Was AOL letter, now forking

[Bradley Miller]

I will give you that there is a certain degree of flexibility in Linux, but
as things have shown lately, there is also a degree of fault with being too
flexible.  Just take a trip down the command trees and see what it's like
trying to remember switches.  Consistency is hardly a well-known thing on a
lot of applications.   

Speaking of which:

Consortium releases Linux standards

An industry consortium of the largest server and Linux
sellers has released new standards to ensure that different
versions of Linux will work similarly. The standards will
make it easier for software companies such as Oracle to
bring their programs to Linux, said Scott McNeil, executive
director of the Free Standards Group. Software firms will
know what Linux features can be expected, not only from one
vendor's version of Linux to another, but across newer versions
of the same company's product. Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Dell Computer,
Compaq Computer, SuSE, Red Hat, Caldera International, Turbolinux
and Ximian announced the standard at LinuxWorld. 
http://clickthru.online.com/Click?q=8b-SB2BQY0H_2Nm6JkMbqjU2GWT 

(( snip ))

Like I've said before, there are so many little fractured projects going on
 . . . it's a mess.  I stumble around looking for a good PHP script when
there are so many partial projects that are started, do exactly what the
others do, but they aren't completely tested or lack features.  It goes
back to the old analogy of people working.   10 people doing 10 projects
and accomplishing 10% on each project vs. 10 people doing 10% on 1 project.
  Which one adds up to 100%?   The successful projects are those that are
doing the 1 project thing.   That doesn't mean there can't be 2 or 3 other
projects, but a quick search on SourceForge and you'll see that there are
tons of projects that will be nothing but a glimmer in someone's eye for a
long time, if not forever.

That being said, hasn't forking already happened?   Maybe not at the kernel
level, but the efforts that you have to do to install one distro vs.
another is just mind boggling.  If you were to learn every flavor of distro
nowadays . . . eeck!   Even if you just concentrate on the basics, it's
still a challenge.  Microsoft grabbed it's foothold by streamlining how
things worked.   Remember the good old days of using one set of
keys/commands in Wordstar, or Wordperfect, and then another set for Lotus?
 The desktop is won by the basics and consistency.  There will always be
the fringe -- the Mac people, Amiga, etc.... for every era.

-- Bradley Miller