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
#2Can we please stop this?
When you don't like Linux on your desktop, don't use it.
It's that easy.
Re: The Linux desktop experience is killing Linux on the desktop, Part II
#3I 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 additional due diligence on your hardware. If you think that is troublesome, try installing OS X on non-Apple hardware. Now that can be a real adventure.
Re: The Linux desktop experience is killing Linux on the desktop, Part II
#4Can we please stop this? When you don't like Linux on your desktop, don't use it. It's that easy.
It's feedback. From someone who's been using Linux for a long time. It's hardly random whining.
Re: The Linux desktop experience is killing Linux on the desktop, Part II
#5Unless something radically changes in the near future I don’t see how Linux can rise up to be a mainstream desktop OS.
...
Desktop Linux has to be made somehow profitable for companies to start investing more heavily in it. This is the hard, but honest truth. As long as the primarily development is carried out with little (or no funding), mostly by volunteers the hour of the desktop Linux will never come.
The radical change is tablets. Google is investing heavily in Android and will likely see big profits (indirectly).
I'm writing this from a Windows laptop because my main Ubuntu laptop got screwed while upgrading. Everything that worked perfectly well for 3 years is now botched because of an "upgrade".
The hour of the Linux desktop may eventually come but it will be irrelevant by then.
Re: The Linux desktop experience is killing Linux on the desktop, Part II
#6Can we please stop this? When you don't like Linux on your desktop, don't use it. It's that easy.
Stop what? People saying why Linux doesn't work as a desktop OS for them, or people posting those articles to HN?
Re: The Linux desktop experience is killing Linux on the desktop, Part II
#7Re: The Linux desktop experience is killing Linux on the desktop, Part II
#8This my sound as an oxymoron, but Linux really shines as a desktop operation system for developers.
If you're a regular desktop user, your basics are covered. But if you have a nicer camera an want to manage your photos, you're shit out of luck. Video editing software is abysmal. On the other hand you have 25 audio players of which maybe 3 work nicely.
Re: The Linux desktop experience is killing Linux on the desktop, Part II
#9Can 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 arguments because he feels trapped in Linux, got nowhere else to go :-)
Indeed, not a piece of News for Hackers.
Re: The Linux desktop experience is killing Linux on the desktop, Part II
#10I 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 is any indicator, it isn't getting any better. People are not happy with Ubuntu's use of Unity, for instance. Anything GTK+-based or GNOME-based ends up being a miserable experience for most people.