Skim cream not scum

[Omega Blue]

There's an interesting editorial at Linux Journal named "Skim cream not scum."

The first paragraph

When did Microsoft lose its status among open-source developers as the evil, or better still, incompetent empire? When did open-source developers stop trying to make software better than Microsoft's and start imitating everything Microsoft does? Why do we have to have an open-source Outlook, or an open-source dotNet? Sure, there are examples of how we do things better in Linux than Windows. But I'm getting really tired of the monkey see Microsoft, monkey do Microsoft mentality that has infected open source. And the operative word here is "monkey"--hint, hint.

If you are too lazy to read it the gist of the article is the FOSS community should not copy everything from Microsoft. We should take the good ideas and leave the bad ones (e.g. registry) to MS.

What do you think?

[JordanN]

Microsoft comes up with some really good ideas. Why should these be ignored simply because Microsoft is associated with them?

[Omega Blue]

No, that's not what the author argued. He said the FOSS community should not try to copy everything from MS in an attempt to acquire a bigger user base.

[bob]

Interesting, but not really practical. Take for instance Open Office. It would do no good to have a clearly superior program that could not be used interactively with 95% of the computers that you'd be working with. How about chat clients that can't communicate with others? I notice that there are many programs that were open source developments that also include a Windows version (Gaim, Cube for instance). To me, it makes more sense to develop a program that is functional cross-platform, especially if you're selling it. Frankly, I'd love to see some excellent open source ones made available to Windows users; perhaps Digikam and K3b.

[Antifreeze]

There is a joke about MAC's that calls them PC's with training wheels that can't be removed. Well, like the MAC, Windows is rapidly becoming Linux with training wheels that can't be removed. And to be honest, I agree with the author of the article, that Linux it's self is going the same way as MAC, and Windows, becoming riddled with uber apps that try and be all things to all users.

One commenter pointed out that Linux started out as the principle of 'doing one thing, and doing it well' small programs that served only one purpose and didn't aspire to be more than what they were, a tool that worked with other tools to complete a larger task.

The notion that the uber apps come from windows and mac natives moving to the linux platform has some credence, after all I was a M$ baby. I grew up using M$ pc's, my first true PC was an old clunky IBM XT class machine running MS DOS, and I still remember the giddy joy and wonder I felt when I launched windows 3.1 for the first time on a 286. And to be honest, I feel far more at home with a GUI now than I do with a command prompt, I've become spoiled to it since it's dominated the desktop for almost 20 years.

However the blame is also equally shared by the software authors, by making M$ like clones to attract and woo M$ users. And let's not forget about the every day Linux users, who use these M$ clone apps instead of the alternatives out there. You are just as guilty, because if you wouldn't use it, it wouldn't be so popular, and hence, it wouldn't be infesting the Linux community.

But let's be honest folks, where's the innovation in lemmingware? The blind duplication of software packages that already exist for another platform is not innovation, it's stagnation. I came to Linux to break away from the herd of windows drones, to experience the awe and wonder of original thinking that is the heart and soul of the Linux community, not to have my own creativity bound and gagged by lemmingware.

I saw a wallpaper of Tux herding a bunch of windows logos off a cliff. I thought it was hilarious, but to be honest, it was a bit biased, as there should have been a few tux's mixed in with those windows logos. The linux community has a bad case of M$ envy, and it's exhibited it's self in the form of lemmingware.

Just a few view points...

1) Do we need all in one office suites that do everything but make a pot of coffee. No, I'd be delighted to have a word processor that does nothing but it's name sake. Process words, and do it well. Hell I don't use spread sheets, or make presentations, so -why on earth- are the applications for doing that on my hard drive? .. um, because it came as part of the lemmingware package...

2) Do the latest and greatest Linux applications have to look and feel just like their M$ inspirations. No, The idea is to take what is -good- and IMPROVE upon it. I am all for interconnectivity between applications, I love the ability to share information between my e-mail client, my word processor, and my personal information manager, however, I don't want them to be the same piece of software. Ideally, they would be written and maintained as separate projects, while sharing a common interface allowing them to speak with one another. This is how innovation occurs, each group keeping their contributions small, and focusing on what they do well, refining it, honing it to a sharp edge, while at the same time letting others do the same. Uber apps are contrary to this philosophy.

3) Do we even have to have M$ clones to woo M$ drones away from the collective? Um, no... Speaking from my own experience, I became increasingly dissatisfied with windows and the training wheels I was tripping over every time I turned around.

I came to Linux because it offered me wealth of toys, gizmos and gadgets to tinker with, without Bill of Borg looming over my shoulder trying to tell me how I should think, act, and use my computer. Not to mention this is an exciting time to join the Linux community, simply because of the stage of development Linux is in. It's already a full fledged operating system, but it's developed to the point where its almost ready for average joe computer user. And to be honest, I think Linux will overtake windows, simply because windows is about to become -way- too restrictive and repressive with the 'trusted computing' 'features' they are implementing, that and the six flavors of Vista that are about to be unleashed upon the unsuspecting populace.

Long story short, we don't need to create lemmingware to be competitive against M$, we don't need it to woo over M$ users, all we need to do is look at what they have that is good, take that idea, add it to our own foundations and run with it.

[Omega Blue]

Bob,

Point taken. As AntiFreeze pointed out FOSS apps don't have to look like MS apps to be compatible. Sometimes blazing a new trail is the best way. Consider Firefox/Mozilla. Firefox is indeed a better mousetrap. In fact it is so good that it forced MS to release MSIE7 independently and ahead of "Vista." So what the FOSS community needs to do is to make better apps.

[sailor]

I think that most of "its just like MS" is in gui or function only...it is what is inside or not inside an application that matters to me.

[blue_candle]

The author was mostly going after Mono and Evolution. Although I'm not thrilled about the idea of FOS dot net, Evolution is the mail program I use. He's after Gnome in general as well, he thinks "it's designed so badly that it should be considered a disease". Whatever.

[Omega Blue]

A number of people content that the Windows desktop "look and feel" (which basically what Gnome, KDE, and bunch of other interfaces are) is very old and we should come up with something new. I am not an HCI expert, but if there is something better I am all for it.

[simonn]

Can I reply with the standard OSS response?

Oi! Petreley! If you don't like it, write your own!