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The Linux desktop experience is killing Linux on the desktop, Part II

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Re: The Linux desktop experience is killing Linux on the desktop, Part II

#11
post #10
post #3

I feel like I've read over 20 of these articles lately. I have used linux on the desktop in some form or another since 1998. It works, trust me. I find it strange that the author says they should have gone back to FreeBSD. In terms of "desktop" experience, both of these operating systems are somewhat similar. I understand his complaints about the driver situation, but, really, this just means that you need to do some…

The problem isn't Linux. The problem is GNOME, and to a lesser extent, KDE. GNOME is just not a good desktop environment, yet it has often been pushed as "the" Linux desktop by various distros and vendors. New Linux users end up using GNOME, finding that it's a pretty bad experience, and then they blame Linux and OSS as a whole. Had they used XFCE, for instance, they'd probably think otherwise. If recent experience i…

actually laptop users of Intel laptops like Unity and hence Ubuntu choosing unity to push the desktop exp..

Ubuntu Unity is the number 1 feature OEMs weer asking form Ubuntu..

Re: The Linux desktop experience is killing Linux on the desktop, Part II

#12
post #11
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem isn't Linux. The problem is GNOME, and to a lesser extent, KDE. GNOME is just not a good desktop environment, yet it has often been pushed as "the" Linux desktop by various distros and vendors. New Linux users end up using GNOME, finding that it's a pretty bad experience, and then they blame Linux and OSS as a whole. Had they used XFCE, for instance, they'd probably think otherwise. If recent experience i…

actually laptop users of Intel laptops like Unity and hence Ubuntu choosing unity to push the desktop exp.. Ubuntu Unity is the number 1 feature OEMs weer asking form Ubuntu..

Not all Ubuntu users are using a laptop. It is absurd to penalize desktop users with a UI that just isn't suited to desktop use.

OEMs often don't truly understand the needs and wants of their customers, as well. The recent backlash, even among laptop users, shows this quite well.

Re: The Linux desktop experience is killing Linux on the desktop, Part II

#13
post #9

Can we please stop this? When you don't like Linux on your desktop, don't use it. It's that easy.

`Don't use Linux' is not `that easy'; pause for a moment and think about it. He can't go *BSD way, because drivers are scarcier, and that's a big no-no for him. And even more scarce on other less popular OSes, like Plan 9. He can't go MS Windows way, because it's less usable for him (duh). He can't go MacOS X because, uh, I dunno, personal preferences? Pricetag of the hardware+software? He whines and rehashes old arg…

Hehe, fair point.

Re: The Linux desktop experience is killing Linux on the desktop, Part II

#14
post #3

I feel like I've read over 20 of these articles lately. I have used linux on the desktop in some form or another since 1998. It works, trust me. I find it strange that the author says they should have gone back to FreeBSD. In terms of "desktop" experience, both of these operating systems are somewhat similar. I understand his complaints about the driver situation, but, really, this just means that you need to do some…

I find it strange that the author says they should have gone back to FreeBSD.

What he meant was that he'd come to Linux from FreeBSD. He was charged with going "back" to Windows, but you don't go "back" to something if that's not where you came from in the first place.

Re: The Linux desktop experience is killing Linux on the desktop, Part II

#15
post #9

Can we please stop this? When you don't like Linux on your desktop, don't use it. It's that easy.

`Don't use Linux' is not `that easy'; pause for a moment and think about it. He can't go *BSD way, because drivers are scarcier, and that's a big no-no for him. And even more scarce on other less popular OSes, like Plan 9. He can't go MS Windows way, because it's less usable for him (duh). He can't go MacOS X because, uh, I dunno, personal preferences? Pricetag of the hardware+software? He whines and rehashes old arg…

he could throw a maximized webkit and editor in ~/.xinitrc but he wouldnt have anything to complain about

Re: The Linux desktop experience is killing Linux on the desktop, Part II

#16
To me, the article comes across as a request to the linux community for solving the linux desktop problem. In other words, when given a viable chioce, the author wants linux on his desktop.

The author's complaints seems confirmed when looking at the trends [1] in market share for contemporary os's.

>Desktop Linux has to be made somehow profitable for companies to start investing more heavily in it...

I also believe that this is the major issue when trying to make linux successful on the desktop. So, what to do about it?

[1] http://www.netmarketshare.com/os-market-share.aspx?qprid=9

Re: The Linux desktop experience is killing Linux on the desktop, Part II

#17
post #3

I feel like I've read over 20 of these articles lately. I have used linux on the desktop in some form or another since 1998. It works, trust me. I find it strange that the author says they should have gone back to FreeBSD. In terms of "desktop" experience, both of these operating systems are somewhat similar. I understand his complaints about the driver situation, but, really, this just means that you need to do some…

> I have used linux on the desktop in some form or another > since 1998. It works, trust me.

So have I, since 1998-1999. It never really "worked" as a desktop compared to windows. Never. Gnome 2 (the latest few versions) was the best they managed to get together. It was always borderline unusable, but it worked somehow. But the latest versions are literarily killing off all Desktop Linux achieved in the last 15 years.

Personally, I've had enough. The moment when no distro offers Gnome 2 any more, and when I'm forced to use Gnome3, Unity or Kde4, I'm going back to windows.

Re: The Linux desktop experience is killing Linux on the desktop, Part II

#18
post #10
post #3

I feel like I've read over 20 of these articles lately. I have used linux on the desktop in some form or another since 1998. It works, trust me. I find it strange that the author says they should have gone back to FreeBSD. In terms of "desktop" experience, both of these operating systems are somewhat similar. I understand his complaints about the driver situation, but, really, this just means that you need to do some…

The problem isn't Linux. The problem is GNOME, and to a lesser extent, KDE. GNOME is just not a good desktop environment, yet it has often been pushed as "the" Linux desktop by various distros and vendors. New Linux users end up using GNOME, finding that it's a pretty bad experience, and then they blame Linux and OSS as a whole. Had they used XFCE, for instance, they'd probably think otherwise. If recent experience i…

KDE is awesome technology but overall a horrible interface.

Re: The Linux desktop experience is killing Linux on the desktop, Part II

#19
post #3

I feel like I've read over 20 of these articles lately. I have used linux on the desktop in some form or another since 1998. It works, trust me. I find it strange that the author says they should have gone back to FreeBSD. In terms of "desktop" experience, both of these operating systems are somewhat similar. I understand his complaints about the driver situation, but, really, this just means that you need to do some…

Installing os x on a non-Apple machine is a hack. Installing linux on simple hardware was never supposed to be a hack. As the author says, the drivers of even linux friendly companies like intel and nvidia don't support their latest developments which forces desktop linux user to get on with inferior hardware.

Re: The Linux desktop experience is killing Linux on the desktop, Part II

#20
post #3

I feel like I've read over 20 of these articles lately. I have used linux on the desktop in some form or another since 1998. It works, trust me. I find it strange that the author says they should have gone back to FreeBSD. In terms of "desktop" experience, both of these operating systems are somewhat similar. I understand his complaints about the driver situation, but, really, this just means that you need to do some…

> I feel like I've read over 20 of these articles lately.

> I have used linux on the desktop in some form or another since 1998. It works, trust me.

Same here. My solution: just stop reading the articles. Linux has and continues to work for me. Let them bitch about Linux, it's their loss.

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