Has the Desktop Linux Bubble Burst?

In 2002, both KDE and GNOME released their last major revisions; KDE released KDE 3.0 on 3rd April, while GNOME followed shortly after with GNOME 2.0 on 27th June. For the Linux desktop, therefore, 2002 was an important year. Since then, we have continiously been fed point releases which added bits of functionaility and speed improvements, but no major revision has yet seen the light of day. What’s going on?

This is a very thought provoking article. I don’t really think that Linux desktops should be compared to Windows and OS X though. They all cater to a certain crowd, or at least seem to. I personally love KDE, and don’t see a real need for a new major version. Sure, it would be nice, but I care more about functionality as is.