Thread: Google Chrome OS

Originally Posted by quix

Respectfully disagree. GUI interfaces such as Gnome and KDE are very close to being up to speed now with the functions that Windows and OSX offer. What Linux lacks is support from software developers. If the software that I regularly use was available for Linux I would only be using a Linux system. Open source alternatives such as Gimp, OpenOffice, and Dia are not viable solutions for professional results. I know, Linux is open source and so are the applications built for it... but until commercial developers start distributing applications for Linux, I don't see it being much of a game player when it comes to desktop systems. Let's not forget the gaming industry as well.

My hope is that Google's flavor will change that.

PS: I have used Wine. I prefer to run my applications native.

While I agree on the application side when I say GUI I mean right out of the box. Gnome ain't that pretty until after a bit of customizing, And I use gnome. KDE has made some leaps and bound in the latest release. It is getting better and better but it just isn't pretty enough for the majority of people to say "Wow!" yet. it is getting there but just not yet.

I do agree with Applications but that scene is changing faster than the GUI is. And until Adobe finally comes to their senses and ports the Adobe products to be able to run on Linux natively Linux will be held to where it is (slowly gaining interest) Although with Microsoft having their own Open Source Division and contributing to the Linux Kernel will have a major effect on the future of Linux. Also thanks to Novell, Red Hat and Microsoft working together now, Linux and Microsoft interoperability will be getting more and more solid. With Software Developers seeing this business relationship they will start to follow.

Open Office is a nice comparable solution for Microsoft Office the part where Microsoft dominates is Outlook. If Outlook was not part of MSOffice, Open Office or even Star Office would be much more popular.

Wine is ok, crossover is better, but I agree running programs natively is the best way.