3 ms·

"I just want to get some work done, I don’t want to waste my time debugging all kind of crap." That's basically it. It's not the drivers, it's not the bugs - i

by fmx 15y ago

"I just want to get some work done, I don’t want to waste my time debugging all kind of crap." That's basically it. It's not the drivers, it's not the bugs - it's the culture. The culture of Linux seems to be that every user should be a programmer and should help debug the OS. If you are one, and want to help - great, go ahead! As for me, I have other things to do and I expect the OS, shell and file manager to Just Work.

pnathan 15y ago
Completely agreed. That is why I prefer OSX. It has most/all of the great points of Linux, and most of the great points of Windows, plus great stability. Of course, work profiles do differ. But... I am so happy working with something that Just Works.
curious_man 15y ago
I'm a happy Linux user for years now (GNU/Linux for the most difficult ones), but I went through the same process: 1. Excitement. Compiling the kernel? Cool! Configure an SMTP server just for fun? Cool! Having "fun" for hours fiddling with configuration files to make something work? Cool! Making a sound card, a video card or a modem work after hours of compilations and configurations feels just like "beating the system". 2. Well, there is more to IT besides editing udev rules and iptables profiles. But now my system works quite well, so I can go on with my life. 3. Update time. Or perhaps I need a new computer: maybe it's that I'm becoming old and impatient, but now I have stuff to do and other interests to nurture. I don't have time and patience to waste on making this damn piece of hardware work. You want to make Linux a viable desktop operating system "for the masses"? Well, then don't tell me "it's free software, if you don't like it then write some code and change it!". Or "works for me". Thanks George. Don't get me wrong: I like and support hacking, experimenting, FLOSS, open culture, open hardware, open whatever. I use FLOSS and Linux every single day and (for now) it works fine for me. But let's pretend for a minute that not everyone is a programmer. The truth is: even if I'm actually a professional programmer, I want an OS that "Just Works"(c). PS: It's the same for... Linus Torvalds. He uses (as far as I know) Fedora. Not certainly Slackware, Gentoo or Arch (3 very good and interesting distributions BTW, I've used them all). His motivations? Paraphrasing: "because I'm familiar with it and I want to get things done".

by fmx 15y ago

pnathan 15y ago

Completely agreed. That is why I prefer OSX. It has most/all of the great points of Linux, and most of the great points of Windows, plus great stability. Of course, work profiles do differ. But... I am so happy working with something that Just Works.

curious_man 15y ago

I'm a happy Linux user for years now (GNU/Linux for the most difficult ones), but I went through the same process: 1. Excitement. Compiling the kernel? Cool! Configure an SMTP server just for fun? Cool! Having "fun" for hours fiddling with configuration files to make something work? Cool! Making a sound card, a video card or a modem work after hours of compilations and configurations feels just like "beating the system". 2. Well, there is more to IT besides editing udev rules and iptables profiles. But now my system works quite well, so I can go on with my life. 3. Update time. Or perhaps I need a new computer: maybe it's that I'm becoming old and impatient, but now I have stuff to do and other interests to nurture. I don't have time and patience to waste on making this damn piece of hardware work. You want to make Linux a viable desktop operating system "for the masses"? Well, then don't tell me "it's free software, if you don't like it then write some code and change it!". Or "works for me". Thanks George. Don't get me wrong: I like and support hacking, experimenting, FLOSS, open culture, open hardware, open whatever. I use FLOSS and Linux every single day and (for now) it works fine for me. But let's pretend for a minute that not everyone is a programmer. The truth is: even if I'm actually a professional programmer, I want an OS that "Just Works"(c). PS: It's the same for... Linus Torvalds. He uses (as far as I know) Fedora. Not certainly Slackware, Gentoo or Arch (3 very good and interesting distributions BTW, I've used them all). His motivations? Paraphrasing: "because I'm familiar with it and I want to get things done".