4 ms·

Observation: I started daily driving linux in the 90s. When I switched to a mac around 2010 if found Mac exhausting. It had different usage patterns than I was

Observation: I started daily driving linux in the 90s. When I switched to a mac around 2010 if found Mac exhausting. It had different usage patterns than I was used to. Some of my most used features weren't there. Having a reasonably usable shell experience required lots of tweaking and macports then brew. When I switched back to linux ~5 years ago there was a while where getting back into the linux groove was exhausting because I wasn't used to it, but not as exhausting as switching to mac because I already knew it, just needed to get back in practice. Every time i use windows (which is rarely, once a year maybe) i find it exhausting. I propose that it's not the OS that's the exhausting part - it's the switching to a new environment with different workflows and thought processes around it that is exhausting. Similar to how it's much harder to get familiar with a codebase in a new (to you) language than in a language you are proficient in - but both cases can be taxing.

aussiesnack 4y ago
This is something those "defending" the harder-to-use/learn thing always bring up. As if affordances must always be relative to prior knowledge. But they're not (always) - some things just are harder to use than others (at least relative to a specific meaning of 'use'). Programming languages - you could argue Rust isn't hard to learn, by pretending that everyone claiming it is are just having trouble adjusting from javascript. But that breaks down when you realise the Rust learners finding it hard are actually polyglot programmers who are finding it harder than all the many other languages, in multiple paradigms, they have already successfully learned. Similar with Linux - I find it harder to 'use' in a certain sense (the sense most people mean - which is getting all the ordinary hardware & software stuff working) than the others. You'll tell me it's unfamiliarity, but it's just not - my first Linux was Slackware on floppies, and I've used it alongside Windows and MacOS now for decades. I choose it for my primary OS for other reasons, but ease of use certainly isn't among them. I still have to fiddle more with it .
- bombela 4y ago
  I wish I could have the graphical stack and mouse handling of MS Windows in general. With the trackpad precision and battery life of Mac on laptop. The fact the mouse scroll wheel doesn't even work well on Linux is just shameful.
  - leppr 4y ago
    What doesn't work well about mouse scroll wheel on Linux? Its behavior is very similar to MacOS, in that it sends scroll events even to unfocused windows.
    - bombela 4y ago
      Sending events in unfocused window is quite nice I would say. The issue is the scroll speed and amount is inconsistent between applications. And now with some applications trying to implement smooth scrolling it's even worse.

aussiesnack 4y ago

This is something those "defending" the harder-to-use/learn thing always bring up. As if affordances must always be relative to prior knowledge. But they're not (always) - some things just are harder to use than others (at least relative to a specific meaning of 'use'). Programming languages - you could argue Rust isn't hard to learn, by pretending that everyone claiming it is are just having trouble adjusting from javascript. But that breaks down when you realise the Rust learners finding it hard are actually polyglot programmers who are finding it harder than all the many other languages, in multiple paradigms, they have already successfully learned. Similar with Linux - I find it harder to 'use' in a certain sense (the sense most people mean - which is getting all the ordinary hardware & software stuff working) than the others. You'll tell me it's unfamiliarity, but it's just not - my first Linux was Slackware on floppies, and I've used it alongside Windows and MacOS now for decades. I choose it for my primary OS for other reasons, but ease of use certainly isn't among them. I still have to fiddle more with it .

bombela 4y ago
I wish I could have the graphical stack and mouse handling of MS Windows in general. With the trackpad precision and battery life of Mac on laptop. The fact the mouse scroll wheel doesn't even work well on Linux is just shameful.
- leppr 4y ago
  What doesn't work well about mouse scroll wheel on Linux? Its behavior is very similar to MacOS, in that it sends scroll events even to unfocused windows.
  - bombela 4y ago
    Sending events in unfocused window is quite nice I would say. The issue is the scroll speed and amount is inconsistent between applications. And now with some applications trying to implement smooth scrolling it's even worse.