How do we make a stand? Revolution
This post is not intended to represent complete ideas or possible solutions. It is rather a post relating to the thoughts that I have had concerning the upcoming changes in Gnome 3, Ubuntu Unity and KDE 4.6.
Drawing away from the technicalities of these programs, it would seem useful to identify openSUSE's stand in this wide variety of environments. I was happily surprised that Gnome 3 was released, even before a fomer release date. But this has not come without controversy. The fact that Ubuntu is not including Gnome 3 by default with it's newest release has made some take the fork in the road and add support for it. Other Gnome 3 enthusiasts might feel lonely now that Ubuntu decided to go with the Unity interface. Then we find KDE still going strong with updates and new features for version 4. However, it may seem rather obvious that computer graphical environments are taking a turn. They are becoming different, new, and updated. Ideas about the desktop that we have had for a couple of decades are now changing, greatly propelled by the appearances of touch devices.
Touch devices have a flair to them that one cannot dismiss. The interfaces used for them tend to be very simple, app based, internet connected, and are beautifully animated. The part that I like the most about these interfaces is simplicity. They understand that their device will be in the hand of a wide variety of human beings. All of them with different understanding of the computing world. Therefore, they try to make the learning curve for these devices a smooth as they can. Obviously, this does not benefit everyone, as there are people who would prefer having maximum control from their interaction with the device. For that, I have seen many of these devices be patched in a way, that they allow advanced interaction with the device. In a way, the touch-enabled device has a default (simple) and an advanced (patched) mode.
These devices are becoming part of our lives, they are highly mobile, durable and connected with the user's life through the internet. However, these devices are coming at odds with traditional desktop computers and their operating systems. Even Apple recognized the power of a touch based interface and some of the ideas they produced for their phones and tablets have now been transported into their latest OSX version, Lion. Then also, open source projects such as Gnome and KDE saw the expansion that they were able to achieve through touch enabled devices and lower end netbooks. For that KDE created the netbook interface which looks beautiful. Gnome was the only one lagging behind a little and pushed for a different interface that resembles much of what is seen today in touch enabled devices. The same goes for Unity from Ubuntu.
All of them are trying to target a market where instinct is the primary teacher of the interface and not technical knowledge. Why? I believe it is because we are recognizing that open source products are becoming ever more accessible to the average user, we recognize that not everyone is at a developer level of computer understanding, and that there are infinite possibilities for even further expansion as all sorts of people use this software.
This is where openSUSE has a window to be different. Can openSUSE be, in a way, like Ubuntu in designing a whole new interface for it's desktop computer? Are we at the level that recognizes the reach a Linux distribution can have with a wide audience? Ubuntu decided to step up to the challenge of placing their product in the hands of the masses, for that they decided to change their UI to meet the standards of the mass. They use part of the Gnome libraries and yet they have decided to be and look different. They are trying to brand themselves through their OS image. My question would be, can openSUSE be this way? openSUSE needs to be part of our everyday life, it s a quality product with a bright future but a blurry face. Why? because we accept defaults from KDE and Gnome, and there could be hundreds of Linux distributions that look like us. Where are we? are we branding ourselves in a way that we stand out and reach out to more and more people?
I would agree that to these thoughts there is no definitive answer. Neither from my end, as I review the graphical properties of openSUSE, or the developer end. If you feel enticed to leave further comments about this thoughts, please feel free to do so.
Thanks gang
Drawing away from the technicalities of these programs, it would seem useful to identify openSUSE's stand in this wide variety of environments. I was happily surprised that Gnome 3 was released, even before a fomer release date. But this has not come without controversy. The fact that Ubuntu is not including Gnome 3 by default with it's newest release has made some take the fork in the road and add support for it. Other Gnome 3 enthusiasts might feel lonely now that Ubuntu decided to go with the Unity interface. Then we find KDE still going strong with updates and new features for version 4. However, it may seem rather obvious that computer graphical environments are taking a turn. They are becoming different, new, and updated. Ideas about the desktop that we have had for a couple of decades are now changing, greatly propelled by the appearances of touch devices.
Touch devices have a flair to them that one cannot dismiss. The interfaces used for them tend to be very simple, app based, internet connected, and are beautifully animated. The part that I like the most about these interfaces is simplicity. They understand that their device will be in the hand of a wide variety of human beings. All of them with different understanding of the computing world. Therefore, they try to make the learning curve for these devices a smooth as they can. Obviously, this does not benefit everyone, as there are people who would prefer having maximum control from their interaction with the device. For that, I have seen many of these devices be patched in a way, that they allow advanced interaction with the device. In a way, the touch-enabled device has a default (simple) and an advanced (patched) mode.
These devices are becoming part of our lives, they are highly mobile, durable and connected with the user's life through the internet. However, these devices are coming at odds with traditional desktop computers and their operating systems. Even Apple recognized the power of a touch based interface and some of the ideas they produced for their phones and tablets have now been transported into their latest OSX version, Lion. Then also, open source projects such as Gnome and KDE saw the expansion that they were able to achieve through touch enabled devices and lower end netbooks. For that KDE created the netbook interface which looks beautiful. Gnome was the only one lagging behind a little and pushed for a different interface that resembles much of what is seen today in touch enabled devices. The same goes for Unity from Ubuntu.
All of them are trying to target a market where instinct is the primary teacher of the interface and not technical knowledge. Why? I believe it is because we are recognizing that open source products are becoming ever more accessible to the average user, we recognize that not everyone is at a developer level of computer understanding, and that there are infinite possibilities for even further expansion as all sorts of people use this software.
This is where openSUSE has a window to be different. Can openSUSE be, in a way, like Ubuntu in designing a whole new interface for it's desktop computer? Are we at the level that recognizes the reach a Linux distribution can have with a wide audience? Ubuntu decided to step up to the challenge of placing their product in the hands of the masses, for that they decided to change their UI to meet the standards of the mass. They use part of the Gnome libraries and yet they have decided to be and look different. They are trying to brand themselves through their OS image. My question would be, can openSUSE be this way? openSUSE needs to be part of our everyday life, it s a quality product with a bright future but a blurry face. Why? because we accept defaults from KDE and Gnome, and there could be hundreds of Linux distributions that look like us. Where are we? are we branding ourselves in a way that we stand out and reach out to more and more people?
I would agree that to these thoughts there is no definitive answer. Neither from my end, as I review the graphical properties of openSUSE, or the developer end. If you feel enticed to leave further comments about this thoughts, please feel free to do so.
Thanks gang
Written by Anditosan
4 comments:
Thanks for sharing your thought. I will do the same ;-)
I can see your point. However I come to another conclusion. The strength of openSUSE is not features first (fedora) or make things different (ubuntu). We are the part of the open source community assembling the parts providing STABILITY and SANE DEFAULTS to our users. And my experience is, this matters more than new shells and stuff. With KDE and GNOME we have two fantastic desktops and there are more available for users with other tast.
Thurther I think that we don't need to rebrand everything just to look different. openSUSE is different in other areas where it matters more in my pov (stability).
But you are absolutely right in reminding us to focus on our strength and that we should differentiate and live our strategy. (BTW the draft of the strategy is here: https://lite.co-ment.com/text/lNPCgzeGHdV/view/ )
You keep talking about "we should" but in openSUSE things only change if you say "I will". "we should" leads to fairly little, I'm afraid... We all have opinions and anyone in openSUSE surely can think of more work to do for all of us than we even CAN do. But we all have our priorities and things we want to work on - opinions change little. Specific bugreports or concrete, small ideas for improvements might... :D
And in any way, openSUSE is not like Fedora with it's technical board or Ubuntu with its Mark Shuttleworth. openSUSE doesn't really do whole new desktop shells - unless of course you build one on Plasma or modify GNOME Shell (both of which would be easy enough if you know some javascript).
I'm actually happy to be part of a community which doesn't try to re-invent the wheel all the time D:
And that is why I have decided to buy a QT learning book. I want to start on my own and get the help from the community. I agree with Jos too. Definitively, the strengths of openSUSE do not lie in the graphical environment, but what if it did, along with the stability and powerful tools. Could we be superior? Can we rise up to higher grounds? We'll see.
Thank you guys for your comments. You always give me good ideas and insight.
Jos: Fedora's Board does not initiate software projects.
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