How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too • Hacker News Board

Re: How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too

#21

Post by nine_k » Sun, Jan 20, 2019, 3:30 AM UTC

joe_the_user wrote: post #3

I switched to Linux about ten years. I basically got tired of having an OS I paid for (in buying a computer) not really be "mine". Lately, I have had few problems installing and running Linux on the various cheap laptops I've bought. Ubuntu with a Mate GUI "just works", has all the software I need and lacks BS like the Windows 10 interface. I don't really think there's any objective barrier to using Linux for a signi…

The big reason people run windows at home is gaming.

Valve for linux very much exists, but definitely not everything is ported.

Re: How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too

#22

Post by jjeaff » Sun, Jan 20, 2019, 3:31 AM UTC

cwyers wrote: post #20

CaliforniaKarl wrote: post #8

Tangentially-related rant (since the author is pushing Ubuntu): I wish Canonical would offer an 'End-User Desktop Support' offering. Right now Ubuntu Advantage is available for $150 per year, but that's only for enterprise (you have to order at least 50 units). I think it would be interesting if Canonical offered an equivalent product for home users, understanding that the $/year would be higher. That would give all…

You'll never get end users to pay more per seat than an enterprise product. You just need to find a way to make the end user product sufficiently worse that enterprises won't care about the price difference, they'll just buy what they need.

When you have a minimum of 50 seats, it's not really $150 per seat.

It's $7,500 + $150 per seat over 50

$150 for a single seat would be significantly less.

Re: How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too

#23

Post by Theodores » Sun, Jan 20, 2019, 3:33 AM UTC

I find it amusing that so people who are quite capable feel compelled to hold onto the hand-rails for so long and won't just dive in to Linux. I was guilty of hanging on to the dual boot for a few years but never ended up using the Windows side or any of those programs that I thought were so fundamentally important to my life.

I am not sure why people can't just give Ubuntu a go on a brand new machine rather than maybe run it on Virtualbox. It is like cars and bicycles, people will spend all their money on a car but want or insist on some second hand stolen junk when it comes to buying a bicycle. In so doing they never get into cycling and spend even more money on their car. Then one day they hear about climate change and maybe decide to get the bike out the shed.

I feel this is the same story here, since when has there been any information privacy with these commercial operating systems? DOS 6.22 with a locked floppy drive was probably the last time. So to suddenly wake up to the 'scandal' of Facebook et al. selling your every mouse click is a bit special.

These are just observations, obviously Ubuntu linux is the best operating system there is and I would not change for a paid for OS if you paid me.

Re: How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too

#24

Post by briandear » Sun, Jan 20, 2019, 3:44 AM UTC

shmerl wrote: post #18

simplecomplex wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not a good thing if you like seeing software devs get paid :)

The company doesn't need to be a nasty anti-competitive jerk to pay developers.

What’s anti competitive?

Re: How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too

#25

Post by drb91 » Sun, Jan 20, 2019, 3:44 AM UTC

joe_the_user wrote: post #3

I switched to Linux about ten years. I basically got tired of having an OS I paid for (in buying a computer) not really be "mine". Lately, I have had few problems installing and running Linux on the various cheap laptops I've bought. Ubuntu with a Mate GUI "just works", has all the software I need and lacks BS like the Windows 10 interface. I don't really think there's any objective barrier to using Linux for a signi…

> Ubuntu with a Mate GUI "just works", has all the software I need and lacks BS like the Windows interface.

How do you figure? Every part about Ubuntu, from keybindings to menus to window management to user interface expectations, are directly copying windows.

Re: How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too

#26

Post by nyolfen » Sun, Jan 20, 2019, 3:45 AM UTC

nine_k wrote: post #21

joe_the_user wrote: post #3

I switched to Linux about ten years. I basically got tired of having an OS I paid for (in buying a computer) not really be "mine". Lately, I have had few problems installing and running Linux on the various cheap laptops I've bought. Ubuntu with a Mate GUI "just works", has all the software I need and lacks BS like the Windows 10 interface. I don't really think there's any objective barrier to using Linux for a signi…

The big reason people run windows at home is gaming. Valve for linux very much exists, but definitely not everything is ported.

i run win steam with wine and the games work surprisingly well most of the time

Re: How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too

#27

Post by shmerl » Sun, Jan 20, 2019, 3:46 AM UTC

briandear wrote: post #24

shmerl wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The company doesn't need to be a nasty anti-competitive jerk to pay developers.

What’s anti competitive?

It's when instead of competing on merit, companies focus on controlling the market through monopolization techniques. I.e. simply banning competition.

Lock-in (i.e. refusal to support interoperability), patent aggression, forbidding competing technologies in their store and so on and so forth.

Re: How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too

#28

Post by bigiain » Sun, Jan 20, 2019, 3:47 AM UTC

So 2019 is _finally_ gonna be the year of Linux on the Desktop?

(Pardon me if I seem a little skeptical, I've heard this song before...)

Re: How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too

#29

Post by joe_the_user » Sun, Jan 20, 2019, 3:50 AM UTC

drb91 wrote: post #25

joe_the_user wrote: post #3

I switched to Linux about ten years. I basically got tired of having an OS I paid for (in buying a computer) not really be "mine". Lately, I have had few problems installing and running Linux on the various cheap laptops I've bought. Ubuntu with a Mate GUI "just works", has all the software I need and lacks BS like the Windows 10 interface. I don't really think there's any objective barrier to using Linux for a signi…

> Ubuntu with a Mate GUI "just works", has all the software I need and lacks BS like the Windows interface. How do you figure? Every part about Ubuntu, from keybindings to menus to window management to user interface expectations, are directly copying windows.

has all the software I need and lacks BS like the Windows interface.

Darn, pardon me. I should have said the Windows 10 interface. Yeah, Mate is copying Windows 7/Vista task bar stuff, with perhaps less of that system's unneeded flash.

Re: How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too

#30

Post by tomc1985 » Sun, Jan 20, 2019, 3:52 AM UTC

Theodores wrote: post #23

I find it amusing that so people who are quite capable feel compelled to hold onto the hand-rails for so long and won't just dive in to Linux. I was guilty of hanging on to the dual boot for a few years but never ended up using the Windows side or any of those programs that I thought were so fundamentally important to my life. I am not sure why people can't just give Ubuntu a go on a brand new machine rather than may…

I ran Mint for years as my daily driver at work. It was great and took me from being a linux intermediate to something of an expert, and I wouldn't mind doing it again.

But for home use, there are simply too many cool programs on Windows to give it up. The Mint partition on my home dual boot sits largely unused. Emulation does an acceptable job for some things but it's often a sub-par experience. It's also quite tiring to have to constantly futz around with services and configurations just to get programs working, only to have that configuration break because of software updates.

In the end I find a Win10 PC with some of the guts rips out (via something like Blackbird) seems to produce the least amount of headaches and generally stays out of my way. I hate Microsoft's Windows-as-a-Service model but most of the things about it can be ignored or switched off. (And yes, one shouldn't have to but I find it better than the alternatives)