431–440 of 472 posts
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When this box does have issue (rare), it's right after I've done some upgrades to packages that the distribution has told me aren't ready. I know I'm standing on the edge (of glory!). Also, I use ext4 since like forever, ext3 before that and have never had issues. To be clear, my point is that these open source devs (I'm one too) are very careful to not regress. I think the software quality is very high.
Your experience is selection bias. And if you never had issues with ext3fs, I assure you it's because you never checked.
The context was the sweeping generalisation that Linux devs and that they don't care about regressions, see up thread by @imiric. In that context I've not had regressions. More explicitly, for this narrower context, I've not had regression bugs in ext3/ext4.
I'm not making a claim that I've not had never had ANY issues or never have to fsck my drives; nor am I making claims that nothing has ever appeared in 'lost+found', nor am I claiming that ext3/ext4 are perfect. Nor that Linux is perfect.
Just claiming that the software quality in the Linux ecosystem is very high. I'd say better than many closed-source solutions -- which couldn't be proved anyway.
I've only been at this since 1994 and still have a lot to learn. However, I don't learn much from the "you're wrong and not good" type of conversation.
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A statically compiled app that used Xorg won’t run on many Linux distributions at the moment. A statically compiled app that used Jack for audio might have problems running on PipeWire. A statically compiled app from 2012 that used PolicyKit for authorization might not work today when asking for sudo. Everyone’s moved on to polkit. The meme is wrong, don’t regurgitate nonsense. I can guarantee you my Windows app comp…
What distro are you using that doesn't package Xwayland or pipewire-jack? Sure those are compatibility layers, but so is WoW64. The Linux and Windows backcompat strategies aren't all that different here.
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> C# is blessed on windows Not as much anymore. Part of it due to the mess that is the first-party Microsoft's GUI frameworks situation, part of it due to .NET's own APIs and semantics not evolving together with Windows since long time ago. Funny anecdata: someone* recently made a small app to indicate when (now broken) CTRL+C is actually triggered in Windows. It was initially written in WPF and was exhibiting a weir…
His journey tracks exactly what I've heard from windows development. If you need more than winforms use avalonia because Microsoft cannot create a viable UI toolkit... Which is extremely funny concidering the article we are having a discussion under... My point however was that compared to C# you are fighting an uphill battle using any other language to do native windows UI development... Also why I stopped looking p…
But yes, I get your point, if you're not familiar with C# (or Dart or Kotlin for that matter), there is motly a one way out in the form of a web app.
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“it's a miracle of modern software engineering and a testament of the power of collaboration and the free software movement that the Linux ecosystem works as well as it does” It can be a miracle, and yet still not be good enough. Even as a business user, knowing that if I build an app and it probably won’t work in 5 years, is all I need to know about this hobbyist toy. Linux is fundamentally not ready for anyone who…
> It can be a miracle, and yet still not be good enough. Even as a business user, knowing that if I build an app and it probably won’t work in 5 years, is all I need to know about this hobbyist toy Build a Flatpak, you're done. Your application can depend on a stable runtime and work on any Linux distribution. > Linux is fundamentally not ready for anyone who has needs more than a Chromebook (which also runs Steam, b…
Flatpak weakens but does not entirely remove the dependence on the underlying Linux distributon. Flatpak relies on a system service called xdg-desktop-portal to bridge apps inside the flatpak sandbox with the host OS. Applications distributed using flatpak may not work as expected if the distribution ships too old a version of xdg-desktop-portal.
Again? I’ve been using Linux on my desktop since 2004 or so. And lack of games is always brought up as if gaming was one essential feature of a computer. That’s what consoles are for.
I've been using Linux on my desktop even longer, but I agree with at least the premise of the article (even though the arguments are poorly thought out and expressed most of the time). No Linux-based OS has gained mainstream acceptance. You can try to blame that on marketing or corporations or whatever, but I don't buy that. I think open source software is the best way to make technically-superior software, but I thi…
Or they do, but it's not the average Windows user's UX they focus on.
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> I don’t think this article is written very charitably It definitely isn't, but honestly Linux could use more of a drill-sergeant treatment. It's either that or we keep doting on our little pet OS and give up on the idea of desktop Linux being at all a viable competitor to the goliaths of Microsoft and Apple. Maybe we never stood a chance? Keep in mind, I'm pretty much committed to Linux myself, as I'm not willing t…
I tend to think it’s not really possible for volunteer open source to directly compete with tech corporations when it comes to polish and cohesion of a large end-user ecosystem—it’s just too much cat herding and uphill battle even to agree on a vision. That said, Linux has other advantages that corporations will never touch because it doesn’t make business sense. I’m really glad it’s still there as a bulwark against…
I'd like to believe that, but I can't help but think that if Microsoft really wanted to lock all PC hardware so that it could only run Windows, or if Google really wanted to add Attestation features to Chrome so major websites only worked on proprietary OSes, "the Linux guys would complain" wouldn't make their executives hesitate even for a moment. (In some cases EU legislators might give them pause, however.)
They managed to add DRM to HTML without too much trouble, after all. And now that Mozilla is an advertising company, that kind of thing will only get easier. And even with the Linux-based Steam Deck selling a million units or so, game companies are still fine locking Linux out if they feel like it.
Desktop Linux is pretty much totally ignored by the money people, the big decision-makers. Linux users are a very tiny minority. Your average person on the street barely knows what it is, if they've heard of it at all. So I'm not sure it qualifies as a "bulwark", I'm sorry to say.
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Even if we grant that point - which I'm not willing to do, since: > It's probably fair to say the majority of users don't do this You still missed the part where I noted: > These are specific scenarios with specific hardware optimized for each use case. Desktop Linux encompasses the sheer amount of available PCs and laptops that one might install it on, and there is a miles long list of “just about everything works e…
Everything you're describing here is literally true of Windows. How many desktop PCs aren't certified to run Windows 11? Can you hack it and make it run with esoteric commands and dubious registry edits? Sure, but then you're in the same spot Linux users are. How much hardware do people throw away because manufacturers don't write updated drivers anymore? Right, you're back in the just about everything works but situ…
A significant amount of goalpost moving is happening here. My original point holds true: general Desktop Linux, installed on $randomly-bought-general-class-desktop-or-laptop-machine, is not the generally solid experience that Windows is.
> When you add in and then Windows includes telemetry and data mining that Microsoft won't allow you to turn off and won't tell you what is included I can't see why anyone would want Windows.
I wasn't even debating these points with you. I don't think anyone should use Windows either, but here we are.
> The Steam Deck literally does not have these problems. It's the the Linux Desktop, perfected!
It is a gaming machine that happens to run Linux, and you have done nothing to convince me otherwise.
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I tend to think it’s not really possible for volunteer open source to directly compete with tech corporations when it comes to polish and cohesion of a large end-user ecosystem—it’s just too much cat herding and uphill battle even to agree on a vision. That said, Linux has other advantages that corporations will never touch because it doesn’t make business sense. I’m really glad it’s still there as a bulwark against…
The vast majority of Linux is not volunteer open source. It's corporate developers. It's also focused on the server. Tech companies seem to use a lot of Macs these days although I assume Windows predominates overall.
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The vast majority of Linux is not volunteer open source. It's corporate developers. It's also focused on the server. Tech companies seem to use a lot of Macs these days although I assume Windows predominates overall.
Yep. A good chunk of desktop Linux is thanks to paid Red Hat developers contributing to projects like GNOME. Valve pays for a good deal of Linux's graphics-related userspace code. And another chunk of paid work is handled by non-profits like the KDE organization. There aren't as many weekend hackers keeping your Debian workstation and Pop!_OS laptop running as you might expect.