why I've given up on desktop Linux.
Slartibartfast
Global Moderator-__-
Over the past months I've stopped enjoying Linux. I've been using it, but without enthusiasm. As of a few days ago, I’ve removed it on my laptop and installed Windows7.
This is not going to be the irate ramblings of a tech idiot. I've been using Linux since i was 13, starting with Fedora Core 1 and have moved my way across the top 10 distros in distrowatch. I've taken Systems Programming courses, this means C and kernel level apis. I have the accumulated experience of about about 8 years of desktop Linux. I've concluded it's not worth the effort.
The main reason I’ve given it up is because I need to work with people. I need to exchange documents, connect to projectors, use badly configured networks and use oddball windows applications.
Why did i start using Linux? Because i was bored. I was a high school kid with nothing to do. All i had to worry about then was opening up .doc files and i was set. That's not true any more.
I now need to use MATLAB (i know there is a Unix version; it supports Linux, but its buggy and only there because of the mac.), Simulink, labview, mathematica and other fly-by-night apps that pop-up occasionlly. I need Skype to be stable and flash to not freeze my system (anyone who tells you flash and Skype are good under Linux is just lying).
Although I’ve been struggling with the above problems for a while, I’ve always stuck with Linux mainly because i have always stuck with it. But recently I’ve been wondering why i do it.
Up until a year ago, i have at least enjoyed Linux. Then everything broke. GNOME3 came out, Unity came out, KDE4 came out. KDE is pretty good, but it's buggy – it has a lot of features, each of those features has a potential bug. All the other DEs are too oddball (tiling managers) or just too 90s (fvwm, xfce, e3, icewm). I have a machine with 8gb ram and a decent AMD processor, I WANT bling (but not at the price of stability). You might be surprised that the core developer of comiz is a 20 year old law student.
I'm nearly always in a browser, and browsers just don't work very well under Linux. They all (rightly) target windows, as it is > 98% of their market. You also can't discount the usefulness of MS Office.
For some Linux will always be about subculture and free (GNU) software. I just don't care about this too much. FLOSS software is not necessarily any better then closed software. I only care about good software. My social life has prospered over the past couple of years, I enjoy myself more often now and it turns out I’m not that hung up about software politics.
It is interesting to note that a lot (the vast majority) of the initial unix visionaries are now OSX users. These people often criticize the Linux developer community as too gung-ho. It's well known a lot of Linux developers develop on OSX. Go to any Linux event and see.
Windows is pretty good now. I was about to write "not bad" out of habit but it's better then Desktop Linux. Show-stopping viruses are a problem of the past with win7, they have fixed it with UAC-I am also not an idiot. The operating system is more stable than any full featured desktop distro. At least software/hardware vendors are aware of windows' well documented quirks and work around it. There is one company that develops the kernel all the way up to the UI, there is a sense of assurance about that, it's not as buggy as Linux and i don't play suspend-roulette when i close my laptop lid anymore.
In short, the quality of Desktop Linux has fallen as the quality of windows has risen. The point of intersection was met about a year ago. I cannot think of a real reason to run Linux, but can think of dozens for running windows.
Of course there will always be room for the specialty Linux distro, such as Backtrack and the various recovery/backup distros. I am not talking about these, i am talking about your main desktop. I am also not talking about servers (I run two Linux servers, they are better than windows server; mainly because a server doesn't do very much to begin with) or embedded systems (but generally with embedded systems; only the kernel is used and a proprietary stack is implemented - see android. There is very little GNU is android).
I am open for discussion and dissection. On a side note, i am really impressed with wordpad.
This is not going to be the irate ramblings of a tech idiot. I've been using Linux since i was 13, starting with Fedora Core 1 and have moved my way across the top 10 distros in distrowatch. I've taken Systems Programming courses, this means C and kernel level apis. I have the accumulated experience of about about 8 years of desktop Linux. I've concluded it's not worth the effort.
The main reason I’ve given it up is because I need to work with people. I need to exchange documents, connect to projectors, use badly configured networks and use oddball windows applications.
Why did i start using Linux? Because i was bored. I was a high school kid with nothing to do. All i had to worry about then was opening up .doc files and i was set. That's not true any more.
I now need to use MATLAB (i know there is a Unix version; it supports Linux, but its buggy and only there because of the mac.), Simulink, labview, mathematica and other fly-by-night apps that pop-up occasionlly. I need Skype to be stable and flash to not freeze my system (anyone who tells you flash and Skype are good under Linux is just lying).
Although I’ve been struggling with the above problems for a while, I’ve always stuck with Linux mainly because i have always stuck with it. But recently I’ve been wondering why i do it.
Up until a year ago, i have at least enjoyed Linux. Then everything broke. GNOME3 came out, Unity came out, KDE4 came out. KDE is pretty good, but it's buggy – it has a lot of features, each of those features has a potential bug. All the other DEs are too oddball (tiling managers) or just too 90s (fvwm, xfce, e3, icewm). I have a machine with 8gb ram and a decent AMD processor, I WANT bling (but not at the price of stability). You might be surprised that the core developer of comiz is a 20 year old law student.
I'm nearly always in a browser, and browsers just don't work very well under Linux. They all (rightly) target windows, as it is > 98% of their market. You also can't discount the usefulness of MS Office.
For some Linux will always be about subculture and free (GNU) software. I just don't care about this too much. FLOSS software is not necessarily any better then closed software. I only care about good software. My social life has prospered over the past couple of years, I enjoy myself more often now and it turns out I’m not that hung up about software politics.
It is interesting to note that a lot (the vast majority) of the initial unix visionaries are now OSX users. These people often criticize the Linux developer community as too gung-ho. It's well known a lot of Linux developers develop on OSX. Go to any Linux event and see.
Windows is pretty good now. I was about to write "not bad" out of habit but it's better then Desktop Linux. Show-stopping viruses are a problem of the past with win7, they have fixed it with UAC-I am also not an idiot. The operating system is more stable than any full featured desktop distro. At least software/hardware vendors are aware of windows' well documented quirks and work around it. There is one company that develops the kernel all the way up to the UI, there is a sense of assurance about that, it's not as buggy as Linux and i don't play suspend-roulette when i close my laptop lid anymore.
In short, the quality of Desktop Linux has fallen as the quality of windows has risen. The point of intersection was met about a year ago. I cannot think of a real reason to run Linux, but can think of dozens for running windows.
Of course there will always be room for the specialty Linux distro, such as Backtrack and the various recovery/backup distros. I am not talking about these, i am talking about your main desktop. I am also not talking about servers (I run two Linux servers, they are better than windows server; mainly because a server doesn't do very much to begin with) or embedded systems (but generally with embedded systems; only the kernel is used and a proprietary stack is implemented - see android. There is very little GNU is android).
I am open for discussion and dissection. On a side note, i am really impressed with wordpad.
Comments
I needed to use a windows OS (XP) recently, for studies (software). I just loaded windows onto another HD, a little bit of anti-virus here and there and it's all good.
I've been pretty much dedicated to linux for about 8 or 9 years. I still prefer it to MS.
I will always check out the linux news. i'll probably have an annual 'is linux better yet' trial of the various distros. I try not to be closed minded.
but i'll never recommend linux to anyone unless they ask. i'll just be replacing their windows problems with linux ones.
If I ever write commercial software i probably won't release for linux. linux users don't pay for software.
and yeah I know how whiny I sound.
It's funny you mention it because it might have been the thing that pushed me over the edge.
http://blogs.gnome.org/otte/2012/07/27/staring-into-the-abyss/
It'll happen to the kernel when Linus is gone as well. That's an aspergers minefield waiting to explode.
GCC is going to go down the tube as well. The GPL3 might have killed it. Apple's stopped using it and so have a bunch of other companies. They're all rallying around clang now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clang BSD software is generally better. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTEwMjI
http://ppenz.blogspot.nl/2012/06/dolphin-21.html
http://smspillaz.wordpress.com/2011/12/25/apology-2/
You're right! It was gnome. That's the blog I was reading.
I got a friend into linux just over a couple of years ago. I think I started him on something like 9.10 ubuntu. He liked its transparency. (Not so much hidden shit.) Unfortunately, the more ubuntu upgraded their distros, the more he started to dislike it. He now uses XP tiny. Just runs a live disc when linux is required.
I still come back to Windows for gaming though.
I watch the series FALLINGSKIES and missed last weeks epesode so I did what anyone would do and found a torrent for it.The torrent was in a format that windows could not make any sense of,no program in windows could.
So I fire up my linux box plug in the usb stick and wala I'm watchen my show in hd, sorround sound with no bullshit and for free.
Well linux is not my default system but its a good tool to have when you need it and the fact that you have TONS of free software at your figertip[s is a plus.
No money was exchanged in the process and I'm not made to feel like a crim when I download software.
thttpd without a doubt is the best low resource httpd I've ever used.
www.acme.com/software/thttpd/
dropbear instead of openssh
matt.ucc.asn.au/dropbear/dropbear.html