It’s the dawn of a new year here in the Linux blogosphere, and that means the power is in our hands to make 2015 a better year than the last one was.
At least in theory, the Systemd Inferno possibly, could be extinguished over these next 12 months; Devuan could thrive — or not; and Linux in general could see its best year yet.
What actually will happen? That, of course, is the subject of more than a few musings — on TechRepublic, at ITworld, and among the tequila-fueled masses.
In the wee-est of wee hours one recent frosty morning, the latter group gave Linux Girl an earful down at the Linux blogosphere’s toasty warm Punchy Penguin Cafe.
‘Devuan Will Probably Fade Away’
“Linux will not take over the desktop in 2015, but in every other area of computing it will continue its march to global domination,” offered Google+ blogger Kevin O’Brien, for example.
“Devuan will probably fade away when the majority of people discover that Systemd does not affect their daily work in any noticeable manner,” O’Brien predicted. “And the move to the cloud/big data/etc. will only make Linux more relevant.”
Toward a similar end, consultant and Slashdot blogger Gerhard Mack had a few concrete suggestions.
“I hope that people will spend more time polishing existing features, making sure all video players support blocking the screen saver while movies are playing and automatic dimming, reducing the number of duplicate ways to configure desktop items etc.,” Mack said.
“Personally, I’m hoping to start the year with a new job,” he added.
‘Fingers Off the Rest of the Distro’
“For 2015 I expect the fully ‘libre’ laptop, endorsed by the FSF, to become a reality,” offered Google+ blogger Gonzalo Velasco C.
“Also, I expect the programmers’ community to start working hard to make Systemd better,” he said — narrowing it eventually down to “a renewed and good init system, and fingers off the rest of the distro.
“That way, it can be — or not — adopted by any distro without compromising the login and network tools, desktop environment choice and other independent decisions,” he explained.
‘Debian and Red Hat Let Us Down’
“I also hope Ubuntu comes back to No. 1 in the charts and has its MATE flavor fully running wild,” Gonzalo Velasco C. said. “This distro (family) is the best choice for enterprise because of compatibility, backing up (Canonical + communities) and tradition — even being relatively young, is very well-known.
“Debian and Red Hat have let us down,” he charged.
“And for my other beloved distros like PCLinuxOS, I hope they keep growing and climbing in usage records,” Gonzalo Velasco C. concluded.
‘Cuba Can Skip Wintel’
Blogger Robert Pogson took an international perspective.
“I don’t think it will happen in 2015, but I think eventually relations between USA and Cuba will normalize and we will have an interesting experiment,” Pogson said. “In open competition with little or no lock-in/monopoly, can GNU/Linux take a good share of legacy PC usage in a more open Cuba?
“None of the conditions that allowed M$ to bolster its monopoly exist, and the world knows there is other software out there,” he explained. “It’s not like the 1990s all over again. Just as Africa is skipping copper and jumping straight to wireless, Cuba can skip Wintel and jump right into the 21st century using FLOSS.”
‘Linux Will Eat Their Lunch’
In 2015, “I predict that an avalanche of governments using FLOSS and GNU/Linux will take place in Europe,” Pogson said. “FLOSS is widely accepted there, and with adoption of ODF becoming widespread, FLOSS and GNU/Linux are poised for a breakthrough.”
China, India and Russia, meanwhile, will “make major moves to adopt GNU/Linux for general governmental purposes including education,” he forecasted. “Russia just can’t afford Wintel. China doesn’t trust Wintel and India is very price-sensitive.
“I predict that much of the world will realize that M$ is giving away their licenses for small, cheap computers for a reason,” Pogson added. “They have to do that or */Linux will eat their lunch for the rest of the year.”
‘Desktops Are Next’
That, in turn, is “the biggest advertisement GNU/Linux has ever had,” Pogson suggested.
“Android/Linux is triumphant on the small cheap computers; GNU/Linux can do the same on the not-so-small and not-so-cheap computers,” he said.
Bottom line: “2015 will see the end of the Wintel monopoly for consumers,” Pogson predicted. “Business will take a couple of years more. They are already using a lot of GNU/Linux on servers and thin clients; desktops are next.”
Not unrelatedly: “My resolution for 2015 is to give up a lot of bad habits like overeating so I can lose weight and live long enough to see FLOSS triumph over slavery everywhere on this planet,” Pogson said.
‘Let Fools Be Fools’
Last but not least, SoylentNews blogger hairyfeet had a few resolutions of his own.
“I already quit smoking…hmmm…maybe play more with the wife and kids and not let work sidetrack me as much?” he began. “Let fools be fools and walk away instead of copying the classic XKCD ‘Somebody is WRONG on the Internet!’ pose?”
Finally, he added, “spend less time with my hands on a keyboard and more time with it on my bass.”
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The "round table" is over and I’m moving on, but I wanted to first say goodbye. There were some good discussions, good debates, and even though I rarely agreed with the others it was always interesting.
I wish the others nothing but the best and wish this place nothing but good fortune…peace.