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

Ubuntu was supposed to be the linux distribution that was easy for the everyday user. Now they're suffering from GNOME politics and Canonical treating their users as beta testers (but Unity works great for (most) people with Intel laptops).

Don't get me wrong - Ubuntu has made great strides in usability, but it's not that linux is harder, it's that people who are already used to Windows will find it much "easier" because the mental shortcuts are already there, compared to Linux where they need to think about something as simple as launching a program. Combine that with the fact that Linux does break on occasion (mostly with regards to distro upgrades) and probably requires the command line to fix it and you get frustration on the user's part compared to Windows.

My issue is that the Linux applications I use have good Windows ports, and it's hard to find motivation to improve an OS I don't use. There are even some Windows applications I use that don't have a Linux port. The usual response is "run it in WINE," but then I ask "why?" It already works!

Linux is already a fine server OS and ecosystem. I think the "Linux desktop" has become less relevant with the rise of smartphones and tablets. Maybe it's time to start talking about which year will be the year of the Linux workstation. :)

For different values of "works".

I've recently started using a Linux desktop again, in a very well supported corporate environment. Even with very professional people supporting my exact configuration (so hardware support is not much of an issue), it's still barely usable for me. Many major applications have significant usability problems, sound support is extremely spotty, window management on the desktop has absurd bugs (focus stealing apps not showing up in alt-tab order), and so on.

It's not that it strictly doesn't work, it's just death by a thousand papercuts, and my general unwillingness to put up with that. I'm currently back to using a Mac laptop to run my desktop environment, ssh-ing into the Linux desktop to run essential programs (exported through X, which brings a nice flavor of ugly to my desktop...).

I think this is why so many developers have switched to Macs. Development on Windows sucks (in my opinion, of course, unless you're making Windows applications), and with OS X you get the best of both worlds: the power and flexibility of BSD, along with great desktop applications and a nice day-to-day user experience that "just works".

Do I really want to worry about what sound driver I'm using, when I have clients waiting? Not so much.