wth are there so many frontends?

**tripzero** · 04-07-2008, 02:40 PM

I started monitoring this forum a couple weeks ago and It's mind blowing how many frontends are being developed. The question must be asked why?

For me, I started developing a frontend because none currently exists in completeness under Linux.

So why are there so many in windows? Not that fragmentation and diversity are a bad thing necessarily, but I'm just wondering: Are the current offerings incomplete? Are they hard to get into and expand? Are they closed source? Are they too big/bulky/slow?

Or maybe it's just the nature of the community to "Roll-Your-Own"?

In anyway, I think that competition is a good thing. It just seems to me that everyone runs one of the top three or four, and then everything else falls into the long tail.

If anyone has any additional insights, please comment.

**Sal R.** · 04-07-2008, 02:44 PM

Different strokes for different folks...

**NeonDev** · 04-07-2008, 03:00 PM

I think you answered your own question...

**tripzero** · 04-07-2008, 08:29 PM

Originally Posted by NeonDev

I think you answered your own question...

I was more after a general consensus. Do people think the current frontends are lacking? And if so, in what areas?

**greatwhite** · 04-07-2008, 08:52 PM

You've pretty much asked an unanswerable question........

People aren't making these FE's for business or profit, it's a hobby. Everyone is dabbling around in different stuff because it interests them. They also build thier own FE to learn different techinques or to just plain ol' hack around.

Much like you are yourself.

The question you asked is kind of like asking why one person drives a ford, one a chev, one a volkswagon, etc..........

Simply because they want to.

I'm not quite sure what else to say................

Cheers

**coffeejolts** · 04-14-2008, 01:36 PM

I think the reason there are so many front ends is that nobody has developed the definitive "killer" front-end. All the existing front ends have their own limitations, and none of them is "perfect".

**greatwhite** · 04-14-2008, 02:02 PM

Originally Posted by coffeejolts

I think the reason there are so many front ends is that nobody has developed the definitive "killer" front-end. All the existing front ends have their own limitations, and none of them is "perfect".

Dunno, RR is pretty close to "killer" if you ask me.

It's just not for noobs.............ya gotta learn it.

**dittohead** · 04-14-2008, 04:43 PM

Originally Posted by greatwhite

Dunno, RR is pretty close to "killer" if you ask me.

It's just not for noobs.............ya gotta learn it.

Nice contradiction. To be "killer" it has to be easy to use, set up, learn, and still be powerful. RR is is only powerful. It lacks in the other areas terribly. CF and SD both lack the adaptability that RR has, to bad RR isn't noob friendly. I work 12 hours a day, and run a small business, www.shellicam.com. Spending a couple hundred bucks on a front ends is easy, spending 100 hours dabbling in RR is not. My time is more valuable than that. I have already spent 10 hours playing with RR. The demos of the other front ends run flawlessly so far. RR has tons of potential. Just not for people who don't make this their hobby. I prefer to be out in my Jeep, not programming my computer in my Jeep.

So to answer the initial question, there are a lot of front ends, just like there were a lot of OS's years ago. It seems to be coming down to just a few. CF, SD, RR, are the ones I like. I don't think it will be long before a few of the obscure ones go by the wayside, are bought up, absorbed, etc, then it will be down to just a few. SD has some great drama going on right now. They appear to be going big time, or are being abandoned. No ones talking. What is your Frontend like? do tell. And the reason for so many windows is the vast majority of people like to dabble in unique stuff, but to spend the time necessary to do Linux properly is not worth it to most people. Do the math. I make 35 bucks an hour, If I work one day of overtime, I could by a front end, an OS, and some extra toys and still have enough for lunch. They work virtually flawlessly and I am out far less time than if I tried to get a "free" open source system up and running properly. That extra time is spent scuba diving, jeeping, rock climbing, mtb with my family. If I live with mom and dad, dont have a decent paying job, no wife or kids, then sure it may be worth it to me. lol, just yanking ya a bit.

**Disefyl** · 04-14-2008, 04:48 PM

Exactly. I run SD but played with RR for a bit. I needed a solution quick and SD was sufficient for what I needed at the time. If/When I do a rebuild Ill probably go another route. There are many factors considered when choosing a FE: time, cost, features etc.

**greatwhite** · 04-14-2008, 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by dittohead

Nice contradiction. To be "killer" it has to be easy to use, set up, learn, and still be powerful. RR is is only powerful. It lacks in the other areas terribly. CF and SD both lack the adaptability that RR has, to bad RR isn't noob friendly. I work 12 hours a day, and run a small business, www.shellicam.com. Spending a couple hundred bucks on a front ends is easy, spending 100 hours dabbling in RR is not. My time is more valuable than that. I have already spent 10 hours playing with RR. The demos of the other front ends run flawlessly so far. RR has tons of potential. Just not for people who don't make this their hobby. I prefer to be out in my Jeep, not programming my computer in my Jeep.

So to answer the initial question, there are a lot of front ends, just like there were a lot of OS's years ago. It seems to be coming down to just a few. CF, SD, RR, are the ones I like. I don't think it will be long before a few of the obscure ones go by the wayside, are bought up, absorbed, etc, then it will be down to just a few. SD has some great drama going on right now. They appear to be going big time, or are being abandoned. No ones talking. What is your Frontend like? do tell. And the reason for so many windows is the vast majority of people like to dabble in unique stuff, but to spend the time necessary to do Linux properly is not worth it to most people. Do the math. I make 35 bucks an hour, If I work one day of overtime, I could by a front end, an OS, and some extra toys and still have enough for lunch. They work virtually flawlessly and I am out far less time than if I tried to get a "free" open source system up and running properly. That extra time is spent scuba diving, jeeping, rock climbing, mtb with my family. If I live with mom and dad, dont have a decent paying job, no wife or kids, then sure it may be worth it to me. lol, just yanking ya a bit.

What a sign of the times:

I want it now, I want it to do everything, and I don't want to do any work............

I will give you this, "killer" has no proper definition applied to it in this context. So I will agree that RR is powerful, but i doubt it's ever killed anyone.........

One more thing- I make a heck of a lot more than 35 bucks an hour and I haven't even stayed overnight in my mom's house for 25 years. My avatar isn't something I just picked up on the net somewhere............