[ale] Future of linux (was: Skype)

[Todor Fassl]

I got into an argument on a Mac list  recently. The moderator of the 
list just insisted that MacOS was now out-selling Windows.  Freakin' 
crazy even to say that, IMO. Anyway, when I googled it, I found out that 
Android is the #1 operating system in the world. That's a linux fork, I 
think, but not open-source.

I can see a day when we are all using giant tablets at work sort of like 
Star Trek. But I can't see a day when we don't type. There'd have to be 
an on-screen keyboard. But Android already has that, obviously. If you 
had a bigenough tablet, the on-screen keyboard could be the same as a 
real one. The only problem would be the lack of tactile features. Any 
decent typist does not look at the keyboard. They can type just as fast 
in complete darkness as they can in daylight. But even the best 
typistdepends on tactile features to find the home row, etc.

Above I said I can't imagine us ever not typing. I acknowledge the 
possibility of there coming a day when keying in text is not the most 
efficient way of getting data into the computer. Sub-vocalization maybe? 
Thought detection? When my buddy had a baby, I said he should buy her 
one of those thought detection headsets so she would grow up interacting 
with a computer that way. Otherwise, she'll be like my dad trying to 
learn how to type in his old age. I grew up poundintg away at a keyboard 
and it comes naturally to me now. It's like learning a new language, you 
don't want to wait until you're old.



On 09/11/2015 09:26 AM, Michael B. Trausch wrote:
> On Fri, 2015-09-11 at 09:44 -0400, DJ-Pfulio wrote:
>> I can see a day when only businesses run Windows. Home users will prefer
>> Linux because it will be THE system for gaming. Sadly, all the
>> infighting with Linux will make us like the BSD people. It is ours to 
>> lose.
>
> I'm not so sure.  I think we'll see businesses take on whole-scale 
> adoption on the desktop first.  I'm already seeing its adoption in 
> areas I wouldn't have thought to see it in as a first-choice OS. 
>  Mostly due to the fact that someone can be told to go get a copy of 
> Fedora of Ubuntu without shelling anything out.  In today's world, 
> that seems to be enough to convince many people to give it a chance. 
>  Particularly since it's no longer the bastard child of design 
> practices, in many cases.  When I first starting using it, it was all 
> functionality and no aesthetic.  How things change.
>
>> The view from the outside matters.
>
> Indeed it does.
>
>>
>>  Sam Axe: You know spies... bunch of bitchy little girls.
>
> Ahh, yet another show I started eons ago and need to finish...
>
>
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