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>Eh... it's mostly fine. It's just that when something doesn't work, you're screwed if you're not technically confident enough. As opposed to Windows or OSX wh

>Eh... it's mostly fine. It's just that when something doesn't work, you're screwed if you're not technically confident enough. As opposed to Windows or OSX where you're just screwed. There are rough edged in Linux on Desktop but people seem to be completely house-blind* about Windows and OS X. If you spend a lot of time on Linux and go back to Windows or OS X the rough edges in those platforms become immediately obvious. * If English isn't your first language, house-blind is where you get so used to something being out of place that it becomes part of the decor. e.g. a jumper on the back of a chair that stays there for a week+.

vanderZwan 8y ago
Oh, I agree with everything you say! But we have to put this in the context of an elderly lady who is terribly frightened of breaking the computer and always believes it's her fault when software screws up, because the feedback loop of computers is terrible (either absent, or opaque jargon, or marketing lies). That is, my mother. And keep in mind that I live abroad. Helping her out remotely is a very difficult and slow process - if I lived close by the story would be different. In that context, when it comes to Windows or OSX, my mother has a lot of people who can help her out other than me - my sisters, my father (they're separated but still get along), some of her friends. Now, my younger sisters are getting into programming (because all professions need it) so maybe I can get them into Linux too - they're definitely capable but the question is whether they consider it worth the investment. But still.
- fnord123 8y ago
  I'm not convinced. Chromebooks seem to be popular enough and simple enough for luddites. It's certainly a flavour of Linux; despite being a bit locked down afaict. Maybe we're so used to expecting Year of the Linux Desktop to mean Year of the FOSS Linux Desktop that we ignore the successes.
  - vanderZwan 8y ago
    Well, I agree that I was thinking about the FOSS Linux Desktop experience, yes.
superflyguy 8y ago
I'm English and I've never heard the phrase "house-blind" before. You're probably better off using phrases which don't require an in-line definition.
- Brakenshire 8y ago
  I've never heard of it but it's a useful idiom, I approve!
- fnord123 8y ago
  I agree but I don't know a better shorthand to describe the phenomenon.
jorvi 8y ago
> As opposed to Windows or OSX where you're just screwed. Let’s not be disingenuous. I don’t know about Windows, but macOS has had absolutely wonderful critical failure recovery for a while now: There is the recovery partition, which acts like a mini-macOS and lets you do various things like drop into Terminal.app, use Disk Utility for drive scanning and repair, or do an ‘archive and install’ (extremely useful for the technically challenged) which keeps all your files but sets up a fresh macOS install. If even the recovery partition is borked you get the option of ‘Internet Recovery’, which connects to WiFi and automatically downloads and installs a fresh copy of macOS (with the aforementioned archive function, if an old install is detected). Compare this to Linux, where you either get dropped into GRUB or a bare shell..

vanderZwan 8y ago

Oh, I agree with everything you say! But we have to put this in the context of an elderly lady who is terribly frightened of breaking the computer and always believes it's her fault when software screws up, because the feedback loop of computers is terrible (either absent, or opaque jargon, or marketing lies). That is, my mother. And keep in mind that I live abroad. Helping her out remotely is a very difficult and slow process - if I lived close by the story would be different. In that context, when it comes to Windows or OSX, my mother has a lot of people who can help her out other than me - my sisters, my father (they're separated but still get along), some of her friends. Now, my younger sisters are getting into programming (because all professions need it) so maybe I can get them into Linux too - they're definitely capable but the question is whether they consider it worth the investment. But still.

fnord123 8y ago
I'm not convinced. Chromebooks seem to be popular enough and simple enough for luddites. It's certainly a flavour of Linux; despite being a bit locked down afaict. Maybe we're so used to expecting Year of the Linux Desktop to mean Year of the FOSS Linux Desktop that we ignore the successes.
- vanderZwan 8y ago
  Well, I agree that I was thinking about the FOSS Linux Desktop experience, yes.

superflyguy 8y ago

I'm English and I've never heard the phrase "house-blind" before. You're probably better off using phrases which don't require an in-line definition.

Brakenshire 8y ago
I've never heard of it but it's a useful idiom, I approve!
fnord123 8y ago
I agree but I don't know a better shorthand to describe the phenomenon.

jorvi 8y ago

> As opposed to Windows or OSX where you're just screwed. Let’s not be disingenuous. I don’t know about Windows, but macOS has had absolutely wonderful critical failure recovery for a while now: There is the recovery partition, which acts like a mini-macOS and lets you do various things like drop into Terminal.app, use Disk Utility for drive scanning and repair, or do an ‘archive and install’ (extremely useful for the technically challenged) which keeps all your files but sets up a fresh macOS install. If even the recovery partition is borked you get the option of ‘Internet Recovery’, which connects to WiFi and automatically downloads and installs a fresh copy of macOS (with the aforementioned archive function, if an old install is detected). Compare this to Linux, where you either get dropped into GRUB or a bare shell..