5 ms·

I'll say something that's vaguely awful: what's in it for me? I use Linux at work and it's not bad, but I'm less productive on it with 95% of tasks than I woul

by jmduke 13y ago

I'll say something that's vaguely awful: what's in it for me? I use Linux at work and it's not bad, but I'm less productive on it with 95% of tasks than I would be with OSX. It looks worse (I recognize this is subjective.) A lot of my friends use Linux and tell me that if I spend the right amount of time tinkering with it -- making it mine -- I'd reap the benefits of a bespoke OS, just like slipping on a suit that's tailored just for me. But what's the point? I lose out on apps and aesthetics for hypothetical yields in productivity -- I don't want to do that. In terms of your points: - forced corporate policies: My employer forces a Linux desktop and either a Mac/Windows laptop. - lack of hardware choice: I will take to my grave the assertion that the MacBook Air is the best laptop on the market. (Or at least the prettiest.) - Closed operating software: This does not bother me.

galaktor 13y ago
I know it's merely your opinion, but you seem to be using the terms "best" and "pretty" interchangeably. I find that very surprising, but maybe it's well-designed UX on Mac that you are referring to when you say "pretty"? Anyway, pretty is one of those things that I learned is worth sacrificing in favour of productivity - be that in code or when I choose my OS or tools.
- qq66 13y ago
  Aesthetics does impact functionality. The paint scheme and wall decorations in a room can definitely affect one's productivity in that room, and I'm sure that effect would be dependent both on the person and on the task at hand.
- jmduke 13y ago
  If you're referring to the MacBook Air comment: I am very confident that the MBA is the perfect machine for me, but I am more so confident that there are people who have a much deeper understanding of the consumer hardware landscape than I do. Thus the qualifier of 'at least the prettiest': someone could very feasibly change my mind about the MBA, but I haven't seen anything else that looks quite like it. Anyway, pretty is one of those things that I learned is worth sacrificing in favour of productivity - be that in code or when I choose my OS or tools. I agree, but I don't think its so black and white (for me!) When my tools are well-crafted and attractive, I use them more frequently and with more vigor.
jzelinskie 13y ago
>A lot of my friends use Linux and tell me that if I spend the right amount of time tinkering with it -- making it mine -- I'd reap the benefits of a bespoke OS, just like slipping on a suit that's tailored just for me. If you do things like change your keyboard layout to Dvorak/Colemak, go for it. It really is a more productive environment once you're used to it, but the trade-offs are similar. Yes, you can tailor everything the way you want, but it can be very time consuming and you lose out on the ability of having anybody else know how to use your computer. Anecdote: I came from Arch Linux to OSX. I find the tight integration between hardware and software on my 2012 Air to be a breathe of fresh air from the hacking it takes to get basic hardware support sometimes on Linux. IMO, tools like vagrant make native OS matter much less nowadays as long as you are working in some kind of *nix environment.
- rob05c 13y ago
  > I came from Arch Linux to OSX. I find the tight integration between hardware and software... I just went the other direction :). I agree, the hardware/driver issues are a pain. If you're using a desktop without wireless, you probably won't have issues. If you pick Ubuntu, any issues usually aren't too hard to fix. If you're trying to install something like FreeBSD on a laptop with a non-broadcom card? God have mercy on your soul :( That said, once you fix the issues, they're usually fixed for good. It's just the matter of the week of banging your head against the wall to figure it out. Relevant: http://xkcd.com/979/ http://xkcd.com/979/
  - PLejeck 13y ago
    As a fellow OSX -> Arch person, I feel your pain. The experience of making Broadcom function is enough to drive a man insane.
  - epsylon 13y ago
    > If you pick Ubuntu, any issues usually aren't too hard to fix. I've tried various distros on my laptop (Thinkpad W500) but I was seriously impressed when Ubuntu had everything working (including WiFi and ACPI key bindings) out of the box.
gnaffle 13y ago
I used Linux exclusively for many years but switched to OSX for work some years ago. I still feel more productive in Linux, but it's because of a few tricks that I so far haven't found a good replacement for in OSX: - Focus follows mouse without auto-raise - Instant switching between virtual desktops (not possible to disable the animation in OSX last time I checked) - Instantly open a new terminal window with intelligent window placement in the currently active virtual desktop. Since these turned out to be a hassle in OSX, I've just gradually stopped using them, and resorder to a single desktop paradigm with more mouse clicking for navigation. All in all I feel like I'm working slower in OSX than in Linux. However, the major problem with Linux is the looks and a host of small nice details that OSX just gets right. Instant search in Spotlight including Mail, I've grown accustomed to the Mail app (Thunderbird search is ridiculous compared to Mail.app, for instance), Time Machine, and a few other apps like 1Password. If I could get a virtualization scheme where I could have one desktop with OSX and 3-4 desktops of Linux, that would be ideal. But I don't think that's possible with Parallels or VMware, and I'm not sure how well OSX would run virtualized under Linux.
- chatman 13y ago
  GNOME 3 has a good search. Unity has a decent search too.
  - gnaffle 13y ago
    Can it also show inline previews of PDF files and search emails?
- PLejeck 13y ago
  The lack of good email clients on Linux is a real shame. I'd love to have something like Sparrow or Mailbox. 1password is also a sad thing to be missing. As for the others, we have locate(1) for searching and rdiff-backup instead of Time Machine. As for having desktops like that, if you mean monitors, then there's a great solution: Synergy. Hook up monitors to both computers and use Synergy to connect them.
  - 13y ago
rob05c 13y ago
> It looks worse (I recognize this is subjective.) Yes, yes it is. If you're using Ratpoison, well yeah, it's gonna be fugly. Gnome 3 and Unity look pretty sharp though, and Compiz and Clutter are at least as good as Quartz. In fact, if you think nothing short of an OS X clone is pretty: How to Make Ubuntu Linux Look Like Mac OS X http://www.howtogeek.com/45817/ http://www.howtogeek.com/45817/ "Linux is ugly" is an outdated cliche. It used to be true. It's not anymore.
- PLejeck 13y ago
  Please never use OS X clones. But you're right that Linux stopped being ugly. Even in Tiling WMs, we're pretty beautiful now. My windows now have the same gaussian blur and shadow abilities as on Mac OS X, thanks to Compton. My status bar has beautiful text set by Pango and rendered by Cairo. My text rendering is as good (or better than, against transparency) in OSX, thanks to the Infinality patchsets. Really, it's only ugly if you do it wrong. One way of getting it wrong is to try and imitate OS X.
  - rob05c 13y ago
    I agree, but I realize not everyone else does. Same goes for Windows. You can make Linux look like anything you want. If what you want is a clone of your old OS, well, I can't help your aesthetic taste, but I can at least make you happy.
    - PLejeck 13y ago
      But it's not even clone, it's just awkward.
- thrill 13y ago
  Unity is great. Wish someone would port it to Redhat (and clones) since my work deals mostly with those.

by jmduke 13y ago

galaktor 13y ago

I know it's merely your opinion, but you seem to be using the terms "best" and "pretty" interchangeably. I find that very surprising, but maybe it's well-designed UX on Mac that you are referring to when you say "pretty"? Anyway, pretty is one of those things that I learned is worth sacrificing in favour of productivity - be that in code or when I choose my OS or tools.

qq66 13y ago
Aesthetics does impact functionality. The paint scheme and wall decorations in a room can definitely affect one's productivity in that room, and I'm sure that effect would be dependent both on the person and on the task at hand.
jmduke 13y ago
If you're referring to the MacBook Air comment: I am very confident that the MBA is the perfect machine for me, but I am more so confident that there are people who have a much deeper understanding of the consumer hardware landscape than I do. Thus the qualifier of 'at least the prettiest': someone could very feasibly change my mind about the MBA, but I haven't seen anything else that looks quite like it. Anyway, pretty is one of those things that I learned is worth sacrificing in favour of productivity - be that in code or when I choose my OS or tools. I agree, but I don't think its so black and white (for me!) When my tools are well-crafted and attractive, I use them more frequently and with more vigor.

jzelinskie 13y ago

>A lot of my friends use Linux and tell me that if I spend the right amount of time tinkering with it -- making it mine -- I'd reap the benefits of a bespoke OS, just like slipping on a suit that's tailored just for me. If you do things like change your keyboard layout to Dvorak/Colemak, go for it. It really is a more productive environment once you're used to it, but the trade-offs are similar. Yes, you can tailor everything the way you want, but it can be very time consuming and you lose out on the ability of having anybody else know how to use your computer. Anecdote: I came from Arch Linux to OSX. I find the tight integration between hardware and software on my 2012 Air to be a breathe of fresh air from the hacking it takes to get basic hardware support sometimes on Linux. IMO, tools like vagrant make native OS matter much less nowadays as long as you are working in some kind of *nix environment.

rob05c 13y ago
> I came from Arch Linux to OSX. I find the tight integration between hardware and software... I just went the other direction :). I agree, the hardware/driver issues are a pain. If you're using a desktop without wireless, you probably won't have issues. If you pick Ubuntu, any issues usually aren't too hard to fix. If you're trying to install something like FreeBSD on a laptop with a non-broadcom card? God have mercy on your soul :( That said, once you fix the issues, they're usually fixed for good. It's just the matter of the week of banging your head against the wall to figure it out. Relevant: http://xkcd.com/979/ http://xkcd.com/979/
- PLejeck 13y ago
  As a fellow OSX -> Arch person, I feel your pain. The experience of making Broadcom function is enough to drive a man insane.
- epsylon 13y ago
  > If you pick Ubuntu, any issues usually aren't too hard to fix. I've tried various distros on my laptop (Thinkpad W500) but I was seriously impressed when Ubuntu had everything working (including WiFi and ACPI key bindings) out of the box.

gnaffle 13y ago

I used Linux exclusively for many years but switched to OSX for work some years ago. I still feel more productive in Linux, but it's because of a few tricks that I so far haven't found a good replacement for in OSX: - Focus follows mouse without auto-raise - Instant switching between virtual desktops (not possible to disable the animation in OSX last time I checked) - Instantly open a new terminal window with intelligent window placement in the currently active virtual desktop. Since these turned out to be a hassle in OSX, I've just gradually stopped using them, and resorder to a single desktop paradigm with more mouse clicking for navigation. All in all I feel like I'm working slower in OSX than in Linux. However, the major problem with Linux is the looks and a host of small nice details that OSX just gets right. Instant search in Spotlight including Mail, I've grown accustomed to the Mail app (Thunderbird search is ridiculous compared to Mail.app, for instance), Time Machine, and a few other apps like 1Password. If I could get a virtualization scheme where I could have one desktop with OSX and 3-4 desktops of Linux, that would be ideal. But I don't think that's possible with Parallels or VMware, and I'm not sure how well OSX would run virtualized under Linux.

chatman 13y ago
GNOME 3 has a good search. Unity has a decent search too.
- gnaffle 13y ago
  Can it also show inline previews of PDF files and search emails?
PLejeck 13y ago
The lack of good email clients on Linux is a real shame. I'd love to have something like Sparrow or Mailbox. 1password is also a sad thing to be missing. As for the others, we have locate(1) for searching and rdiff-backup instead of Time Machine. As for having desktops like that, if you mean monitors, then there's a great solution: Synergy. Hook up monitors to both computers and use Synergy to connect them.
- 13y ago

rob05c 13y ago

> It looks worse (I recognize this is subjective.) Yes, yes it is. If you're using Ratpoison, well yeah, it's gonna be fugly. Gnome 3 and Unity look pretty sharp though, and Compiz and Clutter are at least as good as Quartz. In fact, if you think nothing short of an OS X clone is pretty: How to Make Ubuntu Linux Look Like Mac OS X http://www.howtogeek.com/45817/ http://www.howtogeek.com/45817/ "Linux is ugly" is an outdated cliche. It used to be true. It's not anymore.

PLejeck 13y ago
Please never use OS X clones. But you're right that Linux stopped being ugly. Even in Tiling WMs, we're pretty beautiful now. My windows now have the same gaussian blur and shadow abilities as on Mac OS X, thanks to Compton. My status bar has beautiful text set by Pango and rendered by Cairo. My text rendering is as good (or better than, against transparency) in OSX, thanks to the Infinality patchsets. Really, it's only ugly if you do it wrong. One way of getting it wrong is to try and imitate OS X.
- rob05c 13y ago
  I agree, but I realize not everyone else does. Same goes for Windows. You can make Linux look like anything you want. If what you want is a clone of your old OS, well, I can't help your aesthetic taste, but I can at least make you happy.
  - PLejeck 13y ago
    But it's not even clone, it's just awkward.
thrill 13y ago
Unity is great. Wish someone would port it to Redhat (and clones) since my work deals mostly with those.