnome, IBM,
Intel, KDE, Mozilla, Nokia, OpenOffice and - yes - Red Hat. Many of
these are also participating in the FSG's work.
"It was an eye-popping experience that these guys got together," OSDL
principal analyst Dave Rosenburg told The Register. "Once those base
line [standards] are established, a large majority of those guys will go
with them."
He also feels the fact this work is being conducted at the OSDL brings
with it the kind of clout that will establish the standard and ensure
industry uptake. A critical failing in Linux and open source on the
desktop has been the very noticeable reluctance of leading OEM Dell to
ship a PC running Linux and a full suite of open source desktop
productivity software. OSDL hopes it can overcome this by maintaining a
vendor-neutral forum and regular contacts with OEMs like Dell.
Open source and Linux desktops have enjoyed varying degrees of success,
despite frequent predictions in recent years this would be year of the
Linux desktop. WStarOffice, OpenOffice, KDE and Ximian are played-up as
alternatives to applications in Microsoft's Office, but Rosenburg says
these open source suites have failed to achieve broad adoption because
they lack good email or productivity alternatives to Office.
A recent OSDL poll (http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS5481370522.html)
of 3,000 users found that lack of application support was the biggest
factor preventing customers from switching to an open source desktop.
According to Rosenburg, Portland could encourage a Red Hat or Novell to
deliver a full open source desktop stack, which meets users'
requirements on application support and addresses usability issues, such
as consistency of buttons and menus between a word processing and a
spread sheet application.
He resists falling in to the trap of predicting Portland means 2006 will
be "the year of Linux desktop," but is confident it can capitalize on
the buzz that Mozilla's Firefox has created around open source software
on the desktop. Firefox has gained 11.51 per cent of the browser market
in the year since its release.
"Linux on desktop has been coming for years. The last three years has
been 'the year of the Linux desktop.' Firefox has made a big difference
in getting open source on top of everyone's desktop - that's made it
more feasible," Roseburg said.
"I won't say it [2006 is the year of the Linux desktop], but we are
going to get closer. If we had a true competitor to Microsoft Office,
then I'd say that will be the year of desktop Linux." (r)
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