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Dec. 06, 2006

Analysis -- The OSDL's Desktop Working Group recently concluded a survey on what areas of development are most important to desktop Linux users. The results, now in, will be put to immediate use at the next Desktop Architects Meeting this week in Portland.

The Working Group's survey, while touching on consumer issues, such as iPod support, was focused primarily on business use. Besides general questions -- "How many desktop systems does your company use?" -- the OSDL wanted to know such specifics as what peripheral equipment needs to work with your Linux desktops.

The top desktop priorities that users want developers to work on are, in order of importance: open-source drivers, cross-distribution Linux desktop standards, and improved wireless support.

While the Desktop Working Group has gone a long way with the community desktop architects in addressing desktop standards with the Portland Project standards, the related driver and wireless problems are far more intractable.

As John Cherry, the OSDL's (Open Source Development Labs) Desktop Linux initiative manager, observed in a note concerning the survey, there are only four real answers to the driver problem, and none of them are perfect.

The first is to increase the visibility of the problem so that the vendors will start supplying open-source drivers. Cherry, however, thinks that Linux's driver problems are already about as well known as they can be.

The second is reverse engineering. But, Cherry said, "The main downside to this is that it's a lot of tedious work. However, it's been a time-proven solution, and is entirely within the control of the community. So the best way to apply resources here would be to either a) increase the amount of workers, or b) make the work easier to do."

The third approach, according to Cherry, is to continue to create wrappers around Windows drivers, such as the NDISWrapper project. This open-source project uses NDIS (Network Driver Interface Specification) and native Windows drivers to support wireless network cards on Linux. This method, though, "has already been ruled out by the community, so I think it'd be much less likely to be accepted," he notes.

Finally, Cherry suggests that the open-source community directly approach vendors about obtaining support for open drivers. It is, he admits, a long shot since most of them already know about the demand for open-source drivers and have largely dismissed the idea. Still, he thinks it may be worth a shot.

The information gathered in this survey will be put to immediate use at the next OSDL Desktop Architects Meeting in Portland, Oregon on Dec. 7 and 8. It was at this meeting last year that the revolutionary Portland Project and its technical summits on printing, wireless, and power management began.

These efforts, in turn, have led to breakthroughs in making the Linux desktop far more user and developer friendly. Hopefully, the latest survey's results and this week's meeting will lead to new breakthroughs in desktop Linux usability, and who knows, perhaps a path to significant improvements in Linux driver support.

-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

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Use of this site is governed by our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Except where otherwise specified, the contents of this site are copyright © 1999-2008 Ziff Davis Enterprise Holdings Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff Davis Enterprise is prohibited. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.