01-30-2015, 10:25 AM
I am not a Linux dev (haven't coded since I was 17) but I do have some Idea's which I would like this community to think about. I am going to throw these idea's out there and explain my reasons. I am hopeful that this will be a thought provoking thread about the future of Operating systems in general and Linux in particular.
There is a lot of talk about desk top OS's being dead as more and more people begin to use their smart phones as their primary computer. Frankly I call BS on that. Desktop computing is just too useful to ever truly disappear. The idea behind the ubuntu edge was great but there were several flaws in the execution. It's the same flaws I see in the development of any phone OS made by the Canonical team. I want to make it clear that I am not criticizing the Ubuntu OS. It is by far the best Linux distro out there and has done a lot of work in bringing more users into the Linux world.
The flaw the Ubuntu team has is that it doesn't do outreach very well. Ubuntu is not the only one that has this problem. For me what makes this so tragic is that Ubuntu lead the way in providing ease of use for new users. There is however a lot more that can be done in this department and has been for some time.
I am not just referring to the OS itself. The problem runs much deeper. What I have see is people become so focused on providing the latest OS with all the bells and whistles that the other software ends up falling short.
In my opinion (which is worth what you pay for it) what we the Linux community needs (both dev's and users) is a long term stable platform which can be built on long term. Operating systems are a decade behind where they should be by now. I am not just referring to Linux but Window's and Apple as well. The one exception to this seems to be Chrome.
What does the average user do on a desktop or laptop?
1) Search the web
2) Check Email
3) Watch video's
4) Visit Facebook
5) visit other social media
6) Play online games (candycrush)
Sure users sometimes use spreadsheets or word processors but that's mostly students.
More and more people's daily lives are migrating off of their hard-drives and onto the cloud. This is where Chrome get's it right. Where Chrome get's it wrong is in not protecting the user. Skynet I mean google is all about invading peoples privacy so it can make money by selling ad space. This means they need to collect all the meta data they can. Gmail, google docs, everything the company offers is all about collecting information on the user.
What the world needs is an OS which is conscious of the fact that we are living more and more in the cloud, and which gives the user control over their data. There is a high demand for a Lite simple and secure OS with a grandma just button. Not "Just" and then 47 lines of code.
There are a lot of new and old technologies that need to be brought together and made to run under the hood.
For example why isn't there an email client which natively uses PGP without the user being aware of it? Honest question. How many hours would it take to create a web-based email client that queried "does such and such have a PGP key?" if yes employ it if no then don't. Messages wouldn't need to be stored on the web client as it's only a gate way.
The same goes for uploading files to any and all cloud services. Encryption should be done automatically in the browser. The user could then share a second level key with other users they wanted to view any content. Such second level key's would allow the user to view but not modify files.
More and more the web-browser is the operating system. I would argue that this is dangerously so right now.
The future of the Net is decentralization. The operating system which will own the future is the operating system which is first to market on something like a MaidSafe.org or Storj.io infrastructure, and which is easy to use. People don't want megacorps holding their personal data. Right now they don't have an alternative.
I would love to see an Linux operating system which focused on browser based computing and security. I would be willing to pay to see something like this developed and I personally know many people who would be willing to do the same in order to see an Anti-NSA OS. Please consider what I have said. I want to see a strong Free and OpenSource OS which can take over the world and I am not seeing anyone working on it.
There is a lot of talk about desk top OS's being dead as more and more people begin to use their smart phones as their primary computer. Frankly I call BS on that. Desktop computing is just too useful to ever truly disappear. The idea behind the ubuntu edge was great but there were several flaws in the execution. It's the same flaws I see in the development of any phone OS made by the Canonical team. I want to make it clear that I am not criticizing the Ubuntu OS. It is by far the best Linux distro out there and has done a lot of work in bringing more users into the Linux world.
The flaw the Ubuntu team has is that it doesn't do outreach very well. Ubuntu is not the only one that has this problem. For me what makes this so tragic is that Ubuntu lead the way in providing ease of use for new users. There is however a lot more that can be done in this department and has been for some time.
I am not just referring to the OS itself. The problem runs much deeper. What I have see is people become so focused on providing the latest OS with all the bells and whistles that the other software ends up falling short.
In my opinion (which is worth what you pay for it) what we the Linux community needs (both dev's and users) is a long term stable platform which can be built on long term. Operating systems are a decade behind where they should be by now. I am not just referring to Linux but Window's and Apple as well. The one exception to this seems to be Chrome.
What does the average user do on a desktop or laptop?
1) Search the web
2) Check Email
3) Watch video's
4) Visit Facebook
5) visit other social media
6) Play online games (candycrush)
Sure users sometimes use spreadsheets or word processors but that's mostly students.
More and more people's daily lives are migrating off of their hard-drives and onto the cloud. This is where Chrome get's it right. Where Chrome get's it wrong is in not protecting the user. Skynet I mean google is all about invading peoples privacy so it can make money by selling ad space. This means they need to collect all the meta data they can. Gmail, google docs, everything the company offers is all about collecting information on the user.
What the world needs is an OS which is conscious of the fact that we are living more and more in the cloud, and which gives the user control over their data. There is a high demand for a Lite simple and secure OS with a grandma just button. Not "Just" and then 47 lines of code.
There are a lot of new and old technologies that need to be brought together and made to run under the hood.
For example why isn't there an email client which natively uses PGP without the user being aware of it? Honest question. How many hours would it take to create a web-based email client that queried "does such and such have a PGP key?" if yes employ it if no then don't. Messages wouldn't need to be stored on the web client as it's only a gate way.
The same goes for uploading files to any and all cloud services. Encryption should be done automatically in the browser. The user could then share a second level key with other users they wanted to view any content. Such second level key's would allow the user to view but not modify files.
More and more the web-browser is the operating system. I would argue that this is dangerously so right now.
The future of the Net is decentralization. The operating system which will own the future is the operating system which is first to market on something like a MaidSafe.org or Storj.io infrastructure, and which is easy to use. People don't want megacorps holding their personal data. Right now they don't have an alternative.
I would love to see an Linux operating system which focused on browser based computing and security. I would be willing to pay to see something like this developed and I personally know many people who would be willing to do the same in order to see an Anti-NSA OS. Please consider what I have said. I want to see a strong Free and OpenSource OS which can take over the world and I am not seeing anyone working on it.