this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
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I've been hearing that for like 7 years now
If it wasn't for nvidia, wayland would be the standard by now.
If Wayland is to replace X it needs to provide feature parity and fix what's wrong with X on top.
There's more to being a standard than a reduced feature set that just happens to scratch an itch here and there for some users.
Pretending that 80% of desktop users don't exist is not helping either.
Of course, but wayland is a solid design that's on the path towards being that. Development would probably go a lot faster if major distros shipped wayland by default. But because of nvidia, they can't.
There's a bit of a jump from "feature complete and still issuing maintenance releases" to "abandonware".
I'm just annoyed by the apparent assumption from people promoting messages like this that Wayland is ready for desktop use when it's not. It seems to give the impression that there aren't things that have to be fixed. Like how DPI in Firefox is broken, or how MS Teams and other screen sharing apps don't work.
I've wanted to adopt Wayland for years but still can't. Claims like the OP makes it sound as if devs are out of touch with the reality of their users and that's frustrating. If they abandon X and don't fix the problems with Wayland then I'm screwed.
These are all good points, but please note that I'm not contending whether Wayland can do anything about it. I'm saying it's misleading (and possibly detrimental) to imply that end users can replace x11 with Wayland. If you look beyond the individual projects, the ecosystem does not function as a complete desktop environment in the way that x11 does.
Besides app support what is missing in wayland(I do not game so I don't care if the screen is allowed to tear or not)
biggest ones I see:
There's a general feeling that Wayland is doing you a favor and that anything it breaks is someone else's problem, that we're supposed to ignore everything that's missing or malfunctioning or incomplete and just rejoice at the fact it works in very particular circumstances.
Look, I'm fully familiar with the "scratch an itch" approach to software development in FOSS... I'm not demanding anything from Wayland, I'm just saying it needs to work with the larger software ecosystem. You can't use a graphical server by itself.
If it's not working with desktop environments, not working with Nvidia, not working with keyboard/mouse configuration, not working with the clipboard, having issues with common software like browsers etc... what am I supposed to do about it?
I have to ask, you do understand that people aren't likely to ditch their entire DE setup and go buy another graphics card, which both work perfectly well with everything except Wayland... just for the privilege of using Wayland?
It would have to offer some outstanding feature to compel people to do this. But it offers nothing and is proud of it. I don't get it.
I'm a FOSS contributor myself and I know what it means to volunteer time and resources for the community. But the software needs to meet users in the middle.
The FOSS and Linux software scene is a meritocracy. Software rises to the top if it's truly useful and "Don't use it" in my experience is code-speak for "this software is a solution looking for a problem".
The Nvidia hurdle in particular is insurmountable. They haven't wavered in their stance on closed drivers in the last 20 years, they have no incentive to care about the Linux desktop, and yet they have 80% of this niche according to Steam. If Wayland intends to die on this hill it can order a headstone right now and save time.
If Wayland wants to be a hobby piece of software that scratches an itch for a couple of people, you're perfectly correct.
If it wants to displace Xorg, one of the most widely used pieces of software in the community, it's going to have to cater to the users' needs. And I do mean needs; a working DE is not a whim.
They can't act like the former and claim the latter. It just doesn't work that way. What good is Wayland if it won't work for the majority of people and will eventually languish in obscurity?
As someone who has made the switch for an year or so:
I like Wayland so far but these have been really bothersome.
But its finally hapenning now