Does the Linux community define success the way we do?

Disclaimer : I know Linux is great for servers, I’m talking desktops here.

I can’t get my mouse (a Logitech Revolution) to work correctly in Ubuntu. There are a lot of non-working solutions to my problem on the net, and I’ve tried them all. I spent 4 hours working on it, which is probably the longest time I’ve ever worked on a home computer problem in my entire life. I never got it working, and still only use Ubuntu on my laptop and my PS3.  

I was prepared to actually take the jump and get rid of MS once and for all on my desktop since my wife’s machine runs Vista and her laptop runs XP, my server/media center runs Vista, my Imac runs OSX, and my laptop runs Vista and Suse. I have nearly every major OS category running in my home. It would have been nice to change my daily use machine to Linux in preparation for the future of Trusted Computing. Trusted Computing is a set of software and hardware standards designed to uniquely identify and control PCs and other consumer electronics in an effort to not only improve security and the trustworthiness of devices and computers, but also to enforce rules about what you are able to open on your PC.  There are very good reasons, such as memory curtaining, that could really improve security, but there are other possible uses for the platform that may prevent you from copying files you own from PC to PC, or from PC to device, or from video card output to TV.  I am pretty concerned about Trusted Computing, and wanted to eventually move everything in the house to Linux to avoid what I perceive to be the shackling of my computer in the name of servitude to a handful of companies that I don’t think are important enough to demand the crippling of hardware that I’ve spent my good money buying.  Linux does, of course, have TPM support, but I have faith that my open source developers will be fully capable of removing or disabling all or part of the platform should its use become problematic for fair usage of media.

For now, moving 100% to Linux on the desktop is something that I could do if I wanted to spend a lot of time on it, but it is my dream to install an OS, spend a few days configuring and tweaking (FUN! Troubleshooting : NOT FUN) and then lay back for a few weeks and enjoy my creation before installing something new.  I’ve had this dream for a long time.

In 1996, you had to be a damn genius to get Slackware installed and working on a 486.

In 2000, you couldn’t get Linux working on your laptop to save your life even with the assistance of a local LUG, a Unix expert with a rack of equipment in his living room, and 3 or 4 professional developers.

In 2004, wifi was such a bitch to set up that I just gave up.

All these things have been greatly improved over time, but there is so much work left to do if anyone wants to deliver what the world really needs, reverse engineered drivers and a UI that doesn’t depend on config files.  The real goal of Linux, in my mind, should be to offer a powerful and free operating system that not only empowers developers and tech heads, but also regular people, low income families that can’t afford to buy an OS, kids that don’t want to steal software for ethical reasons, and many others.  Linux has the ability to bring all of these people together with just two changes…usability and design.  I think that with changes to those key elements Linux could absolutely destroy Microsoft in the home.  Small and medium business will not budge, not for a while, but there is real opportunity to reach people with Linux.  It seems like the leaders of the Linux community understand and want this to happen.  It is why they have chosen to devote so much time to Linux.  The CEOs want to see their companies succeed and they want to be a positive force in the world for free software adoption and the openness it brings.  In the end, these people do not direct the development of Linux.  They advise, they shepherd, but they do not, and cannot direct.  The people working on Linux, in general, do not have to listen to anyone.

Linux is written by developers who could often care less if stupid people get what they want or not…but those stupid people are the ones to bring Linux into the spotlight. Those stupid people are also often computer enthusiasts who have no trouble in any other OS doing all sorts of things that make tech-phobic people say “Wow, I didn’t know computers could do that!!” In Linux, they can barely get a mouse working,  or share files to their other PCs in their home.  If you know what you’re doing and have a little bit of luck and the right hardware you can usually get it going even if you’re stupid but is this really what it should take to do cool things with your PC?

The developers of Linux don’t understand usability and they don’t understand why it matters.  Maybe they shouldn’t have to.  They’re writing this stuff for themselves and they know they can handle all the  idiosyncracies that they gave birth to. They’re willing to sacrifice ease of use to get more functionality and faster development.  Typical commercial development spends most of their time on the last 10% of the project, and this normally results in a little polish. Linux developers don’t care about polish and they don’t care about usability, they care about functionality. For functionality, Linux has everyone beat in a big way. This sounds great, but it comes at a cost.  If I could rule the world as King and combine this power with usability, we could all have something quite amazing.  The world could quite literally be a better place.

The people interested in the Linux community would do well to find usability experts to contribute to their projects, and graphics designers to help them design their UI resulting in power, beauty, and the most essential freedom and openness that comes right along with GNU.  Bringing these things together and giving them away for free would be one of the most important new developments in computing history.  It would also force commercial developers to finally work on writing software for an open platform, and might even infect them with some ideals that would benefit society.

It seems like there is a real lack of participation from the artists of the world in the Linux community, and my suspicion is that the developers don’t really have a lot of respect for these roles. Really, why would they want to help some stupid person join their exclusive club? It is a badge of honor and distinction in the computing community when you’re running Linux at all, much less full time, and it has been that way for decades. I think that the Linux community as a whole, and the developers specifically, don’t want this to change. They’re proud of themselves and rightfully so, it is HARD to become a Linux expert. CEOs like Shuttleworth should be commended for attempting to bring Linux to the masses, but I fear that the real soul of the community, the developers working in their bedrooms and home offices will never let Linux become the kind of OS that could ever compete with Microsoft or Apple.  They’re smart, we’re stupid, and they’ll damn sure not allow anyone to make their software easier for us to use, especially when it means that they might not be as special as they are now.  They don’t want Linux to succeed by gaining market share and reaching people, they want it to succeed by remaining immensely powerful, customizable, functional, and CRYPTIC.  Keeps the riff-raff out, and that is real success.