Surely this would be a simple task for such an innovative, competitive and talented company? Not only could they improve on the work already done by those inefficient open source part timers, they could bring their inimitable Apple panache and style to the project which so obviously displays to all but the most ignorant and debased of computer users the superiority of the Apple way of being.
Of course it may be that this mere flyspeck of a task is beneath the capacities of such people, far too trivial and meaningless to be bothered with. And think what would happen if they went ahead and as a result large numbers of common, ordinary folk started using Apple hardware and the Mac OS? Instead of just the undoubted elite constituting 2.9341729876543210000001% of the desktop OS market (as at 1:53:02PM GMT on Sunday 5th of February 2003) it could well happen that vast hordes may begin to switch to becoming Apple users, sorry beings. How then to differentiate the true connoisseur of the desktop computing experience from the unenlightened rabble? Much safer to continue with policies which make such a switch most unlikely.
On second thoughts, perhaps looking towards Apple in this matter is not such a good idea.
How about BeOS then? This is one OS that even a scribe such as myself has had hands on (if I may use such a crude term) experience and to quote from a slightly relatively well known guru in this field, it was indeed an "esoteric" experience. With such a classy OS its future would be assured if it could run programs written for other OS's.
Alas, 2002 was the year BeOS ceased to exist as a commercial (or even non commercial) desktop entity. Hands up those who currently run BeOS as their only desktop OS? Hands up those who currently run BEOS and another OS? Hands up those who have EVER run BeOS? Hmmm, yes.
How could this happen to such a brilliant desktop OS??? But wait, what about the open source community who are toiling away personfally to create open BEOS from the sweat of their shiny brows, glowing eyes and overlarge brains? Hope springs eternal good readers. Only the future will tell what awaits us in this arena but I fear it will be the dim, distant future, rather than the nearly, could be, let us hope, didn't I see something on that somewhere future that we in the IT community have so joyfully and wisely made our own.
So, okay then, it is true that this revolution that I am trumpeting only presently allows LINUX users (God bless their Souls) to run some programs designed for windows. But the principle is clear and as CPU and video card hardware gets ever faster the penalty for API translation becomes less and less meaningful, if indeed it even exists in the office suite area. And as the code warriors become more experienced they will undoubtedly improve the efficiency of their programs which will further reduce the difference between pure, unadultered and absolutely perfectly scrumptious native code and the nasty, buggy, rude, lazy, hopeless non-native rubbish that a decent person would not even mention in polite, civilized company.
Having been so bold as to enter this field of highly intellectual, (apologizes to our American readers for using foreign terminology) well thought out and well documented punditry, I shall go the whole hog, as the old saying goes, and predict what the future will hold for this surprisingly overlooked revolution.
Nothing else but complete triumph, absolute victory and total world domination (in the nicest and cuddliest possible way of course) could eventuate for desktop freedom of choice in our wonderful, blissful IT future. All we have to do is to look at our glorious past to see that complete success is guaranteed.
Having said that, it would be less than honest of me to fail to mention that a small, tiny, almost non-existent shadow of doubt ever so briefly and lightly brushed against the further most outer boundary of my consciousness.
What if Linux is not ready for the desktop? What use is it claiming that Linux disto's can run programs written for another desktop OS just as well as that OS if (shock , horror, gasp) those distro's are not ready for the true and authentic desktop experience??
Now as all good and keen eyed readers of this and any number of other similar web sites is aware, one or two articles on this precise matter have appeared in recent times. Indeed, by my admittedly rough calculations ( I may have somehow missed the odd one here or there) 278,516,777,909,223,400 X 47 articles on this very subject have appeared on the net in recent times, ie. the period January 2002 to the present day, whatever that is.
Clearly this is a matter which concerns a few people, perhaps even more than a few.
Suffice to say that such a matter shall have to wait for next years punditry as the extingencies of time preclude us from elaborating in a worthwhile manner on such a complex and difficult topic which has been so brilliantly handled by so many who have also bent their backs to the noble cause of elucidating the future of the IT universe. I truly trust that this article has given all who may chance upon it an honest and accurate analysis of the state of the desktop computing industry in the year of 2002 and a clear grasp of what lies ahead.
Copyright Ian McKenzie 2003.
About the Author:
Ian McKenzie has never used a computer in his life. This article was delivered by carrier pigeon and was written using a rock nib dipped in wild berry juice.
- "Desktop Revolution, Part I"
- "Desktop Revolution, Part II"
