Dedoimedo on MXPI

[Somewhat Reticent]

Part paper-tiger click-bait, seasoned with a little constructive criticism - always laid-back yet passionate.
Classic.
It's always a challenge for those who know what's going on - in detail - to label things well for those who don't.
Let the water run off your thick hide, and chew on the useful points. It'll make you better at what you do.

[Adrian]

I appreciate Dedoimedo's reviews, though. I kinda skim through to get to the parts that might be important to me.

Maybe that's the problem.
As a whole, the article makes sense. He raises some valid points which should be considered.

I'm looking forward to incorporate your patches into the program. Talking is cheap.

[dreamer]

Until we have universal Linux packaging that can match Windows packaging in size/performance and application developer friendliness I think it's a "waste of time" to target "consumers" with Linux. All consumer systems depend on packaging by application developers.

I might be naive, but I don't think it would be hard technically to create a universal Linux package format for standalone applications (no package dependencies, only basic system requirements). A lot of software is delivered like this, for example Firefox. We only need a package format/script that extracts to for example /opt and puts a desktop file in /usr/share/applications. Uninstall would just delete the program folder and the desktop file. Upgrade would extract over old program folder (maybe delete old folder first).

Windows software easily bundles Qt dependencies without getting fat. It's harder with gtk, but we could assume that gtk3 is a stable system requirement at this point. The killer feature for Linux would be a stable basic toolkit (think gtk2) that makes it possible to run a binary without unnecessary bundling after 10 years, just like Windows.

I know at least one nice Software Center was created using Electron so that can be forked and used on every distro. So if a talented dev wants an unpaid full time job I think this could be done. The key is making application devs do the limited packaging and the Software Center dev could just do a quick check before uploading. Ultimately it's the user that is responsible for the software that they install on their machine.

I think it's a cool idea (at least in my mind). It would unite the Linux desktop users since they are using the same binaries and it would connect users to application developers in a more straight-forward manner. It would also make troubleshooting easier since it is the same binary on every distro.

This Software Center wouldn't replace distro specific packaging. It would be a complement, just like Flatpak and Snap. Compared to Flatpak and Snap it would lack sandboxing, but hopefully bring many times smaller package size and no dependencies. I think package size would be max double that of native packages and in many cases only marginally bigger. The way I see it, Linux desktop world domination depends on lean standalone universal Linux packaging and a universal Linux Software Center.

So maybe Dedoimedo is right in a way when it comes to consumers and big icons, but I feel he left out 90 % of the story.

[asqwerth]

Except it won't really be "universal" but just another portable format after Flatpak and Snaps. People invested in the latter 2 won't let go of them. Then you have appimage, which may not be perfectly compatible for all distros (there was a recent thread where an ubuntu-based appimage gave errors when attempted to be run in MX).

I'm actually happy that our MXPI is lean and mean. My main concern is to try to remove some confusion abt Test Repo. I think it is a valid confusion some will make. But I accept that HOW to do it such that users actually read/notice the explanation, is a problem.

Dolphin_Oracle's haiku tooltip suggestion tickles my funny bone.

[Kulmbacher]

german saying:

What does the oak care, if the pig rubs against it!

[thinkpadx]

as i stated beofre in othter threads on this guy and his reviews: i have seen so many trash comments with minimal exploration of distros that i no longer read his trash. you devs here have done a superb job on MX and i am very pleased and happy to have switched to MX. Took me a year to ponder the switch but glad i did. keep on truckin' team! and thanks!!!

[dolphin_oracle]

he's done OK, we just don't need to be like everyone else.

at least he doesn't ever say Xfce looks like windows 98, which is what the stock phrase is for a whole bunch of youtube reviews.

[thomasl]

Re MX Test Repo vs Debian Testing
FWIW when I started with MX many months ago I was (like probably quite a few others) coming from Windows with a (long-term) view to replace Windows 7 with a Linux distro. I had used a Unix workstation in the 'eighties and played with the odd distro in a VM but I had absolutely no clear concept of what either Debian Testing or MX Test Repo meant. I found out eventually but a clearer hint, eg in MXPI, would have made things somewhat easier.

Perhaps a small video by you-know-who (if it doesn't exist already) could be made and its URL featured prominently in MXPI? Just an idea.

[thinkpadx]

sorry DO. my post was a serious compliment to you and the rest of the team here!

[dolphin_oracle]

sorry DO. my post was a serious compliment to you and the rest of the team here!

and I thank you for it @thinkpadx