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Most people that complain that Linux isn't ready for the desktop are complaining about not being able to run specific applications, so it's not ready for mainst

by WD-42 12y ago

Most people that complain that Linux isn't ready for the desktop are complaining about not being able to run specific applications, so it's not ready for mainstream use. Who cares? I use linux on MY desktop because it's an amazing programming environment. Multimedia people use OSX (or at least used to) because it is great for multimedia. If spreadsheets are your thing, use Windows. I dont understand what the fuss is about, if it doesn't match your needs, don't use it. I use Linux on my desktop and I couldn't care less if you do or not.

facorreia 12y ago
Well, the article is from a website that runs on the original ASP... just saying.
jjgreen 12y ago
If spreadsheets are your thing, by all means use Windows (I understand it is rather user friendly), but don't for heaven's sake use Excel -- it cannot accurately calculate a standard deviation: http://www.npl.co.uk/mathematics-scientific-computing/numerical-computation/research/testing-the-numerical-correctness-of-scientific-software http://www.npl.co.uk/mathematics-scientific-computing/numeri...
drostie 12y ago
Right. It's hard I think for people to remember that Linux distros are just another program -- even more so, now that we've developed virtualization tools. I spend most of my time in a Kubuntu Linux VM within Windows because my workplace coordinates via Windows applications (Outlook and Spark) but my actual work is strongly enhanced by scripting, ssh, text editors with good grepping and syntax highlighting (usually Kate but also vim from the command line), and a bunch of version control work. Speaking as someone who uses Kubuntu also as a day-to-day Linux environment at home, Kubuntu will do about 90% of what you want to do. I've not had problems with browsing the web, handling network drives, seamlessly connecting to bluetooth, taking a picture with my webcam, calling for hours on Skype, writing an office document and distributing it via email as a PDF, or drawing on a PDF with my touchscreen and saving those annotations for later use. KDE also makes things like screen captures and configuring your toolbars and such really easy, and creating a button to make Chromium open in Incognito mode for day-to-day less-tracked browsing was not too hard. Most Linux environments will do something astonishing which Windows doesn't do: you tell it to install something and it will handle the details of going out and fetching it and installing it on your computer (i.e. an app-store). You can just say one day, "hey, I want lighttpd running on this computer so that I can share this image with a friend without putting it on an image-hosting site," and it'll be rapidly accomplished and ready for your use. What it will not do, includes Microsoft Silverlight (hence Netflix).
rodgerd 12y ago
> Most people that complain that Linux isn't ready for the desktop are complaining about not being able to run specific applications, so it's not ready for mainstream use. I complain because Linux on the desktop keeps going backwards. The Gnome 3 transition is probably the most recent example of this. For me, Linux is actually further away from being a useful general purpose desktop than it was five years ago; the desktop development process seems to be to make progress then oooh squirrel.

by WD-42 12y ago

facorreia 12y ago

Well, the article is from a website that runs on the original ASP... just saying.

jjgreen 12y ago

If spreadsheets are your thing, by all means use Windows (I understand it is rather user friendly), but don't for heaven's sake use Excel -- it cannot accurately calculate a standard deviation: http://www.npl.co.uk/mathematics-scientific-computing/numerical-computation/research/testing-the-numerical-correctness-of-scientific-software http://www.npl.co.uk/mathematics-scientific-computing/numeri...

drostie 12y ago

Right. It's hard I think for people to remember that Linux distros are just another program -- even more so, now that we've developed virtualization tools. I spend most of my time in a Kubuntu Linux VM within Windows because my workplace coordinates via Windows applications (Outlook and Spark) but my actual work is strongly enhanced by scripting, ssh, text editors with good grepping and syntax highlighting (usually Kate but also vim from the command line), and a bunch of version control work. Speaking as someone who uses Kubuntu also as a day-to-day Linux environment at home, Kubuntu will do about 90% of what you want to do. I've not had problems with browsing the web, handling network drives, seamlessly connecting to bluetooth, taking a picture with my webcam, calling for hours on Skype, writing an office document and distributing it via email as a PDF, or drawing on a PDF with my touchscreen and saving those annotations for later use. KDE also makes things like screen captures and configuring your toolbars and such really easy, and creating a button to make Chromium open in Incognito mode for day-to-day less-tracked browsing was not too hard. Most Linux environments will do something astonishing which Windows doesn't do: you tell it to install something and it will handle the details of going out and fetching it and installing it on your computer (i.e. an app-store). You can just say one day, "hey, I want lighttpd running on this computer so that I can share this image with a friend without putting it on an image-hosting site," and it'll be rapidly accomplished and ready for your use. What it will not do, includes Microsoft Silverlight (hence Netflix).

rodgerd 12y ago

> Most people that complain that Linux isn't ready for the desktop are complaining about not being able to run specific applications, so it's not ready for mainstream use. I complain because Linux on the desktop keeps going backwards. The Gnome 3 transition is probably the most recent example of this. For me, Linux is actually further away from being a useful general purpose desktop than it was five years ago; the desktop development process seems to be to make progress then oooh squirrel.