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There will never be a "Year of Linux" on the desktop OS

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Linux

Several months ago, I started a discussion on TechRepublic about whether or not Linux was suitable for the corporate desktop. At the time, I had discovered windows floating in front of the screen saver for anyone to read, even though the Linux desktop was locked and those windows should have been hidden. I wanted to know if this was a frequently-encountered issue, and if so, had it been addressed and resolved. My point was that I had never seen anything like this happen on a Windows desktop (or a Mac OS desktop, for that matter).

Since then, I applied countless patches and fixes to my Ubuntu box, which is running 9.04 because 9.10 just hung when I attempted to update it. However, my desktop windows still continued to float in front of my screensaver, for the entire world to see, even though the machine was locked. That’s strike 2 for Ubuntu Linux on this matter.

As a HIPAA regulated industry, something like this is a huge deal to me, and it means I will absolutely never consider Ubuntu as a viable alternative desktop OS for the 200 desktop users at my office. I grabbed a screenshot and a video of the issue with my Droid, but I needed to obscure some information that was visible before I submitted the following picture to TechRepublic.

In my mind, the bigger problem is the lack of accountability that I’ve encounter with the Linux community.




Sweeping statements

Sweeping statements in he headline and inflammatory images are not means for receiving good advice, either.

Sweeping statements--you got that right...

I am sick and tired of know-nothings speaking about desktop Linux (or, in Thompson's blog, "the corporate desktop").

Ubuntu does not equal Linux.

Specifically:

Ubuntu does not equal desktop Linux. Further research by the blog writer would have shown that Canonical (the company funding Ubuntu) decided to go with their own screen notifications popup system. This, in no way, characterizes the entire Linux desktop experience. In fact, I'm running Kubuntu KDE desktop linux on my trial desktop box, also from Canonical (though a somewhat neglected stepchild), where the screensaver screen lock is not (AFAICT) compromised by notification pop-ups. Nor does the screensaver lock appear to be compromised on my main Mandriva system.

However, Thompson's comment here is somewhat accurate:

Quote:
In my mind, the bigger problem is the lack of accountability that I’ve encounter [sic] with the Linux community.

What you generally get with Linux is freedom and diversity, not (some corporate notion of) accountability. So be it.

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