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Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS

elementary.io

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Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS

#371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> makes them feel like using toys rather than proper desktops. Fascinating. I consider systems like Android, Windoze and MacOS to be like toys for the same reason: superficially beautiful, but not actually a good tool for work.

The problem with MacOS is that much of its refinements for power users are so different from Windows (and Linux desktops modeled after it), that people don't expect they can do things the easy way. Suppose you have a document open. You want to attach it to an email you started writing. In MacOS, you drag the icon from the window's title bar into the email. That's it. No need to browse to the same thing you already ha…

Trouble is, at the end of the day nothing is more powerful or more efficient than the command line and once you've accepted that fact (which more and more people are there days) you might as well just use Linux.

Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS

#372
post #358
post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, but that seems to be something that requires the user specifically to be a dev? And to know how to compile each program they need to tweak? I'm thinking of something where say I load up a program UI Tweak , I don't need to know anything about the software I'm working with, I just select the element that I want to adjust, the label sizes for text in the dialogue, or the colour of the text by clicking on it. Thi…

I can't speak for GTK as I don't use it much, but there are Qt engines that let you configure all the options without needing to write a theme. I never went that way as I prefer to just use a theme designed by someone who knew what they were doing.

That could work, not sure how discoverable that is to the end user though...

Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS

#373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Between installing software, editing configuration files as sudo in vim, partitioning drives, mounting drives, copying files to a directory where you need sudo, etc. any user on a Linux system will spend plenty of time at the command line. We should do a test and see if it really is a "myth". Get 10 normal users to install 10 programs not already in the repositories and see how well that goes. Just the other day I ha…

The point is, normal users will rarely/never need an application not in the repos. And installing something from a repo is simpler than installing something on Windows.

Sigh, well maybe we could have a real discussion about this if you would admit that you're wrong and stop downvoting every single one of my comments.

You're wrong twice in your first sentence. Normal users need to be able to install software and generally use their computer otherwise you're pushing a curated experience with zero third party support. But also, no, what I said IS the point. It's Linux. Its not magically not Linux no matter how many times you downvote my comments.

I'll check back in a year so you can explain why this flavor of Linux didn't sway a single user away from Windows or MacOS.

Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS

#374
post #57

To be a macOS replacement, an OS needs to work well on Apple hardware. Does Elementary OS now work well on Apple hardware? The last time I tried it, it did not.

With the T2 chip only macOS can run on Apple hardware now.

Not true; I just booted the Elementary installer off of USB on a T2-equipped Mac. Even if that didn’t work, though, T2 Macs are a tiny minority; my question still stands for the millions of other Macs.

Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS

#375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tor Browser. There is no right click > unpack on some distributions. But my main point is that it takes a massive effort to make Linux easy. Anything short of that is just another reskin.

Which makes no sense, because there are distributions that have packages. In other words, it's not what I'd call a massive effort - it's already been done.

It makes no sense to you that a user might want to install something that's not in their operating systems store/repo?

Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS

#377
post #81

Some of the comments here feel weird. Elementary OS has picked a specific niche, and its arguably the best distribution in it. It has a really well designed and consistent UI experience, and you can't break it. I think most of you just don't realize how difficult linux is for people who barely understand how to use a Mac or Windows machine. Furthermore, linux is a world where mainstream distributions still release wi…

Weird argument. Because I have given Linux systems to the elderly before. People with little to no experience with computers. Guess what they were all fine. My mother was a long time windows user. Kept getting viruses. She was converted to Ubuntu and has used it for over a decade now without issue. Linux is far easier for people than you think. My mother is a senior citizen now and this is her second computer. The UI…

We just finished a project in rural communities in Panama and gave laptops (ThinkPad 13) with Mint 19 Cinnamon to people with very little experience with computers. However, we kept Windows 10 in one of the computers and guess what, that's the only one that gave us trouble, when the user got all scared and confused with the Office trial version telling them they needed to pay. All the other users had no major problems at all with the user experience.

Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS

#378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm inclined to agree. The design is fine, functionally, but there's a certain harmony missing from it and most Linux desktops (even elementaryOS') that makes them feel like using toys rather than proper desktops. Mind you, I say that as a macOS user (although I did run Linux full-time for a good six years in a past life), and I'm sure many a Linux user will call the macOS interface toy-like to their eyes. Even thoug…

> makes them feel like using toys rather than proper desktops. Fascinating. I consider systems like Android, Windoze and MacOS to be like toys for the same reason: superficially beautiful, but not actually a good tool for work.

So ... like Gnome then? It hides all the "advanced" settings so well that you can't actually change them without resorting to the command-line.

Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS

#379
post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With all due respect, that screenshot you linked looks straight out of 2008.

I genuinely take that as a compliment. I wouldn't be caught dead using a monstrosity like, I don't know, windows 10 (or even the hideous interfaces of Google products) just because it's ""modern"".

Vista, whose look Mint (in the screenshot) is trying to emulate, was a monstrosity.

Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS

#380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which makes no sense, because there are distributions that have packages. In other words, it's not what I'd call a massive effort - it's already been done.

It makes no sense to you that a user might want to install something that's not in their operating systems store/repo?

Sure. But you have heard of Snaps and Flatpack, right?
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