Re:Linux has less chance for competing in desktop (Score 1)

Even a little thing like the difference between /etc/X11/XF86Config and /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 makes compatability a problem.

I might be wrong, but I believe the XF86Config-4 is a function of X moving to 4.x.x, and not a function of any specific distribution. Having said that, I wouldn't be surprised if certain distros varied from this standard in favor of "backward compatibility."

We dont only need a more stable X, but a more recoverable one, and one with more on-the-fly reconfiguration ability. Linux users seem to focus so much on uptime- not having to re-boot -that they dont seem to notice that in order to get many things done you have to close down all the programs you use to work.

I'm not sure what you mean. The only time I have to close programs is when I reboot -- which happens very rarely.

Hell, we need screen for X. I just started using screen, that thing kicks some ass.

Yeah, definitely an amazing program. As far as screen for X, your problem could perhaps be solved by using X on top of VNC? Or launching subsequent X sessions on different terminals, accessible with CTRL+ALT+F8, etc? The former lets you connect to your X session from anywhere on the network; the latter allows multiple people to have totally separate yet concurrent X sessions. You can't both access them at the same time (unless you hook up multiple peripherals), but now you don't need to log off so your wife can run X with her pretty background and fancy window manager.

We need to be able to get back to the console even if X crashes and is no longer accepting input. We need ways to keep working not just keep our "uptime" high.

If X crashes -- which I find slightly rare now that I'm mostly done tweaking it -- have you tried hitting CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE to summarily kill the X process? Have you tried using CTRL+ALT+F1 or +F2 to access a command line virtual terminal, from which you can kill the offending program? Lastly, if none of these work, chances are you can SSH in from another machine on your network and clean up that way.

Not everybody likes the same look and feel. Some people like their start-menu, some people dont. The ability to have a consistent look and feel is important. If you want your system to look a certain way, you should be able to make it look and work that way without much work

Agreed, and vehemently so. I guess you can chalk this up to the advantage of the open source model and other related modern buzzwords. When you've got thousands of people developing an OS and window environment from every point on the globe, standards are tough. I would love all windowing bits and keyboard navigation to be perfectly consistent. I dunno if we'll ever get there, though.

and you should be able to switch back and forth like that so that whoever was using it before you can pick up where they left off

See earlier comment about multiple concurrent X sessions.

Hope some of this helps.