Everybody says that what Linux needs is a killer app that will make people want to switch over from Windows, or will make them understand what's so great about Linux. Well, as far as I'm concerned, we had one, but we let it fall by the wayside because we didn't appreciate it. I've heard that it might be coming back, and I hope so.
The app, btw, is Compiz. Why? Because I could show Windows users a laptop designed for Vista doing things that no version of Windows could manage: not just multiple workspaces, because Vista had that. Not even transparency or wobbly windows. No, I'm talking about the 3-D animation as you moved from one workspace to the next, the way that you could slide an open window from one desktop to the next and have the desktop switch to follow it and, of course, the ever-popular desktop cube.
Everybody I showed it to was entranced by it. They were amazed at how smooth the transitions were and how well the 3-D effects were rendered. Then, I asked them the all-important question: "If Linux can do this, why can't Windows?" Nobody ever had an answer. If there was ever a killer app for Linux, Compiz was it. We need it back, because we can use it to get the attention of the young impressionable computer users who are at least as interested in how things look as they are in how well they look.
The app, btw, is Compiz. Why? Because I could show Windows users a laptop designed for Vista doing things that no version of Windows could manage: not just multiple workspaces, because Vista had that. Not even transparency or wobbly windows. No, I'm talking about the 3-D animation as you moved from one workspace to the next, the way that you could slide an open window from one desktop to the next and have the desktop switch to follow it and, of course, the ever-popular desktop cube.
Everybody I showed it to was entranced by it. They were amazed at how smooth the transitions were and how well the 3-D effects were rendered. Then, I asked them the all-important question: "If Linux can do this, why can't Windows?" Nobody ever had an answer. If there was ever a killer app for Linux, Compiz was it. We need it back, because we can use it to get the attention of the young impressionable computer users who are at least as interested in how things look as they are in how well they look.