Rethinking the Linux Distribution

This article ties together a number of exciting ideas in the Free/Open Source (FOSS) community, to suggest a new direction for the Linux distribution. Many of these ideas are also applicable to BSD-based systems.
Although there are several mature, high quality distributions available, Linux has had a very hard time breaking through in certain markets, such as the desktop. In addition, the internet, which has already dramatically transformed the environment for other content-creating industries, may now alter the established methods for software packaging and installation.
The activities around Web 2.0 are giving rise to Software as a Service (SaaS). For example, Google claims that more than 100,000 small businesses, as well as a few large ones, have signed up for Google Apps. Of course, Microsoft is trying to build its own SaaS offering, Windows Live. Meanwhile, many categories of Web applications are already mature, including email, social networking, and e-commerce. The next step is the Web OS; a race that, in the end, may go to a startup company.
As I hope to demonstrate in this article, FOSS tools are the right technology to define the post-PC software era, and not merely as a backend platform for someone else's proprietary SaaS suite. Today's typical Linux distribution, however, follows a design that resembles a legacy Unix system with a Windows-style front end bolted on. This is a competitor to products such as Vista, which may actually be the last of its kind, even for Microsoft. It would be unfortunate indeed to suddenly find ourselves stuck with yesterday's business model.
Here is a list of topics covered in the article:
- Reconsidering system administration and related tools, the "glue" that holds a distribution together.
- Combining local and remote applications under a single UI.
- The emergence of a free Web OS.
- A model for governance of FOSS projects, and online collaboration generally.
-
- Login or register to post comments
Printer-friendly version
- 1835 reads
PDF version
More in Tux Machines
- Highlights
- Front Page
- Latest Headlines
- Archive
- Recent comments
- All-Time Popular Stories
- Hot Topics
- New Members
- January 2021 (782)
- December 2020 (1091)
- November 2020 (1042)
- October 2020 (1161)
- September 2020 (1124)
- August 2020 (1064)
- July 2020 (1162)
- June 2020 (1104)
- May 2020 (1203)
- April 2020 (1211)
- March 2020 (1184)
- February 2020 (1071)
- January 2020 (1225)
- December 2019 (1210)
- November 2019 (1180)
- October 2019 (1243)
- September 2019 (1104)
- August 2019 (1115)
- July 2019 (1084)
- June 2019 (976)
- May 2019 (1028)
- April 2019 (1046)
- March 2019 (1165)
- February 2019 (1019)
- January 2019 (1149)
- December 2018 (996)
- November 2018 (989)
- October 2018 (942)
- September 2018 (948)
- August 2018 (1020)
Recent comments
1 hour 19 min ago
1 hour 21 min ago
2 hours 43 min ago
2 hours 56 min ago
3 hours 31 min ago
4 hours 22 min ago
4 hours 24 min ago
4 hours 38 min ago
9 hours 49 min ago
16 hours 17 min ago