Cautiously Optimistic About the Gibbon

I updated Ubuntu to 7.10, despite my previous encounter with its untamed ways. My wireless problems seem to be gone, and things generally run smoother overall. The CPU frequency adjusts correctly according to the temperature, but I miss the raw power and slight burning smell from before. We’ll see how it goes…

I wonder if my previous problems were strictly related to the kernel that Feisty Fawn was built on - my past experience is that changing kernels can have unexpected consequences with hardware functioning or not - and not in a linear, always-improving progression. The nice thing about Gentoo is you got over the fear of replacing your kernel - sometimes, problems just went away with the next version or even the next release.

 

Linux - the AK47 of the Computer World?

I picked up a book in the bargain bin a few months ago, “AK-47: The Weapon That Changed the Face of War”, because I thought that I had heard the author interviewed on WNYC. I don’t know if its the same book - it seems to be written more for in “Newsweek” than a “New Yorker”. (Such a snob I’ve become!)

I’m fascinated with the parallels with Linux, however - open-source (or at least unprotected IP), incremental development, a reputation for being ugly but indestructible. The AK-47 seems to have thrived over the years because it was simple and unbreakable enough to be used by a child, the lack of IP protection meant the design could modified according to local manufacturing processes.

What does this mean for the future of the Linux Desktop? Putting aside the horrific legacy of the AK-47, what lessons could be learned? I think the future for Linux is really in the developing world, and Microsoft knows this (look at the battle over the OLPC). I think the future lies in ubiquity - situations when the user is not aware or does not care that they are using Linux. I think Linux could deliver the seamless, bulletproof experience that Windows and Mac claim if we started to think of the desktop more like an embedded application. Focused user environments with limited scope. Fast, cheap, and (in/out?) of control.

I guess the big question is whether this is a Linux that any of its current users would ever want to use?

I was in Istanbul recently, and when I went to check my email on the hotel computer, I was suprised to discover they were running Linux. It made sense - greater security, and all it really needed to do was surf the web. I asked my wife later (we’ve been having an extended…discussion…over switching the home computer to Linux recently) whether she had noticed that the hotel computer was not running Windows, and she hadn’t.

 

The Ubuntu Guru Gap

I think I may have found the fatal flaw in Ubuntu - not enough gurus! After posting to the forum and to the Launchpad bug tracker about my mysterious NetworkManager bug (my laptop has been freezing inexplicably on Pratt’s wireless network - found other people with the same problem, but no solutions ), my post and my bug have been untouched, going on 48 hours or so. The forum posts that get reponses? Mostly basic installation questions (I fried my x.org, help!) and discussion of new features.

This is not acceptable! Maybe I’m spoiled by the Gentoo forums, but you could at least get flamed for not posting the correct log file with your bug! I’m wondering now if Ubuntu’s vaunted “community” is very broad but very shallow.

 

Technical Difficulties

I switched my laptop to Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon this weekend, thinking “I can handle Gentoo ~x86, this should be no problem!”. The Gibbon is still very alpha - lots of start-up (and shutdown !?!?) problems - definately not ready to take home to Mom.

Last night I re-loaded it with Feisty Fawn and I’m very happy.