Just read a few summaries of Apple's WWDC this year, with perhaps one of the biggest additions to macOS is that Siri is now on macOS/OS X.
So we will have Siri on laptops this fall, and we already have Cortana on Windows 10.
We have that mycroft AI gnome extension, as I am on Unity right now I have not been able to test it.
With such advanced things coming on the big OS's, do you all think Linux on the Desktop will keep up?
They have so far, I'd say.
There's Mycroft.. we really need a good working tech like that that can sit offline.
There also Google, though not tied into the OS. I'm not sure just how much power these things need to get voice recognition right. Does Mycrof work?
Linux is a hybrid beast. Its a testing ground for what is to come and the "Big OS's" mimic it more than it, them. What the big OS's will never have that we have is the security in users. While we have one or two people actually looking at the kernel, we can just fuck it up ourselves and call it our own fork. Windows doesn't have the ability to be forked and OSX is a BSD; you can technically do whatever the fuck you want with it it's just that FreeBSD would be a better option.
NT lacks stability. Linux has modules where NT has... libraries I guess. You install a DLL to a folder and it is called as it is needed. Never do you have the ability to change how it is called or where the call comes from. In a library system the references are meant to not be moved, but in the event something is moved the system bluescreens. A kernel module is a kernel module. It presents itself based on a config and its location is kept in a log file so if something is moved the errors are appended to a solution and everything patches itself. Then you go to XNU and you have no clue what is going on. That kernel makes about as much sense as the design of intel based apple motherboards. Everything is backwards, the wrong components are in the wrong place and every fucking thing needs to have a sensor for some retarded reason when you are never going to use them even in a diagnostic purpose.
Kernel wise, the "Big" players are fucked either way.
Now turn to File systems. XFS can move a terabyte instantaneously. No problem. JFS keeps a relative restore point and keeps an open focus on what should be done when a drive crashes. ZFS is the god of storage. EXT keeps everything defragged WAY too well. What does NTFS do? Oops your partition table was dropped. Can't fix it without buying a new copy of windows or you're being illegal somehow even though there aren't any actual laws! Yay! Law suit! HFS? Its tied to XNU and the EFI. Theres about 6 different checks made on boot to make sure everything is in line. If it isn't it won't tell you it'll just break, but the checks are still there. Linux could take that system and actually do it correctly with stuff like LibreBoot and be more effective.
Desktop? Do you even want one? You can draw frames on top of TTY like in DOS and have a faster system. Choose a WM. Choose grub, syslinux, or LEFE! Boot to what you want and run it as you want. Want a stupid voice search and note taker? Use google. Its off site and will not take up half your ram and CPU like Cortana and Siri.
Linux will be ahead because it has an actual design, not just legos that are bought from people and fumblishly glued together with dick water.
Well, it really depends on what you mean by "keep up." Linux is ahead of Windows and OS X (now macOS) in some ways, behind in others, but it continues to add new features and grow with the changing needs of its users, just as it has until now.
As to the specific question of whether Linux will have something comparable to Siri / Cortana / Google Now anytime in the near future, there are certainly some promising projects going, but my inclination is to say no. In order for a digital assistant to be really useful, it needs to be both extremely tightly integrated into the OS at a fundamental level and have access to quite personal information. Desktop Linux users and developers tend to be more averse to entrusting private data to their devices than users of more commercial operating systems, and that kind of tight integration would require a major cooperative effort among a lot of parties.
I do think it will eventually happen, but it will probably take a while. Either it will be slowly pieced together over years out of a lot of smaller efforts, or a big player like a Canonical or a Red Hat would need to bite the bullet and forge ahead on their own, which would certainly be a controversial move. I could easily see someone forking and then structuring a whole new distro centered around a digital assistant. But more than the technical aspect, what would need to happen would be a change in attitude among the Linux community: we would need to feel safe in trusting our machines, our networks, databases, services, and other aspects of "the Internet" much more than we do now. In other words, a technical security revolution first and then a fundamental mindset change second need to happen before the "Linux Siri" becomes possible, and I think that both of those things will take time. Grab your popcorn and watch over the next few years as Microsoft and Apple users are pwned time and time again by digital assistants, and the companies scramble to patch all of the holes. Linux developers will be watching, and trying to figure out ways to do it better.
I will be completely honest, but who actually uses Cortana/Siri crap? I have never understood the purpose. Absolutely useless piece of crap, in my opinion.
Essentially we would have to ignore security as normal people do now, but we obviously won't do that?
I use siri on my phone when I am writing something and it pops up on my imac at home. I can constantly work on something and not need to be at a computer.
Cortana just doesn't work.
Well, we obviously wouldn't want people to ignore security, of course. Much improved security is the first step; the change in mindset would have to come later.
People in the Linux community (including myself) are extremely suspicious of things like digital assistants right now because we have good reason to be: from a security standpoint, they are a disaster, and the ones out there now are engineered from the ground up to snoop on you. But they don't have to be disasters. I'm convinced someone will figure it out, but it might take 10 or 20 years.
Can i ask what you really use Siri for ?
Only things I use siri for is setting my alarms on my phone. I have Win 10 and I don't use Cortana. I typically google whatever I want. Krunner can parse google query directly, I use that all the time.
Ubuntu has had scopes longer than either. Alos there are a few open source and self hosted AIs out there on git hub at the moment.
Well yeah of course they snoop on you but I don't think anyone has asked why. Because they can? Most likely. Everyone keeps freaking out about national security and all these laws that are getting passed, and maybe it's the buddhist in me, but why do we REALLY care? As far as I can tell the information isn't actually going anywhere, and if it is, what the hell is someone going to do with Timmy's my little pony porn? I really have no clue.
Honestly theres not much of a way apple will be able to spy on me through my phone soon. I'm building a Faraday cageto put phones in. And on my imac I snapped the mic wires ani its flat against the wall so the camera can't see anything. Thats all the precaution I'm even taking. Either all of my hardware is faulty in someway that spying on me doesn't work all too often ro I know ways around it.
What I want to see is siri or something ported to linux. I want that garbage here. I want everyone using it too, absolutely everyone. Wanna see my 80000 packages download? Ok go ahead! If encryption is made illegal and no one here can use it anymore than imagine the chaos that would force a collapse on their infrastructure. Imagine the stress. You would need a nyntom like Watson to manage it all and trust me, when all the cryptdata, metadata, physical data, and actions are recorded and saved there is so much shit there that nothing is useful without digging at it with a shovel. Theres no point in doing it anymore when theres nothing left to see.
At that if encryption is removed think of the collapse of the government? The banks would be raided daily because they don't have good networking, the power grid would probably explode because a 10 year old has no idea what he is looking at, and cars would just start rolling around. Can you imagine? Pure anarchy that cannot be seen other than the actions of objects with no visible users, and that cannot be traced.
I'm more scared of that than some bullshit siri app.
I think this happening would be a good thing in the long run. Everything would come to a crash everyone would have no money and people would be out with there pitch forks and torches going after government. And then there would be this big day in History after the world build back up that could be pointed to when a dumb ass politician says "Lets make encryption illegal" or something else related to computers and internet that is completely stupid.
This would be bad for the current population but maybe it would help out the future some.
I gotta disagree with you, expecting a scorched earth scenario to fix an attitude problem is optimistic at best. Just as easily, everyone will look back and say "encryption made no difference to the economy, even the hackers lost everything." Even worse, the system that is built after this collapse might be worse than what we have now. Warlord doesn't give a shit about what old politicians did, he's only interested in controlling enough resources to ensure his own bottom line so he doesn't crash again.
I deleted my last post cuz it was going off topic. Interesting topic just not the one the person start
Sorry
Have a day
Lol, no worries, that's true. Another thread. Cheers.
I'd like to see a local cloud that runs a personal assistant.
Doesn't make any difference to me. I've never used Siri, Cortana, or any of that stuff on a phone or computer. Personally, I'd rather use my hands when possible. Then there can be no misinterpretation.
I do use Ford Sync voice commands in my car, though. I'm strictly against using my phone while driving, so I use them to change music, make calls, etc without having to pull over.
Does anyone else feel absolutely stupid using voice commands to use their phone? I still remember from years ago a MS video about a voice to text service they were making and it was awful. Obviously technology has come along way since then (I think it was from 2008 or 2009) but I still can't bring myself to use these kinds of services.
I think people with white coats, come by and invite you come with them to there lovely retreat, and the rooms with padded walls.
It is bad enough that I talk to myself, but then I tell myself you always have to have one great conversation a day so it might as well be with myself . If you need a group conversation invite me, myself and I and you are good to go.
Time to go and have a great conversation. And not with I hes a ass today.
Early 2000s an older crowd watched as teenies walked by, texting away on Iphones and half scratched their heads, half rolled their eyes. Fast forward decades and now those teenies are the older crowd, texting away with the latest laser to skin/air grid and see a group of teenies walking by chatting away with their digital assistance and various bots- leaving the now older generation half scratching their heads, half rolling their eyes. Oh the cycle of technology and social change.
Everyone keeps freaking out about national security and all these laws that are getting passed, and maybe it's the buddhist in me, but why do we REALLY care? As far as I can tell the information isn't actually going anywhere, and if it is, what the hell is someone going to do with Timmy's my little pony porn? I really have no clue.
I felt the same way years ago but a good friend took me aside and had a chat, and later becoming a history buff it further galvanized in me that, at least to me, its not an issue that they have all of the info, its the technology they have acquired to obtain said info, the compliance of the citizens and the tendency of people in power--- it comes down to a metaphorical "button" that a leader could press to institute a dictatorship over night. Who knows how far its already been taken, who in the NSA, CIA, Senate etc that have taken down opposition, be it union leaders, honest political adversaries and so forth by digging into that bag of tricks to find any and all dirt on someone-- then it can go a step further and be used to out maneuver, control, rule. Look at how the secret service recently made the news.
These corporations working on digital assistants, building giant data bases of everything that makes you- you. They are doing the government's dirty work, albeit inadvertently IMO. They are spending tons of money and with access to the greatest minds and with better management skills the government could ever wish to have, are working feverishly to understand you better than any psychologist, working to know everything about you so that they can market effectively, get a share in every search, swipe, question, opinion, choice and purchase you make, have you use their services for everything possible so that they can know you even better, and better, to get every possible marketable cent out of you, and even charge you 'rent' for your digital life you now have- movies, notes, pictures etc. They can fingerprint you by your first minute of driving habits, know someone is pregnant before that person even knows via their searches, know your preferences in a great many things that you yourself are not aware of consciously- ie: know you better than you'll ever know yourself-- you can VPN, TOR, rip out cameras, microphones etc and anonymize as best as possible, but they will ID you through all kinds of means. And well hell, COOL. So I could have a digital assistant know I will need a ride soon, and query services, pricing, user ratings etc and by the time I say "ok google" or whatever, its already telling me of a service ready to pick me up, and reminds me to get that micro-brew on the way home that just came out today and there are only a few bottles left at X location. And at the same time with good collaboration with the government, prevent very nasty things from happening. Sounds great, where can I sign up?
But IMO it wouldn't take much for the government to declare an emergency of some sort, and legally ascertain the data, hardware and algorithms and establish a control and manipulation over the people never seen before in history.
wow... end rant haha.
Puts tinfoil hat back on.
On topic, I think the Linux Desktop has suffered for a lot of reasons, and these digital assistants and inevitable continuum like experiences from the various players will further stagnate any chance of Linux Desktop reaching the masses. There will always be the Linux hold outs, but I don't think this thread is about them, the ones that seem to always wonder why it hasn't already completely rid the Earth of other OSs yet. Hopefully these companies will allow some cross-over, for instance having an instance of Amazon's echo in your browser, or installation of various digital assistants in your distro, such as Cortana on Android (and even deaper integration with cyanogenmod flavors), so that people can still have choice over their OS without having to also choose having a digital assistant void desktop experience I see this idea having solid ground as Android, Apple, Microsoft etc-- to them the value is that you run their services- if that can be done without using their OS, so be it.