The Linux Desktop can't stand still to accommodate some minor platform. I understand that a move to systemd and in the future to wayland will have problematic consequences for BSD support. But the changes are made for good reasons and to bring the Linux and Free Software Desktop forward.
Systemd is much better for Desktop uses. The major reason is that it is fully designed to support hotplug. Which is something you have to constantly deal with on Desktop/Laptop systems. Disks are plugged in, Network connection isn't ready, and so on. It is also much faster and has a lot of other nice features. The lack of systemd support in *Ubuntu might be the reason for me to switch to another distribution for my Desktop.
Wayland finally allows us to get rid off all the legacy crap we have to carry around with X11. There is a reason why it is developed by the Xorg devs.
Pulseaudio had its reasons as well. Such as having useful support for Bluetooth- or USB-audio. Per-application audio settings and so on.
Of course you can argue with certain details in certain implementations. But I don't think that we can argue about the problems those solutions solve. Maybe you are happy with the setup you've been using since the 90s. But for most people the times are changing.
It is certainly sad that the BSDs don't have the manpower to keep up. However we can not expect the Linux Desktop to stand still because of them. The Linux Desktop itself lacks manpower and is fighting an uphill battle. Supporting minor systems will only drag it down.
> Systemd is much better for Desktop uses. The major reason is that it is fully designed to support hotplug.
This is exactly why upstart was invented, long before systemd existed.
> Which is something you have to constantly deal with on Desktop/Laptop systems. Disks are plugged in, Network connection isn't ready, and so on. It is also much faster and has a lot of other nice features. The lack of systemd support in *Ubuntu might be the reason for me to switch to another distribution for my Desktop.
Ubuntu uses upstart, which handles everything that you have specified just fine. You may well have a good reason to switch away, but you have failed to state your case here.
> This is exactly why upstart was invented, long before systemd existed.
Except that upstart didn't deliver too much, unlike systemd. Fedora used upstart (RHEL6 still does) and it wasn't very different from the traditional SysV init. I also wasn't able to figure out how to use it to its full potential, it looked too complicated. On the other hand perhaps I'm biased because Lennart provided a series on systemd for administrators.
The changes to X11/Weyland are an even bigger issue for non-Linux platforms than Gnome.
Even if the BSDs had unlimited manpower it would be extremely inefficient to try to keep track of all the changes to what has become a Linux specific project.
systemd is not better than init for any use right now. My guess is that it is unlikely to ever be, but predictions are hard, especially about the future. As far as pulseaudio, it's basically a bloated version of esd, which was another project trying to solve the same problems that also sucked.
I'm taking a "wait and see" approach to Wayland. Clearly X needs to die. Many times before people have tried to kill it and it's still here; Wayland seems to have a lot of backing though.
>The Linux Desktop can't stand still to accommodate some minor platform.
The current strategy of charging backwards at full speed doesn't seem like a great plan though. We're not getting closer to linux on the desktop being plausible, we're getting further and further away. Making a typical linux desktop system even more complex, brittle, and fragile than windows is not a good way to compete with windows.
Systemd is much better for Desktop uses. The major reason is that it is fully designed to support hotplug. Which is something you have to constantly deal with on Desktop/Laptop systems. Disks are plugged in, Network connection isn't ready, and so on. It is also much faster and has a lot of other nice features. The lack of systemd support in *Ubuntu might be the reason for me to switch to another distribution for my Desktop.
Wayland finally allows us to get rid off all the legacy crap we have to carry around with X11. There is a reason why it is developed by the Xorg devs.
Pulseaudio had its reasons as well. Such as having useful support for Bluetooth- or USB-audio. Per-application audio settings and so on.
Of course you can argue with certain details in certain implementations. But I don't think that we can argue about the problems those solutions solve. Maybe you are happy with the setup you've been using since the 90s. But for most people the times are changing.
It is certainly sad that the BSDs don't have the manpower to keep up. However we can not expect the Linux Desktop to stand still because of them. The Linux Desktop itself lacks manpower and is fighting an uphill battle. Supporting minor systems will only drag it down.