5 ms·

I agree. And I just did the opposite. Been using Fedora for a year or so on an X1 Carbon and switched to having to use a new 2019 macbook pro for work. I ha

I agree. And I just did the opposite. Been using Fedora for a year or so on an X1 Carbon and switched to having to use a new 2019 macbook pro for work. I had fond memories of macs when I last used them 6 years ago but today....wow. Not that great an of an experience. At this point for work (eng, devops/sre etc) I'd rather have Linux and I really wish I could use my carbon X1. :( I see no real adv to dealing with the mac platform today if what you want is a "unix" env. On the Linux of today, the minor annoyances are worth it - and they really are very minor on good hardware and a mainstream distro like Fedora or Ubuntu. Plus you get the tooling on the platform it was developed for - real docker, real pkg mgmt, etc. Don't get me wrong, there are still some nice things in macos and the hardware (yes the trackpad is nice), but to me they really are not compelling enough args now - at least for me. Now if only we could get a few of these minor annoyances fixed in the Linux desktop (e.g. Gnome) then I think it might really be the "year of Linux on the desktop" ;)

MisterOctober 7y ago
Spot on re : tooling -- likewise, I too gave up on Gnome early on, and also dislike KDE [too heavy] -- a friend turned me on to LXDE and it's been smooth sailing since
- dTal 7y ago
  If you haven't tried KDE Plasma in the last year or two, it's worth revisiting. I tentatively tried KDE 4.x back when it was the hot thing, and was disgusted by how it seemed to bring even a top-spec gaming desktop to its knees. Now I run Plasma 5 on my laptop (on Void Linux - I feel that package maintainers make a big difference here), and it's far and away the best desktop experience I've ever had. I've finally recovered that sense I always got from the Windows 95 shell, that's been missing in every desktop environment until now - that sense of "wow, they've really thought this through".
  - MisterOctober 7y ago
    Thanks for the tip; I'll check it out!
  - cmroanirgo 7y ago
    Agreed. I have always chased my tail when it comes to distros, and when it finally came around to checking out kde (¡again) the plasma version was really an awesome surprise. It still has a few warts, but it's the prettiest/cohesive of them all.
Aeolun 7y ago
What I want fixed in the linux desktop is IT support. Everything my company does or make works with Mac or Windows, but I can’t even get config values to set for anything else.
SiVal 7y ago
What I keep hoping for is for Microsoft to announce a new Windows with a Windows desktop & API on top of Linux--a gradual, parallel transition like the decade-long DOS- to NT-based Windows transition. Since MS seems to have grown tired of trying to "sell" Windows, not sure whether to fight pirates or support them, etc., and is looking to services, most of which run on Linux, they could give "Lindows" away, like Google with Android but with more thought behind it, and create the kind of focus that could get all the things working reliably in a desktop Linux. Other Linux distros could then start with working versions of everything and offer customization options in only the areas that a specific customer segment wanted to manage for themselves.

MisterOctober 7y ago

Spot on re : tooling -- likewise, I too gave up on Gnome early on, and also dislike KDE [too heavy] -- a friend turned me on to LXDE and it's been smooth sailing since

dTal 7y ago
If you haven't tried KDE Plasma in the last year or two, it's worth revisiting. I tentatively tried KDE 4.x back when it was the hot thing, and was disgusted by how it seemed to bring even a top-spec gaming desktop to its knees. Now I run Plasma 5 on my laptop (on Void Linux - I feel that package maintainers make a big difference here), and it's far and away the best desktop experience I've ever had. I've finally recovered that sense I always got from the Windows 95 shell, that's been missing in every desktop environment until now - that sense of "wow, they've really thought this through".
- MisterOctober 7y ago
  Thanks for the tip; I'll check it out!
- cmroanirgo 7y ago
  Agreed. I have always chased my tail when it comes to distros, and when it finally came around to checking out kde (¡again) the plasma version was really an awesome surprise. It still has a few warts, but it's the prettiest/cohesive of them all.

Aeolun 7y ago

What I want fixed in the linux desktop is IT support. Everything my company does or make works with Mac or Windows, but I can’t even get config values to set for anything else.

SiVal 7y ago

What I keep hoping for is for Microsoft to announce a new Windows with a Windows desktop & API on top of Linux--a gradual, parallel transition like the decade-long DOS- to NT-based Windows transition. Since MS seems to have grown tired of trying to "sell" Windows, not sure whether to fight pirates or support them, etc., and is looking to services, most of which run on Linux, they could give "Lindows" away, like Google with Android but with more thought behind it, and create the kind of focus that could get all the things working reliably in a desktop Linux. Other Linux distros could then start with working versions of everything and offer customization options in only the areas that a specific customer segment wanted to manage for themselves.