Internetling

I’ve been playing with this idea for a while now and  wanted to share it with you guys.

While I think that Konqueror is a great browser there is sadly no real KDE 4 support for my favorite browser, Firefox, except the Nokia beta Qt4 port or the theme, so I’ve been thinking:

lots of people have been telling me that they find the Google Chrome browser to offer a great web experience – I’ve tried it out myself and I also think that it’s not too shabby at all, although it needs some polishing

And I’m no Google fanboy, I just believe their browser is OK and that making a Qt4 user interface for Chromium could make Chrome a viable choice or alternative to Konqueror, thus enabling more users to switch from Gnome to the excellent KDE 4(.2).

Codeweavers have already made a WINE-wrapped port a while ago but we need a real user interface and since Firefox still isn’t coming to QT4 for some time, maybe some people would like to use Chrome instead of Konqueror or another QT4 browser alternative.

What do you think? Do you like Chrome? Would you use it on KDE4?

A browser is an important piece of software for most desktop users, we spend a lot of time in the browser. The user experience must be on-par, and I believe a Chromium port could offer this.

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• KDE hopes to fill boots with 4.2 release (theregister.co.uk)

One of the most interesting aspects of this year, as far as Linux is concerned, is the lack of the usual ‘Year of the Linux Desktop’ news items. And yes, the massive success of netbooks introduced Linux to the masses. However, we still have huge problems which will continue to hinder adoption of Linux on our current hardware. In this article I’ll focus on the most critical ones. I’d also like to hear what you think is going to be Linux’ biggest problem / competitor this year

As always there is no way that everybody’s going to agree with me so if you have your own opinion about it please tell us in the comments instead of just writing about how I suck, or otherwise provoking pointless arguments.

Windows 7

Windows 7 is coming out this year, that means Microsoft finally realized Windows Vista wasn’t an OS that could actually compete with Linux.
We’ve seen the new refurbished interface, which frankly looks a lot like KDE, we’ve seen the user experience improvements which were mostly simplified system administration…
So why is Windows a threat to Linux in 2009?

You see, this year is not really the year of the Linux desktop – it is the year of the Linux Netbook; and the problem is: Microsoft (supposedly) managed to lower system-resource consumption, thus enabling people to run Windows 7 with more features on the very popular netbooks through which Linux is actually gaining market share this year;
but still even though Windows 7 is an improved Windows Vista it is still Windows in the core, and we have to make new users aware of this fact and try to convert them to Linux, if of course Linux can manage all their computing tasks.

Bad Netbook Linux Distributions

When the eeePC came out people rushed to the stores and bought millions of the tiny laptops. The first eeePC came with the Xandros Linux operating system. I’ve tested it out personally and I must say it is one of the most horrible distributions I have ever seen. Yes, this may be a very harsh opinion but it is not so far from the truth. Xandros doesn’t really show what Linux can really do. People who have installed other Linux distributions know that many other full-blown Linux distros can run just as well

I hear and to read on many news sites and podcasts that some other notebook providers also ship their own netbook-tailored distributions and quite frankly that’s what makes me scared.

People will start hating Linux because these implementations are mostly pretty bad – sadly not all networks are powerful enough to run Ubuntu Mobile.

OpenSolaris

Open Solaris was first dubbed “Sun’s project copy Linux”. Still, nobody is laughing.

At the moment it doesn’t have as many packages as most Linux distributions do, but we must not underestimate Ian Murdock, who is the Debian guy.

Yes the Debian guy.

Project Indiana will in my opinion become a very powerful and feature-rich OpenSolaris distribution and because of some OpenSolaris-specific technologies users may want to choose OpenSolaris for their desktop.
Silverlight

It all started in 2007 and continued with the Barack Obama inaguration ceremony. Firstly though, let us thank Miguel de Icaza for the Moonlight plug-in.

You know what will happen, I don’t have to explain it in detail:

Microsoft shall take advantage of its large user base and push Silverlight, so the Linux user will not be able to enjoy the newest Silverlight-encoded media. Bummer, huh?

Touch Interfaces

The touch interface craze probably started with the introduction of the iPhone and I don’t think that it’s stopping any time soon. We have seen a lot of trouble with X.org development and I’m not sure if Linux will be able to support the latest touch technologies. Of course I may be completely wrong and the power of community may enable machines running Linux to provide a full touch experience, but if Microsoft is thinking of forcing people to use touchscreens Linux may fall behind in market share this year for sure.

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Since it was the first real year for the blog (first post dated 6/1/2008), there were a lot of articles on extremely different topics in Linux, open source and the cloud, until it all pretty much focused on GNU/Linux. I also started a podcast, but that’s another story.

So before we start with the 2009 article batch, I thought it would be cool to take a look into the past and comment on the posts that were popular, and some of my personal favorites.

Anti-virus software is dead – use Linux

My first post that got onto Digg. What is weird: even though it was the simplest post and took me only 15 minutes to make the picture and publish the post, it is still the one that got the most Diggs (and comments). I never got to answer the people who were wondering: yes, I used the 6.06 release package in March 2008 because it was an LTS release.

Linux Docks – 5 Mac OS X Docks for Ubuntu and Other Linux Distros

The Dock has become a fairly popular window-management tool. No wonder this post gets so many hits – aside from AWN there is a number of different docks available for the X Window System, some of them don’t even require compositing. This post features 5+1 well-known dock applications.

5 Things YOU Can Do to Help Open Source

Sadly, this post got only 4 comments, although it deserves much more attention. Many people think that they cannot be of great help to open source projects if they aren’t familiar with programming languages. Well, here are a few ways you can contribute to your favorites.

The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Right Desktop Environment

My second attempt at a simple desktop environment guide. I’d like to thank all the commenters for correcting a few mistakes here and there and discussing the topic in-depth. This post also got Dugg, but I wasn’t very satisfied with it. Maybe I’ll make another one this year.

The Big X Window Manager Guide (with Screenshots)

A result of love and devotion, I hope this X Window Manager Guide I put together helped educate new and old Linux users about the variety in this field. I admit I made some mistakes. However, I am still very happy with this article and if you still haven’t read it, now is the time.

Top 5 Awesome Linux Distro Upgrades Coming Out in Second Half of 2008

Long title, isn’t it? Lenny still hasn’t come out, Fedora 10 turned out to be less of a disappointment than 9, Intrepid was a standard Ubuntu and the other 2 featured projects “upgraded” each in their own way.

My Favorite Linux Podcasts

I like listening to podcasts, especially Linux podcasts. They tend to be informative, with good hosts who normally know a great deal more than people using Windows, perhaps due to the versatility and customizability of Linux. This is not a fact, jsut an opinion. I hereby invite you once again to take a look at some of my favorite podcasts in 2008 (sadly, the Linux Action Show moved to Youtube later this year).

Advanced Linux Distributions You Should Try

And last but not least, I wrote a short article about my favorite distributions oriented at the advanced user, namely Arch, Slackware and Gentoo Linux. The article itself is not really informative (I actually stink at writing, as many commenters liked to point out throughout 2008, I promise I’ll get better though), but the discussion in the comments section is one of the best on the site and if you are interested in reading very informative comments about such distributions I recommend you check this post out.

Well, that wraps up 2008! I hope you enjoyed reading my blog and that you will stay subscribed.

Plans for 2009

Personally, I plan to continue posting guides and top-lists about distributions and Linux software. Furthermore, I’m interested in your opinion.

• Is there anything about the blog you would like me to change?
• Anything you would like to see more of?
• What are your favorite Internetling.com articles?

I have been getting requests for different distribution reviews. Tell me in the comments or contact me through the Contact Form. I read every comment and email.

Since it is you, the readers, who made this blog worth writing, before I go get my party on, I want to wish you a Happy New Year.

In 2008, the Internetling has grown slowly, but steadily. Everyday the blog is visited by thousands of people and at the moment it has about 400 RSS subscribers.

Thanks for reading, subscribing and commenting! I read and appreciate every contribution.

Happy 2009!

During my daily feed-skimming I noticed that the people at ZDNet got their hands on the first (and apparently only) beta of the new Vista savior, Windows 7. The review features screenshots and I must say, even though it has not convinced me, Windows 7 is a step forward from Vista, at least as far as the GUI is concerned.  Although, aside from the removal of some annoying Vista bells and whistles and the new Peek and Snap window-management enhancements, it is difficult not to notice the resemblance between Microsoft’s much-touted revamped Aero and the excellent, now 3-years old, KDE 3.5.x.

But the graphical familiarity goes a bit further than Windows 7’s text-less taskbar and Kicker (sans virtual desktops, Microsoft seems to be unaware of the existance this feature), Gadgets and Superkaramba. The window buttons remind me of a (quite polished) Kubuntu KWin theme. And due to the customizability of KDE, Windows may have gotten much farther with hiring their artist to simply do a theme for KDE3 ^^

However, I hope the developers did more than just change the GUI (I flinched when I saw the good ‘ol Windows XP-style install client), because in 2009, Leopard, GNOME and KDE4 still sport a superior user interface.

I’m staying with GNOME. Still, who knows, maybe this will make Windows users easier to convert to a KDE4 or KDE3 desktop on a Linux distro?

Certainly the beauty-queen – but not very unique, is it?

Windows 7

PCLinuxOS, KDE 3.5.x

Kubuntu with KDE 3.5.x

OpenSuse with KDE 4