In today's open source roundup: Linux versus ChromeOS on the desktop. Plus: Should you use Linux or Windows for your business? And KDE developer Aaron Seigo attacks community managers ChromeOS devices have really taken off in terms of popularity over the last few years. But does this success pose a threat to the future development of Linux on the desktop? Or are we taking apples and oranges? Datamation looks at the differences between Linux and ChromeOS. According to Datamation: Anyone who believes Google isn’t “making a play” for desktop users isn’t paying attention. In recent years, I’ve seen ChromeOS making quite a splash on the Google Chromebook. Exploding with popularity on sites such as Amazon.com, it looks as if ChromeOS could be unstoppable. In this article, I’m going to look at ChromeOS as a concept to market, how it’s affecting Linux adoption and whether or not it’s a good/bad thing for the Linux community as a whole. Plus, I’ll talk about the biggest issue of all and how no one is doing anything about it. More at Datamation ChromeOS devices have always struck me as being much more “appliance-like” than traditional Linux distributions. The goal for Google seems to be that you turn them on and just go about your business. With desktop Linux there’s more work involved but along with that extra effort comes a tremendous amount of control over your experience. Most ChromeOS users are probably not going to care about having such control. They most likely want to buy a ChromeOS device and then simply do all of their usual tasks without caring much about what’s going on under the hood. No doubt there are some desktop Linux users that are the same way, but I suspect there are many who are the exact opposite and need to be able to fine-tune their systems. In the end I see ChromeOS and desktop Linux as appealing to two very separate kinds of users. I don’t see them in direct competition since they offer different things. Quite a few desktop Linux users might not want anything to do with Google’s products or services, and ChromeOS is all about those things. Linux versus Windows for your business TechRadar Pro has a comparison of Linux and Windows for businesses. According to TechRadar Pro: Choosing an operating system may seem simple but can result in restrictions on what applications you can run, and if not executed properly, can result in slow running services and websites which will not load. There are two popular operating systems for businesses, each available with different options. Let’s take a look. More at TechRadar Pro As always, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Linux makes a lot more sense to me, but your mileage may vary depending on the needs of your business. So it makes sense to step back and figure out what you actually need before deciding on an operating system. KDE developer Aaron Seigo attacks community managers Softpedia reports that KDE developer Aaron Seigo has taken a big swing at community managers. According to Softpedia: KDE developer Aaron Seigo is a very outspoken person and he is known for his strong opinions. He recently proposed for public debate a very heated and interesting subject about the role of the community managers for the open source project. He thinks that the community managers’ role, as they are working today on various projects, is actually a fraud and a farce. It’s unclear what determined him to make this statement, but he knew right from the start that it was going to rile up the community and various community managers. More at Softpedia You can read the entire post by Aaron Seigo on Google+. He raises some interesting points, but much of what he says depends on the community in question, they are all very different. I spent a good part of my early career as an online community manager for ZiffNet, ZDNet, Family Education, MSN Games, and a number of other sites. Each community was different, and each company presented its own challenges for me as the community manager. Being a community manager can be a very difficult thing because you are sometimes caught between the needs or preferences of your community and the goals and capabilities of your employer. So you need to simultaneously be an advocate for the community inside of your company, while also trying to make sure that the community itself adheres to the standards required by your employer in terms of behavior and content. It can be a very thankless job at times, but I mostly enjoyed it because I liked interacting with people online. It helps if you have a care-giver type type personality and want to do your best to make sure that people have an enjoyable experience in your community. Not everyone is well suited to be a community manager, you really have to have a passion for it to succeed over the long haul. It might be a good idea for Aaron Seigo to try his own hand at managing online communities before flinging more vitriol at community managers. It’s not an easy role to play at the best of times, and he might have a different perspective if he’d spent any time as a community manager, and had to deal with the many problems that come with that position. To those of you out there who are currently community managers I say this: Bravo! Keep up the good work! And when you have to deal with Negative Neds that lob nasty remarks at you, remember the telegram that John Wayne once sent to Barbara Walters during a difficult time in her career that said simply: “Don’t let the bastards get you down.” What’s your take on all this? Tell me in the comments below. The opinions expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the views of ITworld. 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