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I use Linux (usually Ubuntu or a derivative), macOS and Windows 11 regularly. To me they all “suck”. They all have shortcomings, and my constant switching betwe

I use Linux (usually Ubuntu or a derivative), macOS and Windows 11 regularly. To me they all “suck”. They all have shortcomings, and my constant switching between them only proves that there isn’t a clear winner. I can think of at least two “dumb” things with each that are easy to address but for whatever reason…. Aren’t. I will say desktop Linux has been the worst experience for me, and it’s been that way since 2010 when I first installed a desktop Linux distro and tried to use it as my daily. BUT it’s not much worse than macOS or Windows for bugs.

ashwagary 4y ago
>will say desktop Linux has been the worst experience Im surprised by this take, Ubuntu derivatives have had major improvements in the past decade. What is the worst thing youve run into?
- gymbeaux 4y ago
  Keep in mind, it's the worst experience compared to macOS and Windows. The issues are usually display/GUI-related. HiDPI scaling is still buggy regardless of distro/DE. As recently as the past month I have experienced UI scaling issues on KDE and Unity, so most windows are scaling correctly, but occasionally windows will open at the default scaling, and it's built-in apps like Dolphin file manager. Spotify always requires a config file change to get scaling to work. Seems like an easy fix on their end but whatever. GNOME is the least-buggy DE I have tried, but it's also relatively simple. Worst thing I have run into in the last couple of months would probably be display flickering/artifacts with my NVidia RTX 3060 running Fedora 38 Workstation.
- BizarroLand 4y ago
  I don't know about them but the last time I used Ubuntu, it was extraordinarily slow and non-responsive on my test system with a 6600k, 32gb ram, and a 1 TB Samsung SSD. Pop-OS also had that issue, but stock Debian did not, and Fedora has been consistently a good performer for me.
  - antifa 4y ago
    Sounds like there just wasn't an open-source or proprietary Linux driver for some rare or new component in your system.
TheRealDunkirk 4y ago
Know your classics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPRvc2UMeMI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPRvc2UMeMI
- gymbeaux 4y ago
  Ha I've never seen this. Excellent.
wslh 4y ago
It would be great if you can elaborate how you favorite OS would be.
- gymbeaux 4y ago
  My qualms with: Windows: - Still relatively-susceptible to malware (these days ransomware is the main concern). - Windows 10 and 11 have ads and lots of tracking ("if it's free, you're the product!"). - It likes to restart to install updates without my permission. Always get bitten by running VMs on a Windows computer (excluding Windows Server of course). macOS: - Doesn't support DisplayPort daisy-chaining at all. - Expect UI bugs starting with OS X 10.10 Yosemite when they started rewriting Objective-C code in Swift. - "most advanced operating system in the world" but can't adjust volume of speakers on external displays (brightness too). - No NVIDIA support, which means no CUDA support, so anyone who needs CUDA will be SSH'ing into a Linux box with an NVIDIA GPU attached to it. Almost forgot! macOS does not support display scaling AT ALL on 1440p monitors. They used to, when their displays were literally 1440p, but now it’s 4K or bust. You used to be able to mod a conf to enable it anyway, but that only works with Intel based Macs. Linux: - Probably my most-frustrating point is that "everyone" talks about how "rock-solid" and great their Linux experience is when that has NEVER been the case for me in 13 years of regularly using desktop and server linux distros. - Proton makes running Windows/DirectX games on Linux a breeze, and I do agree. It's a step in the right direction and it looks like many games "just work"... of course the one game I play (Dead By Daylight) doesn't work... although this seems to be on the developer of the game, rather than Proton or Linux. - Font smoothing. Last I read, you have to do a bunch of things to get basic font-smoothing (e.g. ClearType on Windows). Less of an issue now that I have a 4K display, but I am surprised the big DEs like GNOME and KDE never seemed to integrate it. Maybe I am missing something with how difficult it might be? - Random stupid stuff. Lately it's that Debian and Debian-based distros are packaging Python packages that do not follow PIP naming guidelines, which breaks installing other Python packages globally. You can get around it with a Python virtual env, which you should probably be using anyway, but I consider it a massive oversight that this was allowed to happen. You get PLENTY of notice before a PIP goes from "proposal" to "this will break your shit". - I feel like so much dev time is spent making distros, which is a lot of wasted effort. The value of having "niche-but-popular" distros like MX Linux, Manjaro and EndeavourOS seems very low versus getting something like font-smoothing standardized. I realize those are two different "focus areas" though. - Of course I have to mention the lack of native app support. Adobe CC, MS Office, little companion apps for hardware like mice, keyboards, etc.

ashwagary 4y ago

>will say desktop Linux has been the worst experience Im surprised by this take, Ubuntu derivatives have had major improvements in the past decade. What is the worst thing youve run into?

gymbeaux 4y ago
Keep in mind, it's the worst experience compared to macOS and Windows. The issues are usually display/GUI-related. HiDPI scaling is still buggy regardless of distro/DE. As recently as the past month I have experienced UI scaling issues on KDE and Unity, so most windows are scaling correctly, but occasionally windows will open at the default scaling, and it's built-in apps like Dolphin file manager. Spotify always requires a config file change to get scaling to work. Seems like an easy fix on their end but whatever. GNOME is the least-buggy DE I have tried, but it's also relatively simple. Worst thing I have run into in the last couple of months would probably be display flickering/artifacts with my NVidia RTX 3060 running Fedora 38 Workstation.
BizarroLand 4y ago
I don't know about them but the last time I used Ubuntu, it was extraordinarily slow and non-responsive on my test system with a 6600k, 32gb ram, and a 1 TB Samsung SSD. Pop-OS also had that issue, but stock Debian did not, and Fedora has been consistently a good performer for me.
- antifa 4y ago
  Sounds like there just wasn't an open-source or proprietary Linux driver for some rare or new component in your system.

TheRealDunkirk 4y ago

Know your classics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPRvc2UMeMI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPRvc2UMeMI

gymbeaux 4y ago
Ha I've never seen this. Excellent.

wslh 4y ago

It would be great if you can elaborate how you favorite OS would be.

gymbeaux 4y ago
My qualms with: Windows: - Still relatively-susceptible to malware (these days ransomware is the main concern). - Windows 10 and 11 have ads and lots of tracking ("if it's free, you're the product!"). - It likes to restart to install updates without my permission. Always get bitten by running VMs on a Windows computer (excluding Windows Server of course). macOS: - Doesn't support DisplayPort daisy-chaining at all. - Expect UI bugs starting with OS X 10.10 Yosemite when they started rewriting Objective-C code in Swift. - "most advanced operating system in the world" but can't adjust volume of speakers on external displays (brightness too). - No NVIDIA support, which means no CUDA support, so anyone who needs CUDA will be SSH'ing into a Linux box with an NVIDIA GPU attached to it. Almost forgot! macOS does not support display scaling AT ALL on 1440p monitors. They used to, when their displays were literally 1440p, but now it’s 4K or bust. You used to be able to mod a conf to enable it anyway, but that only works with Intel based Macs. Linux: - Probably my most-frustrating point is that "everyone" talks about how "rock-solid" and great their Linux experience is when that has NEVER been the case for me in 13 years of regularly using desktop and server linux distros. - Proton makes running Windows/DirectX games on Linux a breeze, and I do agree. It's a step in the right direction and it looks like many games "just work"... of course the one game I play (Dead By Daylight) doesn't work... although this seems to be on the developer of the game, rather than Proton or Linux. - Font smoothing. Last I read, you have to do a bunch of things to get basic font-smoothing (e.g. ClearType on Windows). Less of an issue now that I have a 4K display, but I am surprised the big DEs like GNOME and KDE never seemed to integrate it. Maybe I am missing something with how difficult it might be? - Random stupid stuff. Lately it's that Debian and Debian-based distros are packaging Python packages that do not follow PIP naming guidelines, which breaks installing other Python packages globally. You can get around it with a Python virtual env, which you should probably be using anyway, but I consider it a massive oversight that this was allowed to happen. You get PLENTY of notice before a PIP goes from "proposal" to "this will break your shit". - I feel like so much dev time is spent making distros, which is a lot of wasted effort. The value of having "niche-but-popular" distros like MX Linux, Manjaro and EndeavourOS seems very low versus getting something like font-smoothing standardized. I realize those are two different "focus areas" though. - Of course I have to mention the lack of native app support. Adobe CC, MS Office, little companion apps for hardware like mice, keyboards, etc.