Analysis—Over the past week, some of the Linux desktops foremost developers gathered together in Portland, Oregon, at the OSDL (Open Source Development Labs) Desktop Architects Meeting to work further on bringing order to the Linux desktop.
According to John Cherry, the OSDLs Desktop Linux initiative manager, there was a good turnout of about 45 developers from the community, including major Linux vendors such as Novell and Red Hat, and ISVs (independent software vendors) like Google and Adobe.
It was the ISVs, according to Cherry, who had a strong and clear message for the Linux distributors: “Application vendors, esp. those like Google that distribute their software through the Web, and not necessarily bundled with a distribution, want to be able to count on any [distribution] continuing to keep and not depreciate or eliminate software libraries.”
Cherry explained, “They want to be able to count on libraries being there so that they dont need to release a slightly different version for each distribution or each dot upgrade of a distribution.”
In short, “They want to be able to release a Google Earth just once.” This message came across “very clearly.”
As another part of this, the ISVs also want stable, consistent interfaces.
How stable? They dont want any interface to be obsoleted.