[Lazarus] The Problem with the Linux Desktop

[Michael Van Canneyt]

On Fri, 27 Mar 2020, Anthony Walter wrote:

> Michael,
>
> I've been using the Linux desktop as my primary OS since 2006. I had
> dabbled in in before, but typically went back to windows when my networking
> had troubles.
>
> That said, I want Linux to be better. Yes I understand your points, but
> please understand even when you choose an environment like Gnome vs KDE,
> even they break things or don't provide all the tools you need. that is
> the frustrating part, when an environment either breaks something like tray
> icons or provides little to no assistance in completing some requirement,
> such as hit testing a window for transparent pixels, or registering a
> global hotkey.

I understand it is frustrating, and I'm not trying to minimize this.

But I see it as an inescapable consequence of not having central "management".

If you want Linux to be better:
In order for the linux desktop to become better, I think the only approach is to have a
strictly centralized "management".

As I see it, the linux kernel has such strict management (or at least stricter), and it thrives.

The first thing this strict management should enforce is:
backwards compatibility must be high in the list of standards to adhere to.

A reasonably vanilla application built on Windows 95 will still run today. 
I doubt many linux applications built in - say - 1997 will pass that test.

The whole delphi VCL counts on this backwards compatibility. 
In an Apple world, embarcadero would have bancrupted quickly, I suppose :(

In this sense, Lazarus does a good job: it provides this backwards
compatibility across platforms, if you stick to the LCL.

I open a lot of projects from 10 years ago for the upcoming Lazarus book: 
they still compile and work :-)

Michael.