I haven't run Linux-on-the-desktop for about 6 years. I periodically install an Ubuntu or Mint image, just to see if it's within 10 years of OS X, and it never is.

Anyway, that's a good question. Will there ever be a GNOME 3.0? Not that I particularly give a shit, as it's a collection of software I rarely use and never in anger. But what will the next desktop zeitgeist? Will KDE and GNOME merge? Will a third way emerge? Will Apple release Aqua and Cocoa under LGPL when the mythical and oft-touted Marble UI appears?

So, will there be a Linux 3.0.0 or not? Has Linux reached its kernicular apotheosis? Or is it just incremental crawls forward from this point forward (i.e. 2.6, 4 years ago)? Everything's got a lifespan; the current kernel and userland is surely what you'd call "middle-aged" and the question was designed to prod folk into speculating about whether there's a paradigm shift in Linux's future, what it might be, and whether we'll finally get GPLed flying cars.

So talk about that, instead of trying to needle me about a pile of software I haven't used for half a decade.