Direction of linux

Recently I was involved in a conversation on a Linux mailing list regarding the current state of the operating system. Outside of all the glad-handing and back-patting (well-deserved, I must say), one of the issues that was brought up was emulation. Not like WINE (and I know, Wine Is Not an Emulator), but in the sense of whether or not Linux should emulate Windows or Mac. Because it is so simple to configure the Linux desktop to look and behave like either Windows or OS X, there are many that espouse doing so.

I had to step in and ask the question that I had hoped was on everyone’s mind.

Why?

...bla bla bla

Should Linux try to be another operating system?

* No! (49%)
* It can be whatever it wants (44%)
* Yes - Windows (3%)
* Yes - Amiga (3%)
* Yes - OS X (2%)

Total Votes: 1,493
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What Linux does best is bend without breaking. It’s so flexible it can be whatever you want it to be. That is the key strength of Linux. But what Linux shouldn’t do is bend in the direction of another operating system with the hopes of fooling others into thinking Linux is something it’s not. I have seen the attempts at making Linux look and act like XP or OS X or Windows 7. Why bother with that? Just because it can do it, doesn’t mean it should. Who said one desktop is better than the other? What matters is which desktop is right for the user.

So developers shouldn’t bother trying to make Linux into something its not. Linux is Linux and that, my friends, is good enough.

My remarks: Interesting. I'm not saying that you are obsess trying to stick to Linux uniqeness, me myself love the originality of Linux. The CLI, the yum or apt-get and so on. But to some Windows users out there, they are really afraid of using Linux. Myth, propaganda whatever, the point is one XP feel Ubuntu or Mac flavoured Fedora is necessary when it come to bring Linux beginner into the community. When the time come, they will appreciate the Linux the way we think 'Linux is Linux' way.