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Desktop Linux

The GNOME desktop environment, a popular Linux desktop environment

Desktop Linux, also called Linux on the desktop, refers to specialized Linux distributions with features designed for desktop personal computer users. These features include a graphical user interface and personal use applications.

Some Linux distributions have targeted the desktop role specifically, while others include all the software available for the platform. In that case, the user will be given the choice to select either a "desktop" or "server" type when the operating system is installed.

Desktop environments

Linux offers many desktop alternatives. Common desktop environments include KDE, GNOME, Xfce, LXDE, Unity and Cinnamon. These are collections of desktop programs, rather than bare bones window managers such as FVWM, IceWM amongst numerous others. These environments present a GUI using a desktop metaphor. All of these environments allow the user to set many personal preferences and to perform common system management tasks. The Compiz window manager expands upon the concept of having multiple desktops by rendering each of the user's two dimensional desktops on the surface of a three dimensional cube. The variety of desktop environments is sometimes criticized for splintering focus and creating incompatibilities; the freedesktop.org project works on improving interoperability between the different environments.

All Linux desktop applications use the X Window System and thus benefit from features like networking (remote display) and quick mouse-only cut, copy, and paste. Mouse selected text is automatically copied, and it can then be pasted using a middle click, without the need to resort to use of the keyboard.

Components of the Linux Desktop

Obviously there is no "one" Linux Desktop, but rather there is a pool of free and open-source software from which Desktop environments / Linux distributions select components with which they construct a GUI implementing some more or less strict design guide. GNOME, for example, has its Human interface guidelines, as a design guide, which gives the Human-Machine Interface an important role, not just when doing the graphical design, but also when looking at people with disabilities and even when looking at security.

• The C standard library for the Linux kernel which offers programs APIs to the Linux kernel; by far the most poplar one is GNU C Library but there are a couple of alternative, such as e.g. uClibc which targets embedded devices; (the C standard library is actually that elemental to the entire operating system that it cannot be considered part of the DE, yet components of the DE extensively make use of it, so it is mentioned here. It is also noteworthy because Android is based on libbionic, and some device drivers written for Android specifically can only be used with the help of libhybris.)
• A non-obvious but quite central role have the programs hosted by freedesktop.org; both big DEs, GNOME and KDE SC, include them, each offering graphical front-ends written using the corresponding toolkit (GTK+ or Qt).
• A display server which for the longest time has been communicating in the X11 display server protocol with its clients; prominent software talking X11 are the X.Org Server and Xlib. Frustration over the cumbersome X11 core protocol, and especially over its numerous extensions, has led to the creation of a new display server protocol: Wayland.
• Numerous window managers, more precisely X window managers and Wayland compositors.
• Desktop shells, e.g. GNOME Shell, Cinnamon or KDE Plasma Workspaces.
• Toolkits to write applications, e.g. Nautilus or Dolphin or Thunar.

Criticism

Ingo Molnár describes the core problem of the Linux desktop being it not being free enough because, due to the package management system the Linux platform rather implements the Cathedral then the Bazaar approach (from The Cathedral and the Bazaar):

Free software matters to developers and organizations primarily, but on the user side, the free code behind Linux desktops is immaterial if free software does not deliver benefits such as actual freedom of use. So, to fix desktop Linux we need a radically different software distribution model: less of a cathedral, more of a bazaar.. Users want to be free of update pressure from the rest of the system, if they choose to.

Lennart Poettering:

So we now have a better interface, leaves the message and the clear platform. Linux is still too fragmented, and a developer targeting Linux will have to choose from a variety of APIs, a bazaar of somewhat matching but mostly just chaotic choices that will work on some systems but not on others.

Most Linux distributions do provide a package management system program, such as Synaptic or PackageKit, for browsing a list of thousands of free software applications that have already been tested and configured for a specific distribution. These free programs can be downloaded and installed with one mouse click. A digital signature guarantees that the program was not modified after the download package was created and the package manager automatically tracks and installs updates as they become available.

Besides the free Windows compatibility layer Wine, most distributions offer dual boot and x86 virtualization for running both Linux and Windows on the same computer.

History

Historically, UNIX and other Unix-like operating systems have been utilized on servers, mainframes, and workstations in corporate or scientific environments. Beginning in the late 90s, a few Linux distribution companies, such as MandrakeSoft, began to advertise their systems for low-end desktop computers.

History and criticism

KDE was the first advanced desktop environment, but it was controversial due to the then-proprietary Qt toolkit used. GNOME was developed as an alternative due to licensing questions. The two use a different underlying toolkit and thus involve different programming, and are sponsored by two different groups, German nonprofit KDE e.V. and the United States nonprofit GNOME Foundation.

As of April 2007, one journalist estimated that KDE had 65% of market share versus 26% for GNOME. In January 2008, KDE 4 was released prematurely with bugs, driving users to GNOME. GNOME 3, released in April 2011, was called an "unholy mess" by Linus Torvalds due to its controversial design changes.

Dissatisfaction with GNOME 3 led to a fork, Cinnamon, which is developed primarily by Linux Mint developer Clement LeFebvre. This restores the more traditional desktop environment with marginal improvements.

The relatively well-funded distribution Ubuntu designed (and released in June 2011) another user interface called Unity which is radically different from the conventional desktop environment and has been criticized as having various flaws and lacking configurability. The motivation was a single desktop environment for desktops and tablets, although as of November 2012 Unity has yet to be used widely in tablets. However, the smartphone and tablet version of Ubuntu and its Unity interface was unveiled by Canonical Ltd in January 2013.

Year of Desktop Linux

Since at least 2000, articles declaring that "20XX will be the year of Linux on the desktop" or "year of the Linux desktop" (YoLD) have been published by a number of tech-related magazines and websites. This refers to an expected breakthrough in Linux adoption by business corporations and personal users. The reasons for these forecast gains include the installation of a Linux distribution on the desktops of workers for organizations or companies who may not be immediately or otherwise involved in the computing industry, or the acceleration of development for specific applications which find their greatest use on desktop Linux distributions. It can also refer to a breakthrough in the number of pre-installed Linux distributions on personal computers being sold by PC manufacturers such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard.

Performance

The performance of Linux on the desktop has been a controversial topic, with at least one Linux kernel developer, Con Kolivas, accusing the Linux community of favouring performance on servers. He quit Linux development because he was frustrated with this lack of focus on the desktop, and then gave a 'tell all' interview on the topic.

Other sources, such as mainstream press The Economist disagree with this assessment that there has not been enough focus on desktop Linux, saying in December 2007:

...Linux has swiftly become popular in small businesses and the home...That’s largely the doing of Gutsy Gibbon, the code-name for the Ubuntu 7.10 from Canonical. Along with distributions such as Linspire, Mint, Xandros, OpenSUSE and gOS, Ubuntu (and its siblings Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Xubuntu) has smoothed most of Linux’s geeky edges while polishing it for the desktop...It’s now simpler to set up and configure than Windows.

Measuring adoption

Measuring the adoption of Linux on the desktop is a difficult proposition and has caused controversy as to how many users there actually are.

As Linux systems are typically downloaded, copied and distributed for free, the usual methods of tracking sales numbers do not apply in gauging numbers of Linux desktop users. This use of website counters to identify operating systems also does not produce reliable numbers, due to such factors as:

• individual websites do not attract a representative sample, due to their content.
• spoofing of addresses.
• problems tagging identification strings as to Linux or even distribution results in high numbers of "unknown operating system".
• identifying computers that operate from behind proxies.
• the multiplying effects of botnets which tend to create the illusion of more insecure PCs, running Windows systems.
• the fact that not all PCs are connected to the internet and used for web browsing.
• one download could result in none or whole site installations

See also

Template:Misplaced Pages books

• Desktop Linux Summit
• Desktop wars

References

1. About, Inc (2008). "Linux Newbie Administrator FAQ: X-Windows[sic]". Retrieved 2008-05-13.
2. "Prompt-free security for GNOME".
3. "Technology: What ails the Linux desktop? Part I." 2012-03-17. Retrieved 2012-06-16.
4. "Technology: What ails the Linux desktop? Part II". 2012-03-17. Retrieved 2012-06-16.
5. "Un entretien avec Lennart Poettering". 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2013-01-26.
6. Debian (2008). "Debian Wiki - Synaptic". Retrieved 2008-10-11. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
7. Debian (2008). "Debian Wiki - secure apt". Retrieved 2008-10-11. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
8. ^ Byfield B. (2007). KDE vs. GNOME: Is One Better?. Datamation.
9. Byfield B. (2011). Will GNOME 3.0 Repeat the User Revolt of KDE 4.0?. Datamation.
10. Linus Torvalds dubs GNOME 3 'unholy mess'. The Register.
11. What’s wrong with Unity & how we can fix it. OMG Ubuntu.
12. Ubuntu Desktop Designers: ‘Unity Should Be Configurable’. OMG Ubuntu.
13. Strohmeyer, Robert (2007). "2008: Year of the Linux Desktop". Retrieved 2008-05-23. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
14. Siu, A.Y. (2006). "The Linux Desktop Myth". Retrieved 2008-08-31. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
15. Wolfe, Alexander (2007-09-19). "7 Reasons Why Linux Won't Succeed On The Desktop". Information Week. Retrieved 2009-03-10.
16. "Comdex: Linux, Linux everywhere". CNN. 1999-11-18. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
17. http://www.pcworld.com/article/13908/linux_linux_everywhere.html
18. "Linux: why I quit". APC Magazine. ACP Magazines. 2007-07-24. Retrieved 2008-01-18.
19. Economist.com (2007). "Technology in 2008". The Economist. Retrieved 2008-05-06. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
20. ^ Schestowitz, Roy (2007). "Can Linux Adoption Ever be Accurately Gauged?". Retrieved 2008-05-23. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

External links

• DesktopLinux.com
• The Linux Desktop Myth

• Linux