Apple turned up the heat in the mobile market last week when it unveiled its new iPad mobile computing device. Jim Zemlin, the executive director of the Linux Foundation, has responded to Apple's product launch with a candid appraisal of Linux's strengths and weaknesses in the mobile market relative to Apple's mobile operating system.
Zemlin, one of the Linux community's most vocal advocates, speculated last year that Linux could eventually become the dominant operating system for consumer electronics products. His argument was based largely on the assertion that Linux's lack of licensing costs will make it the most practical and affordable option for hardware vendors.
In his latest blog entry, Zemlin contends that Linux still has the price advantage, but he acknowledges that the open source operating system still can't deliver a user experience that competes with what Apple is offering to consumers. The missing ingredient, he says, is "magic."
"Apple is unmatched at creating a cohesive experience. While many question the revolutionary impact of the iPad, Apple's consistent user experience is far closer to magical than most things currently running Linux. It may be easy for us to bash Microsoft every other week, but Apple is a true competitor," he wrote. "[It has] the polish, the focus on usability and ease of use, the application and hardware integration all to make using their technology a seamless and elegant part of your day, instead of a constant struggle with technology."
Although there are a number of compelling open source technologies for building rich user interfaces, such as Intel's Clutter framework and Nokia's QML, these are still at relatively early stages of adoption and aren't yet widely used. Zemlin points out that Apple is moving quickly—the open source software community will have to jump ahead if its wants to be able to truly compete. Such an effort will require broad collaboration between major Linux stakeholders. Fortunately, says Zemlin, the Linux Foundation has a battle plan and is preparing to launch a new initiative that will help conjure up a fresh infusion of magic.
"While we're strong on price, we still have a ways to go to compete. The Linux Foundation isn't just going to complain about the need for more 'Magic' on the Linux platform—we are going to do something about it," he says. "Stay tuned over the next few weeks for big news on just how we will accomplish this."
A point that seems to jump out from between the lines in Zemlin's blog entry is that it reflects the growing sentiment within the commercial Linux industry that Apple, and not Microsoft, is the real competitor in the consumer space. Take a look at how closely Zemlin's commentary mirrors the following snippet from Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth's 2008 OSCON keynote:
"I think the great task ahead of us over the next two years is to lift the experience of the Linux desktop from something that is stable and robust and not so pretty, to something which is art. Not emulate, but blow right past Apple in the user experience we deliver to our end users."
Canonical, Shuttleworth's company, launched the Ayatana project in order to pursue its goal of building a more artful desktop. Part of the underlying vision of that project is to produce a free desktop that is designed by designers instead of programmers. Intel is adopting a similar philosophy with Moblin and producing some compelling results.
The Linux Foundation, as a vehicle for coordinating corporate and community engagement around the Linux platform, could potentially help to harmonize some of these disparate platform beautification efforts and bring some much-needed consistency to the mix.
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Με λίγα λόγια γι αυτούς που δεν τα πιάνουν και εύκολα: Ένα πολύ σημαντικό πρόσωπο στον κόσμο της πληροφορικής και ειδικά του Linux, λέει ότι μόνο η Apple είναι πραγματικός αντίπαλος και για να τον νικήσουν όλοι ή για να τον φτάσουν ακόμη χρειάζονται κάτι το "Μαγικό". "Μαγεία" ας πούμε γενικά.
Έτσι. Αυτά που λέω εδώ και χρόνια δηλαδή. Το Micro$oft λογισμικό είναι άθλιο. Καλό το Linux λογισμικό αλλά θέλει πολύ δουλειά ακόμη. Πραγματικά χαίρομαι που επιβεβαιώνομαι για πολλοστή φορά ΚΑΤΕΥΘΕΙΑΝ από το στόμα του "Θεού". Όχι τίποτα άλλο αλλά με την πλειοψηφία από εσάς δεν τα πάω και καλά.
Εσείς θέλετε χάιδεμα στα αυτιά, πίπες, κλπ. Μπορείτε λοιπόν να πάτε εκεί που σας τα προσφέρουν. Εδώ έχει γκάζια, υψηλές στροφές και τρακαρίσματα. Όπως ακριβώς κάνω και στην πραγματική μου ζωή. Βλέπεται άλλοι παλεύουν έξω στον πραγματικό κόσμο και άλλοι στον εικονικό. Εγώ πάλι παλεύω και στους δύο κόσμους.
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