Hmmm… The Register has dug up more on WebOS. Not only is HP finally releasing it as FLOSS, but they are hiring… That may mean that HP will get back in the WebOS device business. Good news. The more */Linux on the market without any help from M$ the better for consumers, businesses and IT in general.
“We are a fast-paced startup with big ideas, talented people, the software assets of Palm and backed by HP. We built a new company to get the best of both worlds: small teams, fun and disruptive projects, with fast execution backed by HP for long-term success and disruption in the industry”
via The dead reanimates as HP ships Open webOS beta • The Register.
Let’s reflect on this. Acer is getting into thin clients with */Linux. WebOS is back (also */Linux). Apple is losing even as they win (jury self-destructs credibly in public) and M$ hopes to attract a little attention by releasing for ARM… I like this picture. Competition in every direction, even on desktops and */Linux is in the centre of the disruption.
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You like the picture of all OEMs hurrying to show-off their 8-based tablets and laptops months before Windows 8 officially hits the market? You do surprise me, Mr. Pogson.
Phenom wrote, “OEMs hurrying to show-off their 8-based tablets.”
I bet M$ paid them handsomely to execute these projects. All bets are off when they don’t move in the channel except perhaps at huge discounts. I will take increased competitiveness in the price/performance market any way it comes, increased performance or decreased prices are both good and weaken the monopoly.
What monopoly on tablets is haunting you, Mr. Pogson? Tablet market is all Apple, Amazon and a myriad of Android ranging from 2.1 to 4.0. Microsoft comes as the fourth OS-provider (yes, Amazon simply refuses to be recognized as Android, except for access to Google Play),and this time also as number N hardware manufacturer. The fact is all tablet manufacturers are eager to jump on the 8 wagon. In the meanwhile, Android 4 fails to gain the critical mass of devices to ensure presence on the market. If you pay close attention, most Android tablets on sale are cheap, crappy 2.x devices, which are rather short-lived and worse than the original iPad.
I will take increased competitiveness in the price/performance market any way it comes, increased performance or decreased prices are both good and weaken the monopoly.
There is no monopoly. It’s all in your head. If there were one your computers wouldn’t be running Debian. Blabbing about some monopoly is your excuse for Linux being a mess.
Thorsten Rahn monopoly is partly to blame. The problem is the MS Monopoly and abuse of that Monopoly is documented.
Linux being a mess is another matter.
Like to build a good office suite you need a critical mass of end users and developers. Without a good office suite you will not get the desktop market.
This is the reality. Has MS abused there dominate Office suite to get market share. Yes they have. Like Outlook does not support webdav calendars properly so cannot use competition groupware servers properly. MAPI between Exchange and Outlook required court ruling that MS would provide the information on that.
Thorsten Rahn the reality here most of the Linux world knows the basics if we could not compete effectively in a market due to Microsoft being a prick the focus went else where and the hobbyists got to play.
oiaohm wrote, “Without a good office suite you will not get the desktop market.”
That may be true today for business and it may have been true for most uses of PCs a decade ago but many people these days use a browser and little else, perhaps just some app to move images from a camera. e.g someone addicted to FaceBook or a person who runs a single web app at work. There are people who don’t use anything but a smart phone or tablet at home.
Even at work, a growing number of users run on thin clients for a desktop PC and have no browser and no office suite on the PC itself. That all runs on the terminal server and the thin client can run GNU/Linux. A few years ago, thin clients reached about 10% of PCs. Today the number is probably closer to 15% because of the cloud and a shift to web applications. That surprises some people because shipments of thin clients are only ~2% of PCs but the thin clients do live longer than thick clients because they survive OS renewals and server upgrades. If the screen resolution is adequate and video is not a big part of usage, a thin client can last a decade because it has no moving parts and just shows pix and sends clicks. One can upgrade monitor, keyboard and mouse and software on the terminal server and the user gets a “new” PC for very few dollars per seat.
Some organizations can do almost everything with no printing, saving a bundle. A few applications like accounting may need a printed copy by law or custom but e-mail or groupware takes care of communication/documentation otherwise. Just consider a business of e-retailing. All their customers can do business with them without any paper except perhaps shipping labels and an invoice in the boxes shipped and a server may print that.
And behind thin clients there are servers running MS Office, some CRM system, some accounting software…
Where does exactly MS lose in this picture?
Phenom normally less. The major reason for deploying MS Office on every client machine was so that the users who need it could access it.
In a thin client network the copy of MS Office moves with the user.
Only about 20 percent of users in a business need Microsoft Windows dependant software this includes MS Office.
but many people these days use a browser and little else
That might suppress their desires to run out and buy a new PC very often, Mr. Pogson, but it is not at all likely to convince them to switch to a Linux computer. Rather, it just demotes the importance of PCs in their lives which makes it even less likely that they would go to such trouble as to adopt Linux.
Clarence Moon there is a catch. http://developer.gnome.org/gtk3/3.5/gtk-broadway.html
As GTK applications upgrade to GTK 3 series they get means to send interface to web browser. Same is coming to QT.
This is one of the big catches X11 disappears for remote from Linux. There is big chance HTML5 will be the new Linux remote interface.
Nothing else bar a browser could be so true. Of course they are starting to price out cloud services. Result is not pretty it could cost you 40 dollars a month on a remote cloud service to host Gnome mines game.
There could be a very good reason for a home server providing your own applications other than privacy. Cost.