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LinuxDig.Com : Linux and the New Year, What to Look for in 2005.
Author: HumanX | Saturday December 11, 2004
2004 was a popularity boost for Linux as home and office users began to discover the power of Linux. With a new kernel advancing Linux in the areas of SMP, I/O, SuperComputing; what can we expect from Linux for next year?
I consider 2004 a ramp up to what will be the ultimate year for Linux. 2004 brought the merger of Suse and Novell (or its completion), a new Kernel which many in the community see as mature in many key areas, breakthroughs in Super Computing, new projects and an explosive growth in usage as Linux becomes more of a household name. Also, I see 2004 as the year that many distros / projects worked towards improving the usability of Linux making ease of use a top tier issue. Some projects see Microsoft's Longhorn as a real threat, and because of that threat, those projects are working double time to beat Microsoft to the punch, ultimately spurring competition and advancing Linux in the final frontier; the desktop. 2005, the year of Linux and the desktop.
In my opinion, the year of the desktop begins with X.org and the changes that have occurred with X11. The licensing changes and the disagreements over Xfree86 spawned a fork of X11 by what is now X.org. This new fork is bringing many exciting new changes to the Linux desktop, and many of those changes are long over due. Some who read this article may disagree, but for Linux to find its way into the home, it needs to compete with desktops by Microsoft and Apple. For this to happen, updates in the windowing system need to be reviewed. Things like on the fly resolution resizing, driver improvements, window shadowing, translucency, multimedia enhancements and performance increases (xDamage will stop window lag on the Linux Desktop) will be the focus for next year. Things which may not seem like a big deal to long time Linux users but are preventing some projects from moving forward and allowing Apple and Microsoft to get a big lead over Linux in the eyes of desktop users.
Both KDE and Gnome are working towards desktop improvement. KDE is working towards redesigning the interface with simplicity and design in mind while refining the engine that drives the environment bringing more speed and increased stability. Also many of KDE's core applications are coming of age such a Kontact, Kdevelop, Quanta and lets not forget KDE's push into the enterprise. Gnome has joined forces with Mozilla to build an improved desktop experience with indexing capabilities (Local system search engine capabilities) which is Microsoft's goal for the release of Longhorn. I think what we will find in 2005 with both KDE and Gnome is more of a finality of the projects in terms of scope and improvements in the core systems.
Another important project which will mature is Mono, the open source replacement for Microsoft's .NET. Mono brings to Linux a RAD (Rapid Application Development) environment which is cross-platform and easier to develop with, while allowing current .NET projects to be ported to the Linux environment and vice versa. Novell has dedicated 60 developers to the task and the evolution of Mono has been astounding. The merging of Novell and Suse brings a serious enterprise authority to the Linux movement and helps Linux find its way into Government and the Enterprise.
Lastly, their are many other maturing applications which are helping with Linux growth. With each new release, Wine allows more Windows applications to run on Linux. Options in virtualization and emulation are growing as well giving ISPS's more reason to switch to Linux. Changes to some of the Linux Filesystems will help with the future indexing capabilities while improving security. SELinux will mature and become more accepted allowing for unparalleled security in Linux. Sound and Wireless are sore spots in Linux, but both categories are heavily developed and we should see many improvements over the coming year. The community is working towards interoperability standards within X which will help developers and ultimately accelerate software growth.
And while all of this is happening, it seems Microsoft has lost its way. Turning its back on Internet Explorer and allowing the standards to lapse and a seemingly unstoppable flow of vulnerabilities throughout the O/S as most have read throughout the year. While Microsoft builds toward Longhorn, they are loosing users because of the these issues. Mozilla Firefox has seen a surge of popularity after beeing recommended by government and educational institutions as an alternative over Internet Explorer due to security implications. If enough users become comfortable with alternatives to Internet Explorer, what is to stop the casual computer user / internet surfer from moving to Linux? Games maybe, but Wine is helping with that, while many game developers are releasing their applications as cross-platform.
The future for Linux is bright and with many of the hurdles crossed in 2004, 2005 gives Linux a chance to stop playing catchup and begin taking the lead.
If you have any comments, suggestions or if I missed something in this article, please feel free to email us using the "Contact LinuxDig" in the navigation bar.
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