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Linux is fine if you're at home and have a few hours to kill to figure out how to tweak something, but if you're at work and need to do a video call using start

Linux is fine if you're at home and have a few hours to kill to figure out how to tweak something, but if you're at work and need to do a video call using startup-of-the-week's proprietary service and use a projector at the same time... good luck! Seriously though, that's the main reason I use OSX... It's usually compatible with the random toolsets my clients use without any additional tweaking.

dman 9y ago
OSX admittedly is a lot more seamless than linux - if you happen to be on a clients site and find your self stuck without admin privileges you do not need to worry - just enter root and all will be fine.
gkya 9y ago
Wrong decade my friend.
INTPenis 9y ago
I had to respond to this because I am also a person who switched from Mac OS to Linux for work. But I still have my Macbook pro at the office, it never leaves the desk there. My ambulatory laptop is a Thinkpad X260 running Fedora. I have none of the issues described in the article But you do raise valid points. I work in an organisation that loves Microsoft and store-bought solutions like Skype for Business. My answer is to use a tablet for video conference calls, a Pixel C in my case but any modern tablet will work. So with that solved the only major gripe I have with using Linux professionally is all the enterprise VPN solutions that in one way or another require Windows. Juniper JunOS pulse for example, I haven't been able to get that working on Linux. They do have an official Linux client but like you said, it requires some finagling. Other than that though I think Linux has come a very long way from the old mentality that you had to spend long nights getting everything to work. I used to do that, but the last 5-6 years I've been too busy with work to bother. So I was using mostly Apple until about 4 years ago when I bought a Thinkpad X230 and started using Fedora. Another issue that doesn't come up often but is quite debilitating is when I need to screencast to someone. Wayland isn't supported anywhere so I have to logout and log back in with X just to screencast. None of the other issues you mentioned affect me, projectors and hdmi screen sharing works just fine.
- majewsky 9y ago
  > My answer is to use a tablet for video conference calls "Can you please share your screen?"
  - INTPenis 9y ago
    Well yes, I did mention that screencasting altogether is pretty crippled with Wayland. Not to mention that you won't be able to share if you're using a tablet. Obviously it's not for everyone but I've made it work for my situation.
    - majewsky 9y ago
      Screencasting should (with capital S) work on Wayland, but Wayland is much stricter about which processes are allowed to grab the framebuffer. At least for Sway (which is the Wayland compositor that I'm using) framebuffer access needs to be granted explicitly in the config, and only swaygrab (their own screenshot utility) is permitted by default.
      - INTPenis 9y ago
        So far it's been a matter of applications not supporting wayland yet. By applications I can only remember trying Google screencasting, through hangouts to youtube for example. But I think I tried one more that I lost the name to.
  - rotten 9y ago
    Our company is switching to bluejeans. I'm optimistic because they actually appear to support linux. I made the switch from OSX to linux laptop last spring. I can do almost everything I did before... except share screens easily.
- elFarto 9y ago
  I have the Juniper VPN working under Linux. Pulse Secure (as it's now called) is supported by the openconnect package[1]. It was pretty straight forward to get working. There's even a Network Manager plugin to allow you to configure it via the GUI. Since you're running Fedora, you can probably do something like: sudo dnf install openconnect NetworkManager-openconnect [1] http://www.infradead.org/openconnect/ http://www.infradead.org/openconnect/
isostatic 9y ago
Funny, I've used Linux on my desktop/laptop for the last 18 years because I don't have time to fiddle around on my productive machine. As for video calls, I borrowed a Mac once to do a lync video call - it didn't work. I do now have a MacBook Air, which I got for testing a program I'd written on a real machine. I like the form factor - it's lightweight and fine for basic web browsing, similar to a chromebook.
- thraxil 9y ago
  Same. I've even been using the same window manager (XMonad) for probably over a decade and haven't touched the config file in years. When I get a new machine, I copy some dotfiles over, apt-get a few packages and then I pretty much can't tell the difference (other than hopefully performance). I have a macbook pro that I use exclusively for music (Ableton Live) and it's been far more hassle.
mmjaa 9y ago
Seriously un-true. Just this weekend I set up a friends old, aging laptop with a fresh Ubuntu Studio install, and .. everything just works. Video playback, drivers for everything. Seriously! Even multi-screen (i.e. projector) extensions, and so on. We watched movies with it all weekend, just plain ol' Ubuntu Studio. So, anecdotal stories are yarns, yo. (I say this as an Ubuntu and macOS developer, thus user: its functionally a point where Ubuntu could un-seat macOS in terms of ease of use, on .. admittedly a very much wider range of hardware.) As for the MacBook hegemony, I point my wavy hands at things like the GPD Pocket, and its future off-spring.
- mlvljr 9y ago
  Did you also ruin his BIOS by doing so? :)
- meneame2 9y ago
  Ubuntu is now really polished, and works great if you cherry pick hardware a bit and avoid components with drivers that are not in the kernel. But I'd go one step further and argue that, as a developer, Linux can give you a unique experience if you stick to its strengths: * Use a minimal distribution with few moving parts -> Things rarely break, and if something does it's usually easy to fix * Try functional package management and administration (NixOS) -> Easy to reproduce setups, trivial to rollback, no dependency hell * Try a simple keyboard-driven desktop -> A tiling window manager (XMonad), a web browser (Firefox) and Emacs (with Org, Magit, Eshell, Dired, Notmuch...) work incredibly well
  - gigatexal 9y ago
    Is there much that doesn’t have a kernel module? I know some can’t be included because of licensing and such like some WiFi hardware but then distros could just compile all drives as modules and hot plug them at boot no? (I bet this is what happens anyway)
    - meneame2 9y ago
      For example, many Broadcom network cards do not have decent drivers. These are really common.
pjc50 9y ago
To be fair, you can have that bad experience on any platform. Friend of mine is in the process of switching to Ubuntu because of a failed Win10 "Creator's Update" wrecking the system.
mlok 9y ago
I wonder if QubesOS would solve this : run the clients toolset in a windows Qube along my Linux Qubes. I shall try it as soon as I can. It may change the way I use a computer.

dman 9y ago

OSX admittedly is a lot more seamless than linux - if you happen to be on a clients site and find your self stuck without admin privileges you do not need to worry - just enter root and all will be fine.

gkya 9y ago

Wrong decade my friend.

INTPenis 9y ago

I had to respond to this because I am also a person who switched from Mac OS to Linux for work. But I still have my Macbook pro at the office, it never leaves the desk there. My ambulatory laptop is a Thinkpad X260 running Fedora. I have none of the issues described in the article But you do raise valid points. I work in an organisation that loves Microsoft and store-bought solutions like Skype for Business. My answer is to use a tablet for video conference calls, a Pixel C in my case but any modern tablet will work. So with that solved the only major gripe I have with using Linux professionally is all the enterprise VPN solutions that in one way or another require Windows. Juniper JunOS pulse for example, I haven't been able to get that working on Linux. They do have an official Linux client but like you said, it requires some finagling. Other than that though I think Linux has come a very long way from the old mentality that you had to spend long nights getting everything to work. I used to do that, but the last 5-6 years I've been too busy with work to bother. So I was using mostly Apple until about 4 years ago when I bought a Thinkpad X230 and started using Fedora. Another issue that doesn't come up often but is quite debilitating is when I need to screencast to someone. Wayland isn't supported anywhere so I have to logout and log back in with X just to screencast. None of the other issues you mentioned affect me, projectors and hdmi screen sharing works just fine.

majewsky 9y ago
> My answer is to use a tablet for video conference calls "Can you please share your screen?"
- INTPenis 9y ago
  Well yes, I did mention that screencasting altogether is pretty crippled with Wayland. Not to mention that you won't be able to share if you're using a tablet. Obviously it's not for everyone but I've made it work for my situation.
  - majewsky 9y ago
    Screencasting should (with capital S) work on Wayland, but Wayland is much stricter about which processes are allowed to grab the framebuffer. At least for Sway (which is the Wayland compositor that I'm using) framebuffer access needs to be granted explicitly in the config, and only swaygrab (their own screenshot utility) is permitted by default.
    - INTPenis 9y ago
      So far it's been a matter of applications not supporting wayland yet. By applications I can only remember trying Google screencasting, through hangouts to youtube for example. But I think I tried one more that I lost the name to.
- rotten 9y ago
  Our company is switching to bluejeans. I'm optimistic because they actually appear to support linux. I made the switch from OSX to linux laptop last spring. I can do almost everything I did before... except share screens easily.
elFarto 9y ago
I have the Juniper VPN working under Linux. Pulse Secure (as it's now called) is supported by the openconnect package[1]. It was pretty straight forward to get working. There's even a Network Manager plugin to allow you to configure it via the GUI. Since you're running Fedora, you can probably do something like: sudo dnf install openconnect NetworkManager-openconnect [1] http://www.infradead.org/openconnect/ http://www.infradead.org/openconnect/

isostatic 9y ago

Funny, I've used Linux on my desktop/laptop for the last 18 years because I don't have time to fiddle around on my productive machine. As for video calls, I borrowed a Mac once to do a lync video call - it didn't work. I do now have a MacBook Air, which I got for testing a program I'd written on a real machine. I like the form factor - it's lightweight and fine for basic web browsing, similar to a chromebook.

thraxil 9y ago
Same. I've even been using the same window manager (XMonad) for probably over a decade and haven't touched the config file in years. When I get a new machine, I copy some dotfiles over, apt-get a few packages and then I pretty much can't tell the difference (other than hopefully performance). I have a macbook pro that I use exclusively for music (Ableton Live) and it's been far more hassle.

mmjaa 9y ago

Seriously un-true. Just this weekend I set up a friends old, aging laptop with a fresh Ubuntu Studio install, and .. everything just works. Video playback, drivers for everything. Seriously! Even multi-screen (i.e. projector) extensions, and so on. We watched movies with it all weekend, just plain ol' Ubuntu Studio. So, anecdotal stories are yarns, yo. (I say this as an Ubuntu and macOS developer, thus user: its functionally a point where Ubuntu could un-seat macOS in terms of ease of use, on .. admittedly a very much wider range of hardware.) As for the MacBook hegemony, I point my wavy hands at things like the GPD Pocket, and its future off-spring.

mlvljr 9y ago
Did you also ruin his BIOS by doing so? :)
meneame2 9y ago
Ubuntu is now really polished, and works great if you cherry pick hardware a bit and avoid components with drivers that are not in the kernel. But I'd go one step further and argue that, as a developer, Linux can give you a unique experience if you stick to its strengths: * Use a minimal distribution with few moving parts -> Things rarely break, and if something does it's usually easy to fix * Try functional package management and administration (NixOS) -> Easy to reproduce setups, trivial to rollback, no dependency hell * Try a simple keyboard-driven desktop -> A tiling window manager (XMonad), a web browser (Firefox) and Emacs (with Org, Magit, Eshell, Dired, Notmuch...) work incredibly well
- gigatexal 9y ago
  Is there much that doesn’t have a kernel module? I know some can’t be included because of licensing and such like some WiFi hardware but then distros could just compile all drives as modules and hot plug them at boot no? (I bet this is what happens anyway)
  - meneame2 9y ago
    For example, many Broadcom network cards do not have decent drivers. These are really common.

pjc50 9y ago

To be fair, you can have that bad experience on any platform. Friend of mine is in the process of switching to Ubuntu because of a failed Win10 "Creator's Update" wrecking the system.

mlok 9y ago

I wonder if QubesOS would solve this : run the clients toolset in a windows Qube along my Linux Qubes. I shall try it as soon as I can. It may change the way I use a computer.