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A self proclaimed linux enthusiast like the ranter is well able to determine which hardware will and won't work before he purchases it. The fact that he didn't

by trotsky 15y ago

A self proclaimed linux enthusiast like the ranter is well able to determine which hardware will and won't work before he purchases it. The fact that he didn't care to do that and then complained bitterly about it suggests that's not really the problem. He could have spent less time than it took to write the rant on the front end to end up happy. All hardware just works isn't a quality linux has ever suggested applies to itself. But that is hardly rare for an OS. The only OS that applies to is Windows (generally) and that's because that's the only platform all vendors bother to target. You can't buy arbitrary hardware and expect it to work at all under OS X, Free BSD, Solaris, Android Open Source Project, Windows Mobile and iOS. In fact, out of that whole list the odds are that an arbitrary hardware configuration will work out of the box are highest on linux. If you want any of those platforms to work well with a new purchase you have to determine beforehand the compatibility. So linux is hardly some sort of freak in that way. But don't let that get in the way of a good rant.

eropple 15y ago
You're assuming people care to evaluate Linux in the way Linux advocates want to evaluate it. They do not. "Hardware just works" is a characteristic that normal people consider important to an operating system. If you don't do it, you are deficient in that area. "But all these other also-rans fail at it too" is not an excuse. The standard, for better or for worse, is Windows, and you either meet the standard or you don't complain that people get tired of dealing with your failures and move on. And it's certainly not surprising that even a Linux enthusiast gets tired of dealing with substandard, broken hardware after a while. I know, I was one. Eventually I got tired of trying to balance having decent, modern hardware with having hardware that supports an operating system that, on the desktop, is essentially a novelty (it affords me nothing that Windows or OS X doesn't), and I tubed it. Because it wasn't worth the effort.

by trotsky 15y ago

eropple 15y ago

You're assuming people care to evaluate Linux in the way Linux advocates want to evaluate it. They do not. "Hardware just works" is a characteristic that normal people consider important to an operating system. If you don't do it, you are deficient in that area. "But all these other also-rans fail at it too" is not an excuse. The standard, for better or for worse, is Windows, and you either meet the standard or you don't complain that people get tired of dealing with your failures and move on. And it's certainly not surprising that even a Linux enthusiast gets tired of dealing with substandard, broken hardware after a while. I know, I was one. Eventually I got tired of trying to balance having decent, modern hardware with having hardware that supports an operating system that, on the desktop, is essentially a novelty (it affords me nothing that Windows or OS X doesn't), and I tubed it. Because it wasn't worth the effort.