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2009, Year of the Linux Delusion
gadgetopia writes "An article has come out claiming (yet again) that 2009 will be the year of Linux, and bases this prediction on the fact that low-power ARM processors will be in netbooks which won't have enough power to run Windows, but then says these new netbooks will be geared to 'web only' applications which suits Linux perfectly. And, oh yeah, Palm might save Linux, too." The article goes on to skewer the year of Linux thing that seems to show up on pretty much every tech news site throughout December and January as lazy editors round out their year with softball trolling stories and "Year End Lists." We should compile a year-end list about this :)
That's why many people have started using Macs. Yes, they cost more but they are the best of both worlds. They are easy to use and have the stability of *nix system. I have Windows, Linux, and a Mac at home. If I do feel the need to do anything complex, I open a terminal. I manage my Linux server from my Mac, and my Windows box has been relegated to Internet browser/game machine. Everything is done on my Mac or Linux.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Yeah, so almost everyone I know runs linux on the desktop. Our entire business runs on ubuntu machines (software dev). My good friend JD runs his business (apartment mgmt.) entirely on ubuntu. Both of our houses are all ubuntu. When I have to use a windows machine, all I can do is cuss. This is true of JD's wife as well. And my friend Brandon. All of these people ran Windows until a couple of years ago, when I showed them Ubuntu for the first time. Without fail, they have all gone and installed linux on their desktop within days, and never turned back.
Windows is awful, but you can play games on it well. Anyone who disagrees with me (about anything, really) is mentally handicapped. TYVM.
-knewter
That blatant lie completely destroyed any credibility the rest of your post might have had.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
I *HATE* when Linux fans say crap like this.
Here's the deal with Linux, it's hardware support is *always* behind the times. Hardware developers don't support Linux, so when something new comes out, it is sold in the store, with a CD/DVD that contains Windows drivers.
When I buy a new piece of hardware - DO NOT TELL ME WINDOWS DOESN'T SUPPORT IT IF THE DISK THAT COMES WITH IT INCLUDES THE WINDOWS DRIVER.
That's retarded.
And last I checked, 100% of everything sold at a store like BestBuy or Circuit City includes drivers for Windows.
The only exception would be Mac-only hardware that is clearly labeled as such.
When wireless USB network adapters first came out - it was BLOODY NIGHTMARE to get Linux to support it. It's *STILL* a bloody nightmare.
In Linux, I'm happy if I can connect to the net AT ALL with my hardware - last time I did it, I had to use a hacked emulator that used Window's drivers and added overhead. AND it didn't support encryption AND it wouldn't run anywhere near the Wireless-N speed I get in Windows.
I've had that thing for years now, and I can find a few websites and forums that have detailed steps on how to try and hack it to work.
And, whatever the newest hardware is, you'll always have the same problem.
If I go out and buy a new Blu-ray burner from BestBuy, today - without any research at all - I'm 100% certain I can buy one that will run in Windows without any trouble.
Can you say the same of Linux? Heck no. You can't.
You're joking, right? I mean, I understand your post is to "rah, rah" Linux, but seriously? Relearning Windows?
Every new release of Windows brings the joyful game of "Where did they put user folders this time?"
It went from C:\Documents and Settings\ to C:\Users in XP and Vista, what a challenge! Because knowing which directory a binary in UNIX goes in is so much easier. Lessee, /usr/bin? No wait, its /usr/sbin! Oh wait!! Sorry, its /usr/share/programfoo/sbin/bar. Oh, and for reasons best left to the imagination, part of the package ends up in /opt.
The article goes on to skewer the year of Linux thing that seems to show up on pretty much every tech news site throughout December and January as lazy editors round out their year with softball trolling stories and "Year End Lists." We should compile a year-end list about this :)
Taco whinging about lazy editors... there's a hypocrite for you. Is the difference between Slashdot and all those "other" tech news sites the fact that Slasdot editors are lazy year-round? How about getting your own house in order pal!
The GP poster did not make a statement of opinion. He made a false statement of fact. Specifically, he stated that one must relearn to use Microsoft products whenever there is an upgrade to a Microsoft product. That is a blatant lie. There is often very little to be learned between versions of MS products. This latest change to the "ribbon" paradigm is the most challenging change I have seen in quite a while.
That pretty much invalidates your entire comment. It shows your bigotry, or perhaps phobia would be more appropriate, towards Microsoft products and Windows in particular.
I have over 15 years experience with AT&T System V, HP-UX, Solaris, AIX, Windows 3.1, 9X, NT 4/4.5, 2k/2k3, XP/XPPro, Vista, Novell, and other, less popular systems. In that time, I have found all of them to be frustrating in some way, at various times.
To be honest, I find it hard to believe that a professional SA with over 19 years experience is so incompetent as to be unable to use the most popular consumer operating system, which is designed to be as easy to use as possible. Perhaps you are not as professional, accomplished, or capable as you believe you are.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
Market share is too small to qualify as serious contender. I would say linux became a contender and that's it. The serious part (more than 10% share, IMO) will have to way another year
-- dnl
Tabbing of windows: who cares? Seriously. I've tried this, and it's just not a big win. It's not bad, don't get me wrong, but it's not a big win. Tabs in the browser *are* a win, but I've yet to find another application where they're useful.
Tagging of windows: who cares? This one I say out of pure ignorance - maybe I'd like it if I learned how it worked. Is this anything like the ability in Mac to switch between windows that belong to the same app, rather than amongst all windows? It would be nice if you could do that on LInux - it's one of the big UI glitches I trip over on Linux.
Desktop activities: who cares? I don't use those on Windows or Mac, where they also exist. I don't know anyone who does use them.
D-Bus: yes, it's an open standard. It also completely reinvents the wheel in a very arcane way. The support libraries are version 0.1-ish. Last time I tried to do a d-bus app, I wound up writing my own library because none of the existing libraries had any documentation. Every tool I know of that's based on d-bus has a strong tendency to get wedged because there is no clear tracking of internal state in the system.
In principle I think d-bus is a great idea, and I'd really like it if it worked, but it's not 100% reliable, and it needs to be before it's useful. And I don't see a path to that point, because I don't think many people really clearly understand how it all fits together, and there's no quick way to learn.
Theming: this is a completely useless waste of time. That's harsh, I know, but it's true. I have no idea why people waste so much time on this nonsense. Make the damned computer work reliably. *Then* put some lipstick on it.
Multiple workspaces. I've tried these. They don't seem all that useful. When OS X came out with spaces, I tried using it for about a week and then just disabled it, because I wasted more time getting things into the right workspace than I saved having them there. On Linux I always disable the extra workspaces. Maybe I'm a luddite, but so is the average user.
User actions? Nobody but a serious geek is going to use stuff like this. That doesn't mean it's bad, but it's not a selling point for the average user.
What the average user cares about is that they can make the system reliably do what they need it to do. If it does that, they won't complain about it. If it doesn't do that, they'll reinstall the OEM copy of Windows over it in a heartbeat.