Thursday, November 29, 2012

Unifying All Linux distributions-Is there a justifiable case for this approach?


Unifying All Linux distributions-Is there a justifiable case for this approach? 
Let me be forthright.
There is no case for Free software Foundation or the Community based Linux Distributions to follow a unifying theory.
In fact it is a waste of productive human endeavour.
Just as there are many newspapers, and many models of cars and sports and clubs that deal with these sports institutions, the variety of Linux distributions deliver a product that would appeal a greater user base.
What is probably lacking is the many developers do not focus on a certain or particular theme or vision and do it for the fun of it.
It may have a religious flavour or a sport or hobby enthusiasm and the human nature is for these to wax and wane.
That is the reason for some distributions to go dormant and some of them to have an active community support.
The community support and vigour is the one that make the Linux distributions successful.
It may not be true for a business model which is based on a particular task of course makes ends meet and make a profit at the end of the day.
If one mix this like Fedora and Redhat I believe that middle ground is never reached.
The tendency is for it to shift towards the business model.
They were the failures.
Suse also come into this fold.
For argument sake I will use five categories of users.
1. General users.
2. Hobbyist and gamers.
3. Students.
4. Scientists.
5. Technocrats
The beauty of Linux is that it can cater for any of these appeals.
Unlike business model which identify certain section of this population Linux should not restrict itself to a certain segment of the users.
In the beginning of the Linux story and history it was the hobbyist that played the major role.
Now that Ubuntu has taken a very distinctive an admirable vision and direction other developers also should focus on these efforts with their vision as a priority.
I always say even Linux developers have to make room for providing rice and curry or bread and butter for their families, once the hobby element is taken out of the denominator.
One should not measure the success by the fan base.
It should be based on the utility value.
I will give one example since I have downloaded and tested as many as 300 hundred distributions from September, 2009 and still continue to do that with a less aggressive manner to cut down on my electricity bill and also because the Sri-Lankan Teleom does not provide me the speed I pay for them .
I pay for 50 K bit and get barely 5 K bit per second.
With the 20/20 promotion they only worry about the profit and not the service that they provide to their customers.
There was a distribution based on Slakware was for writers and its last version was in 2009.
If I remember right it was named PocketWriter
It was a live distribution and I was not able to install it since that was the time I was getting into habit of writing at least to document, a portion of the lovely distributions I tested (not all).
I really liked this distribution. 
This distribution has gone dormant since there are fewer writers in this world than readers.
I hope the developer who did this distribution if he reads this piece activate this distribution for the sake of writers like me (I have deliberately excluded writers and media men and women who use Linux distributions in my informal list above).
That is the point I want to drive in this piece.
Even though the user base is limited the utility value of all the big and small Linux distributions outweigh the the consumer base.
If we use the Unifying Theory we are going to lose these innovative but very useful distributions.
Some of them are tiny like Puppy, 4M Linux, Finnix and many more.
They have a place in this Universe of Linux distributions.
We must not fall into the trap of Apple and Windows mentality.
Now that I have tested few Apple Macs, it is pain in the ARxxxx for users like me who do not like to be slaves of the gadget as well as the operating system.
I hope I have started a “Flame War”.
It is good for the the next generation of Linux distributions.
I hope somebody makes a distribution like PocketWrier for writers like me that can be installed in my netbook and not a Mega Super Computer.
That is the the vision that is lacking in Commercial and corporate Linux.
We need technocrats not the corporate CEOs.