Heres what I think are the 3 most hyped newIP titles of the last year

plants vs zombies // i think this year
angry birds
minecraft

none have amazing graphics,2 are just 2d I think (Ive only tried out plants vs zombies + found it boring!, but hey the punters love it)

OS X got it's (average user) popularity from it's "trendiness" - it wasn't Windows and it was functional, so therefore it was "cool".

Linux will have its turn at this. At some point, its open source tradition and culture, as well as its "not Windows, not Apple" label will be "trendy" amongst the newer, techy generation instead of just the computer science jocks currently.

In other words, all these technical arguments will have nothing to do with a future mass migration to Linux. It will have everything to do with its public perception and "cool factor".

This is just my prediction though. I tend to view the future generation as a lot less naive when it comes to technology practices than most people do.

Yeah right. A regular non-techy will hear about Linux and start asking "where do I get Linux" whereupon some loser will start talking down to them about distros and they give up.

MacOS got popular recently because of iPod/iPhone. Before that it's been used as a minority OS by certain minorities. OSX is not and never has been, anything other than minority interest, even now. It has not had "a turn".

You know, I would love for Macs to catch on. I really think Mac OS is my favorite OS. It's professional, it's easy to use, and I love being able to open a bash terminal window at any point. It's like the perfect OS.

I get so darned frustrated with cmd.exe, which is a totally impotent CLI in my opinion, and although there are some better third party ones, I have slight reservations about using third-party terminal windows, and they aren't as good as bash anyway.

But I continue to use Windows, because it's mainstream, and it's open, and relatively cheap, and Microsoft's development tools are outstanding.

@CDProp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_PowerShell
very unix like (you can even use some unix commands eg ls for dir)

also linux is here and now. I wouldnt be surprised if there are actually more linux devices than windows devices in the world!
android are shipping 2 million smartphones a week (in comparison the latest windows mobile winmo7 looks DOA), you seen a sony bravia tv? well that has a version of linux in it! Samsung (the larest supplier of tv's in the world) uses linux in most of their models, ~91% of the fastest computers in the world run linux, ~1% use windows.

Linux adoption is mainstream

Quote: Original post by d000hg
Yeah right. A regular non-techy will hear about Linux and start asking "where do I get Linux" whereupon some loser will start talking down to them about distros and they give up.

MacOS got popular recently because of iPod/iPhone. Before that it's been used as a minority OS by certain minorities. OSX is not and never has been, anything other than minority interest, even now. It has not had "a turn".

Or maybe the complete opposite..

guy 1: "Where do I get Linux?"
guy 2: "Ubuntu. Here's a live CD. It's free. Any app you need is free and easy to find. Done."


Perhaps you've forgotten Apple's platform from day 1. "We're not Microsoft". Did you comprehend their first commercial? I think you're mistaken if you don't think that "trendiness" had anything to do with a mainstream adoption of Mac in the art, music, and collegiate realms. It certainly wasn't just the iPod/iPhone alone. Mac marketed every step of the way as being "cooler" than Microsoft.

Remember the "I'm a Mac... and I'm a PC" commercials? They were selling trendiness. Do you want to buy a young, hip, alternative OS or an old, dusty, middle-aged OS.

I'll say it again, it's just a prediction, but I think Linux could get a foot in the door some day with the same appeal.

Quote:
Perhaps you've forgotten Apple's platform from day 1. "We're not Microsoft". Did you comprehend their first commercial?

That big brother commercial didn't have anything to do with Microsoft. In 1984 Microsoft wasn't a big deal yet -- I think Windows 1 didn't come out for another year or so. If the intent was to caricature another corporation then that corporation would have been IBM, but I think generally that that ad was just about the promise of the graphical user interface fostering personal empowerment, creativity, and so forth.

the popularity of android is causing ubuntu to adopt Unity (the GUI, not 3d engine).

i think maybe this is the turning point.

Quote: Original post by FableFox
the popularity of android is causing ubuntu to adopt Unity (the GUI, not 3d engine).

i think maybe this is the turning point.

No, Android is not the reason for Canonical's Unity. Android is a phone OS, and it really really sucks on anything other than a phone (I have my opinion of it on a phone, too, but it's no worse than any of the other phone OSes). If you have tried using Android on something like a netbook or a tablet, you will quickly realize its inadequacies as a general-purpose OS.

Another thing with Android is that Android is not Android: each and every carrier has customized android so it's different on every phone. You learn how to use one Android phone, you'll have to start over again for another. I just spent the day playing with a couple: I am surprised anyone puts up with such crap.

Unity is designed to provide a consistent interaction environment on all modern computing form factors, including netbooks, tablets, in-car infotainment systems (I think I soiled myself typing that) and desktops. The idea is that using Ubuntu should be the same experience regardless of what you're running it on.

That's the idea behind Unity. Whether it's achieving that ideal or whether you think it's a good ideal, well, that's another story. It's all developed as open source: anyone can go to launchpad and complain, engage the designers in discussion, or contribute code. As a Unity developer, I see quite a bit of all three.

To the original OP, I've used and like Eclipse, but, since most of my work is small at the moment, I've only used Gnome's "gedit" application. Basically, notepad with tabs and syntax highlighting. Also, I work with Python mostly (some PHP and &#106avascript), but haven't used C/C++ for at least 4 years now (need to get back in practice at some point).

As for Linux as a desktop... In my humble opinion, Linux is there, we just need the big developers to see there is a user base for it. More to the point, Linux users have to stop with the idea that EVERYTHING on Linux need be open source. I LOVE open source, but if we users keep shunning it, the developers will not consider it. This is, of course, a gross exaggeration of the issue, but the kernel of it is there :D