"640k is enough for anybody" - Standards in web browsing and desktops

In years gone by the only way to get a stable browsing experience was to use Internet Explorer 4 on Windows an OS not even built for networking. Nowadays we have Firefox, Chrome and some element of cross-platform integration. But, there are still times when things don't work properly. Web Folders, or instance. Linux has support for WebDAV, but yet no amount or Naulitus, Firefox, or Command Line trickery can get a proper connection with my networked Web Folder from school. Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid. I have to use IE, or go on the HTML read-only view. Even a Mac can access some Web Folders, to some extent. Googel made a colution by imitating IE in Chrome (with an extension), but they don't actually imitate IE. It needs the browser installed, so it can run a n instance of it inside Chrome. And they then go and say the extension works with Linux.Er, no????

Another example is desktop ideas. Gnome now has 4 interfaces for its next version: Gnome Shell, Classic Gnome desktop, Unity 3D, and Unity 2D. It was bad enough with different desktops (Gnome, KDE, XFCE, ICceWM, etc) but now different shells within desktops? Utter madness. I say find something that the public can use and suits their ways of working, and if you don't like the desktop developers, customise it. People will change their desktop, but like something to work on. I had a single bottom panel, changed to a bottom panel with the dock on it, got rid of the panel, had 2 docks, and now have a top panel with Global menus, App Switcher (icons) and Window buttons. Madness. I don't mind different desktops and web browsers, that is what choice is for, but please, please, please, please PLEASE can we have some standards to join them together. :)

Notarant

Contrary to popular wishes, this is not another rant for our blog, but a status update. We are now broadening our site and have made a new domain where we will provide more, including a monthly podcast. The team has expanded, and now includes Cameron and Elliott, and drops Raf (for the main site anyway. Raf, you are still free to work on the blog)

LOADING BARS!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hate loading bars they don't always show the right info. and they annoy me for no good reason!!!

iOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Error 404 (Not Found)!!1

Error 404 (Not Found)!!1

Soemthing that doesn't happen every day. This isn't a rant about Google, it's a rant about how little humour other people put in. They might make their products simpler to use, but they forget to lighten the mood. There are examples of people who do this well and those who don't LinuxFormat do this well which is why they're the most popular UK Linux magazine

"The first thing Tak did; he wrote himself" - Things I would change about Linux in general

(Quote from Terry Pratchett's book Thud)
Personally there are quite a few things that I would change, and this isn't much of a rant as I'm suggesting improvements other than just getting angry at the problems.
1. This OS is Anonymous.
People normally haven't' heard of Linux in any way, shape or form. They don't knew anything and as they haven't tried it don't want to change from Windows. We need to show them it, but not force it upon them as they will just say no.
2. Ubuntu=Linux.
People forget about the other Distributions or haven't heard about them. This means when Ubuntu does something they don't like, then they move away from Linux altogether.
3. Drivers
Why don't some things work? Yes I know that there are teams of people around the world who are making open source versions of the drivers, and that some companies do provide them or don;t bother, but when I plug my printer in, or connect an iPod, or use Wi-fi, I want it to work, at least when installed with no further messing around on some distros (as some are not willing to put in propriety code which is fine by me), if not on the Live disc. Many people have tried to use Mint on their laptop live and not been able to connect to their Wi-fi. I have also had this problem with our printer, an Epson Stylus DX6000. On our dual-boot box, Windows works fine with it, Ubuntu used to until we got rid of it, and so did Mint, but now Mint 9 has a big problem with it. After a while, the OS claims that the printer is not connected, and won't let you print until you turn both the printer and the computer off and reboot. But, on my PC, with mint 10, it has always worked perfectly, right from mint 6. Both Linuxes have to use the DX4850 driver as there isn't a native one, but the CUPS on Mint 9 (LTS) is broken now after an update.
4. The geek factor
Those who do know Linux, but haven't tried Ubuntu, know it as a platform for geeks, with flashing green text, and no graphical desktop, or broken messes of a desktop. But, what they don't realise, is that in 10 years, Linux has gone from being a pet OS to being capable for general desktop use. In most cases. There are still times when things mess up and it's either really tiny niggles, or something massive, like X not working. This is mainly because it is all done by volunteers in their spared time. It's a community effort and some people don't always understand that.
5. Desktop Themes and Title Bar Layout
Ubuntu is now famous for changing the Minimise, Maximise and Close buttons to the left, Mac OSX style. They have the freedom to do that, but maybe it would be best, for such a famous distro to put it as a non-default theme rather than the default. Also, some of the themes for distros aren't really that nice and are outdated. Ubuntu, Mint, Suse (KDE) have nice themes but some of the others really need to make their desktop more attractive and east-to-use. Minimalistic distros can keep their style as they look nice, but Kubuntu, Fedora, Debian could make their desktops nicer, even if it means adding it on as an optional extra.*

There's more, but I really can't be bothered to add it. The list isn't exhaustive. This post would be bigger than 1 page!

*Since I wrote this, Fedora has used the new Gnoem3 Desktop as their default and it looks swish. Yes, it means there is GNome2, Unity and GNome3, but it means that each distro has some difference, rather than the wallpaper and package manager (Package Managers...Why!)

The sound of silence... (The one without the rant)

For a while I haven't really been making any posts. This isn't because there are no more rants in the world, but is simply because I've been too busy and haven't been able to find things due to this. My last rant will be a rant about nothing to rant about (a sort of now I don;t have anything to rant about rant). But I will be back.

"Curses and Sweariness" - When technology doesn't work

(Bleak Expectations again)
I have had many problems with technology and most of them have been fixable or otherwise eliminated. But I did say most. There are some which really get me, the kind which are soo annoying and there seems no way to fix them. One of the most annoying was when I had connected my iPod to my Linux computer and had put on some images which I didn't want and couldn't get rid of them. I had to go into the iPod's folders and delete the images from there, but when I did, ti claimed a malformed file and wouldn't sync with iTunes or gtk iPod manager. Somehow it fixed itself on iTunes, but hasn't on iPod manager.

Another is that I have Conky set up to display my system information, part of it on the left, part of it on the right, but now it stops at half-way, flasing up the right half then it disappears. Why does this suddenly happen?/ Why can't technology just work. I;m a computer geek and even I have problems. How are people's mums going to manage??????????????? Everything nees to be compatible with each other and have easy helpful tips to fix things if they go wrong.

"Damn, blast, Hells Teeth and God's Elbow" - Button order on Android phones

(Today's title is another from Bleak Expectations. I have been listening to the comedy series a lot recently)

Best if i let it out straight away. I hate the fact that some companies put the buttons/ touch sensitive pad things in different orders on their Android phones. It looks wrong, is confusing and means people press the wrong button. As I have a non-android phone with the back button on the right-hand side (LG KC550) I naturally disagree with the back button on the left. Also as I'm left-handed I would have to change hands to press the back button if it was on the left. (This is quite a relaxed rant today - must be really tired) And as I'm an avid HTC supporter I insist on the home button on the left as it's then the first button you press so its like an iPhone where you press the home button as its the only button to press. Then, being more HTC it goes: Home,Menu,Back,Search. It goes in order. Mostly people just want to quit the application so they press home. Then theu might want to access the menu in an app so would press the menu button. Then back as it isn't much used unless on email or twitter - but there are widgets for that. And finally search as it's not used much. It just makes sense (HTC Sense!!!!) and is how every phne should be. Put those buttons in the right order, Smasung, Motorola, Sony (Erricson), Dell, HP, Casio.........etc.

And while you're at it, Google partner with HTC not Samsung as they have been following you ever since Android started to become a success away from Windows Mobile, and havemade many of your best Android phones whereas Samsung made their own phones with their own OSes but now support Android. Support HTC as they have the buttons in the RIGHT order!

Note toself: find out if it's HTC or htc and why when they say quietly brilliant on the startup it makes a noise

"So Mike likes packages then" - Package managers for Linux

(Today's quote comes from the Tuxradar podcast)

Apt, RPM, Gdebi, tarballs, scripts, Synaptic, Add/Remove software, Software manager, Conary, Aptitude, Apt-fast, packman.................................................

The list never ends. How many more package managers do we need? Most package formats are based on old archives and are a pain to manage. Nearly every Linux distro from the top 50 probably has its own package manager or format. Having different formats is bad enough, but having Synaptic, MintInstall, Software Centre, Add/Remove software aptitude and good old apt-get for one package format is really bad. Hoy many ways can there be to install a program???? Does every community really feel the need to make a new package manager either because they don't like the current one or because they just want to? Can't they all just merge and work on 1? At lest then we would only have to worry about Apt, RPM and tarballs without having to explain to each user that they might have to try a different method to get an image editor or audio creator. Another problem is providing programs on disc. There isn't enough room to put three different packages of each program on a disc.

This Apt has Super Cow powers

Debian made a good package format back when their distro was released and called it Apt (Advanced Packaging Tool). However, this successful format and tool was built on the aging archive .ar and this lets it down as it could be updated to be more efficient. Synaptic is the natural graphical tool to use in place of the command apt-get and most others like MintInstall are based around it. But Synaptic has a very complex interface where packages are shown by name not by program name. As these contain version numbers and lib or -devel prefixes and suffixes this confuses newbies and that is why so many other managers were created. Why can't all the Apt managers form one combined program which has the easy interface ideas of the spin-offs but the advanced functionality of Synaptic (maybe an advanced mode that IS Synaptic)?

RPM-Fusion

Red Hat, the company behind RHEL and Fedora made RPM. This again uses an old archiving system: CPIO. It is so old it was used for putting data onto tape storage and is reallyhard t ouse. RPM has no 'standard' graphical interface like Apt does with Synaptic, instead is only has the rpm command and makes use of Add/Remove software or whatever each distro provides. Again using the rpm command is harder than apt-get (sudo apt-get install somepackage) as you have to use some cmoplicated su stuff (again I hate why some distros use sudo some use su and others use both) or yum. Again this changes every release. so it's either 'su -c 'yum install -optionhere packagename'' or 'su -c 'rpm -i packagename''

And there is Slackware. I leave Pat with his custom package format as it is a one-off special case.

Why can't we have 1 unified package format with others open to choosing, but a friendly Linux package like Apt? Update it to work with a better archive and it will fit the bill every time. I understand that programs or Desktops can be argued over but package formats?? They are a core part of the system. How hard is it to have a standard??? I know this is free software, but there are some other versions of software created for the sake of creation! The core parts of any operating system, open or closed should be the same without any differentiation except where changed by the user for personal preference. There should be a Linux 2011 where all the best aspects and learning points from all distros are rolled into 1 and the others are still there for people to choose but there is a standard.