> Actually, with all the disdain for GNOME 3 and Unity (that I can't fully understand), I think the BSDs actually have a window of opportunity.
I agree, but none of the BSD projects has the developer resources to take advantage of that opportunity right now. It would be a massive undertaking, and, unlike many other aspects of OS development, would require very serious long-term commitments. That's what makes this new screw-you attitude in Linux upstream so frustrating for the BSDs; it's taking groups of developers that are already stretched really thin, and it's placing even greater demands on them, and for pretty silly reasons in some cases. You really can't blame the BSD developers for feeling sabotaged.
So I think it's more likely that another desktop environment project that still has sane developers, like xfce, will end up getting some more activity while being easier to install on the BSDs (and consequently better supported there).
> It doesn't exactly help that there are four major BSDs
Yeah, the fallout between NetBSD and Theo was unfortunate. Each of the BSDs has a specific focus now that doesn't really fit with the others; I'd bet on them all evaporating rather than merging.
I agree, but none of the BSD projects has the developer resources to take advantage of that opportunity right now. It would be a massive undertaking, and, unlike many other aspects of OS development, would require very serious long-term commitments. That's what makes this new screw-you attitude in Linux upstream so frustrating for the BSDs; it's taking groups of developers that are already stretched really thin, and it's placing even greater demands on them, and for pretty silly reasons in some cases. You really can't blame the BSD developers for feeling sabotaged.
So I think it's more likely that another desktop environment project that still has sane developers, like xfce, will end up getting some more activity while being easier to install on the BSDs (and consequently better supported there).
> It doesn't exactly help that there are four major BSDs
Yeah, the fallout between NetBSD and Theo was unfortunate. Each of the BSDs has a specific focus now that doesn't really fit with the others; I'd bet on them all evaporating rather than merging.