Well, OSCON 2005 is over. It's been over for like, two days now, so I guess I should come to grips with it. Seriously, my return to the Bay Area coincided with a Rushabh visit, so I have had "the busy". I have a few things that I want to note about the conference, however.
The keynotes on the last day were pretty good. In fact, most of the keynote speeches (aside from the vendor ones) were pretty good. I have to say that I like the new 15-minute format -- it tends to cut down on the speeches that seem last forever, and bring the focus down to the good stuff. Case in point, I really liked Asa Dotzler's talk about Linux vs. the desktop. I mostly agree with what he had to say, namely that there are some migration issues, and more importantly some usability issues, for people that are trying to come to Linux from Windows.
But more so than that, I think that there are issues of innovation as well: People need a reason to switch their computer from one OS to another. And while I think that increased security and cost are two super-great reasons to switch to Linux, I don't think that those reasons are enough to get people switch to Linux in droves. Most people don't think about security, nor do they think about the cost of Windows (it is bundled in the cost of the computer, so they don't really notice it).
Anyway, after Asa's speech, I was kindof bummed, because I think that making a usable interface is hard work -- requiring usability experts, who conduct studies of users, focus on the interface, and refine it until it is great. And I wasn't really sure how free software was going to be able to get this sort of work. Thankfully, the end of OSCON was capped by a great talk from Miguel de Icaza, who addressed these issues and more.
First, Miguel talked about the work that Novell is doing on Linux, including doing usability testing with actual users! Wow! I was wondering how such a feat would be accomplished in the Open Source world, and I see that funding has come in to make it happen. But what's more important, is that the methodology that they used could be duplicated and repeated by the community. All you need is two cameras, the right software, and a whole bunch of time. So, I am heartened to think that Linux and GNOME might actually, eventually "get there" in terms of usability.
Finally, Miguel ended his talk by showing off Xgl. I haven't been able to find a lot of information about this, but basically it is an X server that outputs to OpenGL. This means that you get massive amounts of hardware acceleration, which can be used to do cool UI effects. Miguel demonstrated wobbly windows (the windows wobbled like jelly when dragged), virtual desktops on a 3-D cube (ala Fast User Switching in OS X, but better), an Exposé-like feature (again, from OS X), and finally, real translucent windows. All in all, the demo was amazing. But even more amazing, the Linux desktop now has a solid platform, in which really innovative things can start to be created. And hopefully, it is in this innovation, that cool new features will be created, which will compel people to start switching to Linux in droves.
Or, if not to Linux, at least to MacOS X... :)
-Andy.