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Clearly you’ve never tried to update nvidia graphics card drivers, add a webcam, a printer, or run a 32-bit application on linux. Compared to Windows/Mac these

Clearly you’ve never tried to update nvidia graphics card drivers, add a webcam, a printer, or run a 32-bit application on linux. Compared to Windows/Mac these simple tasks are hellish — and for nontechnical users, nearly impossible.

JasonFruit 5y ago
I have done all those things. On Linux, Nvidia drivers are a royal pain, webcam and printer both worked without any effort other than hooking it up, and running a 32-bit application was not too difficult with instructions. On Windows, I've never messed with video drivers, but have had problems with the same webcam and printer requiring me to locate and install drivers, which were bundled with software I didn't want. 32-bit applications on Windows were of course a breeze. So anecdotally, it's a mixed bag. Maybe if I had less Linux experience and more Windows, the story would be different.
- jrapdx3 5y ago
  I've had long experience with Linux, FreeBSD, and in the last 9 years with Windows too. On the whole I think you're right, it's always been a "mixed bag" when it comes to the gamut of installing, use, and upgrading an OS. Don't know the vintage of Windows you referenced, but in recent experience (Win 10/11) installing a webcam was dead simple, just plug it into a USB port. Printers used to be a gigantic hassle, but at least for the 4 printers available to my Windows laptop little configuration and no added drivers were necessary. (No doubt certain webcams or printers out there could be a pain to install in Windows.) One example: getting OBS Studio to work on Windows was pretty much a no brainer vs. Ubuntu which needed to have additional library support. While OBS works under Ubuntu using it is still a bit more of a hassle. In any case Windows seems to have more bugs now than a few years back. I figure added "features" contribute to complexity. Who knows how many more LOC have been committed. I'd be a lot happier with simpler but more reliable systems. It's not the tradeoff Microsoft, and probably various Linux distributions, will be likely to accept.
  - 29athrowaway 5y ago
    OBS is packaged in Ubuntu, so I don't know what you are talking about. https://packages.ubuntu.com/impish/obs-studio https://packages.ubuntu.com/impish/obs-studio You can install the package and the package manager will install all the dependencies. Nothing for you to do. I am tired of all these fake tales of Linux hardship.
    - jrapdx3 5y ago
      Yes, of course, 'apt install obs-studio' works. However, on 20.04LTS apt installs OBS v25.0x, not the current version (27.2.x). What I was talking about was installing v27.2.x on Ubuntu. FWIW the OBS site gives up-to-date installation info, so it's not really difficult for people familiar with unix/linux just some extra hassle. Also using OBS in Ubuntu requires entering a password each time, rather an annoyance. (Sure, ways to work around this exist but another minor hassle to deal with.) No doubt all this would be a daunting task for users without experience with command-line admin.
- 29athrowaway 5y ago
  nvidia drivers are not a pain. Most distributions package them. And before you install the official driver, you at least get the noveau driver (community supported nvidia driver) by default, which is capable enough to do many, many things.

JasonFruit 5y ago

I have done all those things. On Linux, Nvidia drivers are a royal pain, webcam and printer both worked without any effort other than hooking it up, and running a 32-bit application was not too difficult with instructions. On Windows, I've never messed with video drivers, but have had problems with the same webcam and printer requiring me to locate and install drivers, which were bundled with software I didn't want. 32-bit applications on Windows were of course a breeze. So anecdotally, it's a mixed bag. Maybe if I had less Linux experience and more Windows, the story would be different.

jrapdx3 5y ago
I've had long experience with Linux, FreeBSD, and in the last 9 years with Windows too. On the whole I think you're right, it's always been a "mixed bag" when it comes to the gamut of installing, use, and upgrading an OS. Don't know the vintage of Windows you referenced, but in recent experience (Win 10/11) installing a webcam was dead simple, just plug it into a USB port. Printers used to be a gigantic hassle, but at least for the 4 printers available to my Windows laptop little configuration and no added drivers were necessary. (No doubt certain webcams or printers out there could be a pain to install in Windows.) One example: getting OBS Studio to work on Windows was pretty much a no brainer vs. Ubuntu which needed to have additional library support. While OBS works under Ubuntu using it is still a bit more of a hassle. In any case Windows seems to have more bugs now than a few years back. I figure added "features" contribute to complexity. Who knows how many more LOC have been committed. I'd be a lot happier with simpler but more reliable systems. It's not the tradeoff Microsoft, and probably various Linux distributions, will be likely to accept.
- 29athrowaway 5y ago
  OBS is packaged in Ubuntu, so I don't know what you are talking about. https://packages.ubuntu.com/impish/obs-studio https://packages.ubuntu.com/impish/obs-studio You can install the package and the package manager will install all the dependencies. Nothing for you to do. I am tired of all these fake tales of Linux hardship.
  - jrapdx3 5y ago
    Yes, of course, 'apt install obs-studio' works. However, on 20.04LTS apt installs OBS v25.0x, not the current version (27.2.x). What I was talking about was installing v27.2.x on Ubuntu. FWIW the OBS site gives up-to-date installation info, so it's not really difficult for people familiar with unix/linux just some extra hassle. Also using OBS in Ubuntu requires entering a password each time, rather an annoyance. (Sure, ways to work around this exist but another minor hassle to deal with.) No doubt all this would be a daunting task for users without experience with command-line admin.
29athrowaway 5y ago
nvidia drivers are not a pain. Most distributions package them. And before you install the official driver, you at least get the noveau driver (community supported nvidia driver) by default, which is capable enough to do many, many things.