6 ms·

Many many years back, when I knew nothing of programming and very little of tech words, I used to wonder why people don't use Linux instead of Windows if it is

Many many years back, when I knew nothing of programming and very little of tech words, I used to wonder why people don't use Linux instead of Windows if it is so great. Then I realized Linux is good for nerds. For the rest of tech ignorant people, it is Windows. As I read somewhere long ago, Linux is for people who know what they are doing. Windows is for people who don't know what they are doing.

AussieWog93 4y ago
I'd go one step further than that. I would consider myself fairly tech-literate. Software engineer, use git from the command line, can exit vim. Even then I gave up on Linux after using it for a couple of years because it's just so darn stressful. When I need to get shit done, the last thing I want to is read pages and pages of documentation about someone's pet project or some Stack Overflow post containing the random incantation I need to fix some hardware incompatibility that is fixed out of the box on some distros but not others. The Desktop Linux experience, at least for me, was like owning a car with an incredibly detailed repair manual and amazing parts availability but broke down every 6 weeks. Even the best mechanic in the world wouldn't want to use that car as a daily driver.
- midoridensha 4y ago
  It's weird how people are still complaining about this stuff. I never have any trouble like this; I just use an Ubuntu-based distro, and get well-supported hardware (i.e., just buy a Dell or Lenovo laptop), and everything "just works".
- going_ham 4y ago
  On the flip side, I had the opposite experience. With Linux it was just the matter of compiling from the source. And most of the time, it would just compile without any issue. With windows, I needed to download MSVC and the whole studio and wasn't able to have the app running. I really did not understand why it had to be so complicated. At least with linux there is a support from the community because the same problem might have been encountered by someone else. Further, in Windows, whenever I was trying new things or doing out of the normal stuff, it required modifying a lot of registry values. I found it horrible compared to Linux, where everything is a file and you can immediately change the file.
- matheusmoreira 4y ago
  It's weird. I had that exact experience with Linux. Had to reinstall the system from scratch every major distribution upgrades because they always screwed something up. Fedora's package manager corrupted its own database once. Support was just badly answered forum posts. Then I switched to Arch Linux and never had problems ever again. Been running it for years with no problems despite its inexplicable reputation for instability. Whenever I want to do anything, I just look it up in the Arch Wiki which is the best Linux documentation ever made. I have to use Windows at work and it's nothing but constant never ending pain. The god damn OS just does all sorts of stuff I couldn't care less about that have absolutely nothing to do with my job. It actually costs me money in lost productivity. All this for what? The only thing it does is launch the browser, and very rarely Libre Office when the network is down and I have to save a document locally. Yes, Libre Office.
  - midoridensha 4y ago
    >It's weird. I had that exact experience with Linux. Had to reinstall the system from scratch every major distribution upgrades because they always screwed something up. Fedora's package manager corrupted its own database once. Support was just badly answered forum posts. I feel like most of the people complaining about constant trouble with Linux were using Fedora... >Then I switched to Arch Linux and never had problems ever again. Same thing here with Ubuntu-based distros. Sometimes I wonder if Fedora is secretly made and pushed just to ruin Linux's reputation.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]

AussieWog93 4y ago

I'd go one step further than that. I would consider myself fairly tech-literate. Software engineer, use git from the command line, can exit vim. Even then I gave up on Linux after using it for a couple of years because it's just so darn stressful. When I need to get shit done, the last thing I want to is read pages and pages of documentation about someone's pet project or some Stack Overflow post containing the random incantation I need to fix some hardware incompatibility that is fixed out of the box on some distros but not others. The Desktop Linux experience, at least for me, was like owning a car with an incredibly detailed repair manual and amazing parts availability but broke down every 6 weeks. Even the best mechanic in the world wouldn't want to use that car as a daily driver.

midoridensha 4y ago
It's weird how people are still complaining about this stuff. I never have any trouble like this; I just use an Ubuntu-based distro, and get well-supported hardware (i.e., just buy a Dell or Lenovo laptop), and everything "just works".
going_ham 4y ago
On the flip side, I had the opposite experience. With Linux it was just the matter of compiling from the source. And most of the time, it would just compile without any issue. With windows, I needed to download MSVC and the whole studio and wasn't able to have the app running. I really did not understand why it had to be so complicated. At least with linux there is a support from the community because the same problem might have been encountered by someone else. Further, in Windows, whenever I was trying new things or doing out of the normal stuff, it required modifying a lot of registry values. I found it horrible compared to Linux, where everything is a file and you can immediately change the file.
matheusmoreira 4y ago
It's weird. I had that exact experience with Linux. Had to reinstall the system from scratch every major distribution upgrades because they always screwed something up. Fedora's package manager corrupted its own database once. Support was just badly answered forum posts. Then I switched to Arch Linux and never had problems ever again. Been running it for years with no problems despite its inexplicable reputation for instability. Whenever I want to do anything, I just look it up in the Arch Wiki which is the best Linux documentation ever made. I have to use Windows at work and it's nothing but constant never ending pain. The god damn OS just does all sorts of stuff I couldn't care less about that have absolutely nothing to do with my job. It actually costs me money in lost productivity. All this for what? The only thing it does is launch the browser, and very rarely Libre Office when the network is down and I have to save a document locally. Yes, Libre Office.
- midoridensha 4y ago
  >It's weird. I had that exact experience with Linux. Had to reinstall the system from scratch every major distribution upgrades because they always screwed something up. Fedora's package manager corrupted its own database once. Support was just badly answered forum posts. I feel like most of the people complaining about constant trouble with Linux were using Fedora... >Then I switched to Arch Linux and never had problems ever again. Same thing here with Ubuntu-based distros. Sometimes I wonder if Fedora is secretly made and pushed just to ruin Linux's reputation.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]