Why your desktop still matters
I was surprised by the passion generated by my blog entry last week about Ubuntu's decision to replace GNOME with its own Unity desktop. Apparently, contrary to the pundits and usability experts, users have strong feelings about their interfaces of choice. But, when I stop to think, I should have expected that. For many free software users, the choice of desktop is still a deeply personal matter.
Journalists like me often leap to write about what's new. That tendency can be seen as a service, but it also means that the importance of trends is often exaggerated in the rush to report first.
For instance, in the last five years, network appliances and cloud computing have been hailed by many as the next revolution in computing. According to the standard story, in a few years, computers will only be launchpads for online services. Either the browser will replace the desktop, or else the services we now access through the browser will be dispersed so that the entire orientation of the desktop will be to online services. And, hearing this new gospel, designers have been quick to introduce interfaces to meet this new phase, introducing new default applets and widgets and new desktops like Chrome OS.
However, the expectations have existed long enough that now we can safely say that they aren't happening -- at least, not in the way everyone expected.
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