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List of Major Linux Desktop Problems Updated For 2016 (narod.ru)
An anonymous reader writes: Phoronix reports that Artem S. Tashkinov's Major Linux Problems on the Desktop has been updated for 2016. It is a comprehensive list of various papercut issues and other inconveniences of Linux on the PC desktop. Among the issues cited for Linux not being ready for the desktop include graphics driver issues, audio problems, hardware compatibility problems, X11 troubles, a few issues with Wayland, and font problems. At the project management side, there is also cited a lack of cooperation among open source developers and fragmentation of desktops. Let's discuss.
SystemD will fix all of this.
The linked article tells you to go to another article. Many pop ups...
I think it's funny how people here on my office also work like that, they bring me those big list of problems that MUST be solved. In the end, you spend a lot of resources doing what will not bring you closer to your objectives. Even if we solve all of those the Linux Desktop still wouldn't have a meaningfull market share.
Ubuntu tracks your searches, Canonical has deals with Amazon.
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/12/richard-stallman-calls-ubuntu-spyware-because-it-tracks-searches/
Canonical are pulling a Microsoft/Google/Facebook.
That was just the start for spying in Ubuntu, that was 2012, you can be sure they have more and WILL add more later as they push Unity across more devices and services with their "partners". Canonical are a for-profit company, they WILL do it for money. That is their purpose, why they exist. They don't exist to give you something for free. Always ALWAYS be wary of commercial distros such as Ubuntu.
What we need is a PRIVACY AUDIT certification for Linux distros.
This is the reality of the world we live in today and going forward.
Even Linux is NOT immune from PRIVACY invasions.
Spyware is spyware, no sense in arguing it. It IS black and white, it IS or it IS NOT. It spies on you or it does not. Pick one.
Ubuntu IS Spyware.
This is reason enough to use another distro, Linux Mint for example (even though it is based on Ubuntu, but no spying).
Ubuntu would actually breach EU law, EU law states that we have to have OPT-IN and not OPT-OUT as which most US software defaults to. EU states it should default to OFF and we turn it ON by opting IN, Ubuntu has it the opposite way.
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32002L0058:en:HTML
If Canonical ever have an EU based office, I could see that happening.
...back in 2001, the year of Linux on the Desktop. Seriously, getting a desktop "right" is hard... Apple certainly hasn't figured it out yet, none of the Linux camps have figured it out... it's hard. The only one that may have come close to perfecting it was Microsoft with Windows 7, and then they went and screwed it all up after they had it.
Massive zero day Linux security hole. Another one. Argh. http://www.technewsworld.com/s...
It's always embarrassing when another of our Linux Newbies calls me to ask why they can't just double-click the jar file installer for our management system like they can on Windows.
editorial authority: guise linux its...its just not ready for the desktop. its got graphics driver issues...
community: the ones preventing nearly 200 steam games from running on it?
editorial authority nonono guys its worse than that see theres audio problems too, the audio has problems
community: you mean with the countless instructibles articles on home theater via the pi?
editorial authority: guys i wish it were that simple but you see X has the issues too, its wayland isnt ready.
community: you...you know those two things are completely different right? xorgs been stable for a decade....
editorial authority: the font is ugly.
community:...pick...another one?
editorial authority: its fragmented...the desktops....theyre all fragmented.
community:....what?
editorial authority: and i heard linux torval yelling at people too.
Good people go to bed earlier.
... to other OSes.
For example:
It should be possible to configure pretty much everything via GUI (in the end Windows and Mac OS allow this) which is still not a case for some situations and operations.
If "Configurable via GUI" in Windows means you "add some arcane registry key via the registry editor", then *maybe*.
| Among the issues cited for Linux not being ready for the desktop
| include graphics driver issues, audio problems, hardware
| compatibility problems, X11 troubles, a few issues with Wayland, and font problems
Soooo...pretty much everything then. Got it.
Between this, and Microsoft's ongoing "UWP" debacle, is there any OS out there now that doesn't suck ass? I haven't used a Mac for a while...how are those bone heads doing?
And as one of the users, why should it? It already does what users want. Why would doing what non-users want make it better?
There are non-users who became or remained non-users because Linux didn't do what they wanted, specifically interoperate with a particular application or piece of hardware.
As open source, how would it benefit existing users to have additional non-technical users?
A larger user base means developers and publishers of applications and hardware are more likely to consider making their products compatible in order to reach that user base.
I tried it. I love systemd's logging mechanism. I like that I can manage various services and peripherals from one central location. You neckbeards here on Slashdot are the reason why Linux *on desktop* has stayed largely stagnant. Change is good. Deal with it.
Canonical has deals with Amazon
Ubuntu Unity is no longer defaulting to Amazon integration. Furthermore, Xubuntu avoids all this and is only a sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop away.
My absolute #1 complaint about Linux on the desktop has always been the lack of Common Dialogs. This is a standard DLL that ships with all versions of Windows dating back to at least 3.1. This DLL handles basic dialogs like File Open, File Save, and Printing. Having this DLL available and with a very simple interface solves multiple problems at once.
First, it is extremely easy for developers to use the API.
Secondly, due to the ease of use, developers can focus on their core application instead of writing their own UI for browsing the file system just to open a file or their own printing dialog to enumerate and list printers.
Third, this ensures a clean and consistent UI across all applications that use the Common Dialogs making the OS and applications as a whole easier to use for the end users.
Lastly, the Common Dialogs DLL is upgraded with every version of Windows. Take an application written in 1995 and run it on Windows 10. It still works. It uses the Windows 10 UI for opening/saving files, instead of the old clunky Common Dialog UI for 1995.
This upgrading of the DLL has been another huge advantage too. It has seen several major iterations. The ability to resize the window. The ability to have multiple navigation methods. The ability to drag-n-drop. The ability to copy-paste. Can't remember where you saved that last document? Just open the save dialog again and it'll default to that folder, and you can just copy-paste that folder path into other applications as needed.
Laptop screen brightness adjustment goes multiple steps with one keypress in Ubuntu and Mint. I still can't believe how such a basic feature is broken, release after release. Yes, I know that there are hacks to fix it, but I should not need to manually fix something silly like that.
Well, never had any problems configuring anything in XP.
Unfortunately they messed it up with Vista, 7 and 8.
Seriously, getting a desktop "right" is hard... Apple certainly hasn't figured it out yet, none of the Linux camps have figured it out... it's hard. The only one that may have come close to perfecting it was Microsoft with Windows 7, and then they went and screwed it all up after they had it.
Umm, I'm guessing this is a troll because I doubt you'll find many people agreeing with you that Windows 7 was "close to perfect". It might have been close to YOUR personal preferences but please don't pretend to speak for the rest of us. Personally I prefer Apple's desktop interface slightly to Microsoft's though I'm fine with both. I haven't yet seen a linux desktop that even came close to suiting my work flow preferences though I continue to hold out hope. None of them are perfect and what might be perfect for me will likely be annoying for you.
But Window 7 "close to perfect"? ....No. Just No...
If "Configurable via GUI" in Windows means you "add some arcane registry key via the registry editor", then *maybe*.
From a Windows fan's point of view, one key difference between the Windows Registry on the one hand and text configuration files (/etc and dotfiles) on the other hand is that the Registry is a database. This means it's more likely to be resilient to data entry errors. With text files, a syntax error usually invalidates the entire file, and there's nothing preventing the user from typing in a string where an integer is expected. Sure, the Registry's implementation is technically dubious, but switching to a more robust back-end like SQLite might fix that.
Many of reasons that exist for Linux are largely a catch-22 (eg, not many people use Linux because most developers don't target that platform, and developers don't tend to target Linux beacuse there aren't enough users to justify the effort).
Certainly also Linux is not ready for the desktop of anyone who simply wants to copy what everybody else is doing (playing the latest AAA title that is only available for Windows, for example).
From a commercial standpoint, I could even see that it isn't ready for the desktop of someone who must essentially work with other people who for the sake of compatibility, dictate that everybody in the company using the exact same version of all of their software and running the exact same operating system, where their operating system is not Linux.
Where I work there are precisely zero Windows computers... reception has a mac, but all of the developers have Linux on their desktop.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Tashkino seems like an arrogant ass.
KDE 5.x is impossible to use, with many rendering issues, broken multi-monitor support and crashes.
Still on KDE 4.14.2 (Debian Jessie), which is stable and 'just works'.
My complaint with my Ubuntu desktop is that it doesn't go into sleep mode. My complaint about my Windows laptop is it doesn't come OUT of sleep mode.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Linux just isn't "pretty" and "polished" enough... And the documentation can be a bit difficult to sort out. It will always be the "Bernie Sanders" of operating systems. It doesn't matter how "right" you are if the presentation sucks..
This is an article that should have never made it out of the bin, nor to the front page. The author of the article demonstrates a general lack of understanding in regards to both unix and linux in particular. This is best demonstrated by point 31. where they complain about unix case sensitivity. Not only is unix file systems case sensitive, they're actually designed that way... on purpose.
Dear Slashdot editors, please review articles a bit better before passing them on. This article is a crapfest from beginning to end.
Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
In chasing the desktop in this post desktop era with a post desktop interface linux as a whole is being completely fubar.
One on the biggest gains was having a desktop environment separated from the main system in a happy little sandbox, now for everything to work from within the sandbox with a nicey nicey window big holes have to be punched through to the main system with new frame works to administer user privs. All of which is an architectural disaster. Put the desktop gimp back in it's box.
Works good for servers not so much on the desktop
Suffice it to say that Windows 7 is the most well-polished turd that Microsoft has released. It's a garbage can with a lot of expensive rockets taped on it. However, at the end of the day, it does the job. Best PC operating system.
The article makes a big deal about the fact that getting nVidia and AMD cards to work under Linux isn't easy, and he's right. However, he's blaming the wrong person. Neither company is willing to provide either proper OSS drivers or the technical specifications needed for somebody else to write them. All they give us are binary blobs. And, in the case of nVidia, the install process is insane. First you have to boot into a CLI only environment to install them and second you have to do it again every single time there's a kernel update. Fedora, at least, has developed a way around this by using an akmod that checks at boot if there's a proper driver (kmod-nvidia) for the running kernel, and if there isn't, it builds one. Ubuntu still uses the insane version, but at least it automates it so that when there's a kernel update, it prompts you at boot to install the new drivers, doing all of the messy stuff on it's own after getting permission.
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Obvious troll is obvious.
It should be possible to configure pretty much everything via GUI (in the end Windows and Mac OS allow this)
I'm not a Mac user, so maybe I'm mistaken on this, but isn't OS X (and Apple in general) rather infamous for not letting users configure things very much?
My parents have an old PC that came with windows XP that they have been running for a long time. The hardware itself is perfectly fine but windows XP has gotten cruddy and slow over the years as windows XP tends to do. I'd sure like something fresh to put on it that's free and will run decently on their hardware and runs some up to date applications.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Naw, no trolling... not much anyway. When I say "close to perfect," I mean something closer to "the best desktop OS UI that's been created yet, by anyone, where most things 'just work.'" And I say that writing this from a Mac that I've been using as my primary daily laptop for two years - and I STILL hate the UI. The multi-monitor/projector support is TERRIBLE, Finder has one of the worst file explorer layouts I've seen, it's about a 10-step process to switch from normal headphones to USB or back, my task bar or whatever it's called in MacLand shrinks to where I can hardly see what I'm clicking if I open too many things at once, the network settings are disjointed, and it's not even possible to use a shortcut key to lock the desktop when I'm walking away from my desk! (And no, a "hot corner" is NOT THE SAME, even though that's the dirty cheap hack I have in place as a substitute).
So, compared to that hot steaming mess in the road, Windows 7 is pretty close to perfect.
I pick my hardware to run my LInux apps properly, including printer/scanner. All that whining the author does about specific hardware types. If you really are hard core gamer pick the right OS for your games, Linux may not be it.
Sound issues: yes there are some for specific use cases, valid point
Printer/scanner blah blah - pick the right hardware for your OS and quit whining.
X11 issues - yes X is dated, insecure, single threaded for important things,
Wayland - not done yet so who cares
Kernel - yes it can crash on driver failure, so can Windows or Mac OSX. Done it on all three myself, do I get a prize?
Distribution non-standards for settings, etc. - no this is a strength, and there are only a handful of really popular distros anyway. I want the choice
Wine whining - use a VM you putz and run windows for windows apps
No equivalent for hardcore CADD/Photo - use a VM you putz and run windows for windows apps
grub update problems - no honestly haven't run into them
no security update lists - wrong, you can cron a query to the package manager and email it. even list required, security, etc.
major recent security problems - shell shock, openssl - actually openssl a problem where private interests led to rubber-stamping crap. shellshock - yes bash is a very complicated bloated shell, smarter people (like *BSD) run services under much simpler shell.
look at all the security vulns found in package x, more eyes doesn't mean less vulns - no the eyes are one means for finding them. another might be fuzzers. hey at least your 134 gtk+thingy were fixed
windows more secure because updates mandatory - wrong, some of those auto updates break things and so serious places have to vet each one and withhold...dang same as linux or any other OS! sysadmin is hard and painful to do correctly!
systemd woes with freezing, crashes, undefined state - yes, it's badly designed bloated trash. don't use it for serious servers. Poettering is a disease.
samba is hard - yes sysadmin is hard
GNOME and KDE woes and no enough manpower - some of us use better desktops
steep learning curve, have to use CLI sometimes - yeah just like windows registry editing and powershell
no antiviruses or similar - yes there are, and they're free and even will spot other things like .jars with vulnerable java in them. clamav bitch
forward and backward compatible kernel problems - yes, kernel version change means specific drivers. again pick your hardware for linux, use standard things, you want bleeding edge hardware maybe you should change OS, Linux isn't for you. reality bites
GNOME/KDE change things move things - yes, the major desktops suck, use one that listens to user needs and isn't trying to be star trek command and control
oh noes linux devs don't care because they broke Loki installer - more game related whines. seriously kid, if you want a game machine buy windows unless you're into minecraft or steam linux or similar
character limits in linux - yup 255 for filename and 4096 for path. be nice if it was longer
case sensitivity in file names, no rational basis - wrong, very rational basis for POSIX system to require that. that will never be changed
file creation times - indeed many issues with the other timestamps in linux depending on filesystem type, that should be fixed
Linux security a mess because this or that vuln just found - no, they were fixed so quit your whining, and any other general purpose OS on planet earth has similar, windows included
whining about binary api/abi between distros and binaries for specific distros needed - yes, each distro is a different OS. get that into your head. there is no problem.
No CIFS/AD level replacement/equivalent because samba doesn't count? yes samba 4 plus nis++ does count. oh you have to think and administer things differently than a microsoft cert wank? yes, yes you do. Remember kiddies, if you're a microso
This is a very high quality list and I fully recommend it for anyone that is currently working on FLOSS software or is looking to get involved in a high-impact project.
-- I was raised on the command line, bitch
I think a few people are ok with it as long as they use that UI shell thing called... uhm.. Android? Yeah, that's the name, Android. Seems to work fine for a Billion users.
Waiting for an amusing sig.
what part of Common Library do you not understand tepples?!
The problem is when Windows users try to configure something as they know how to in Windows, this fails. I would say that on the surface, some things appear not to be as customizable. If the GUI does not offer an option, there is a command that does it. Under the hood, people still forget that OS X is Unix and commands still work.
Speaking of Windows, I have Windows 8. After years of having the ability to tweak a lot of things in previous version, MS decided to bury almost everything from the user. It seems to me I have to wade through at least one more menu or screen for every little thing than before. I've heard that Windows 10 gets worse at this.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
I've been running Debian on a desktop and laptop since 2002. See no issues except hideous KDE
I'm not sure if anyone else has mentioned this yet, but the open-source community's sometimes fanatical opposition to DRM of all types is a hindrance to desktop adoption. Until it is possible for Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime to "just work" in any browser on Linux the same way they do on Windows or Mac OS, desktop Linux is not going to be competitive for average users.
I started at a new company which included a stock Ubuntu (I came from Fedora previously). I hate their stock UI so I switched to Xubuntu.
1. Lots of configuration necessary since -my- XFCE looks more akin to Gnome 2 (My axe to grind but I'd love to have XFCE pre-canned layouts with the ability to save customized layouts afterwards through a GUI)
2. The graphical package manager worked maybe 60% of the time, so I immediately abandoned it and went to apt-get
3. I regularly get 'this and that' crashed errors even though nothing seems broken.. very strange. My ps list has a million copies of "indicator-bluetooth-service", "indicator-sound-service" so I'm assuming indicators has issues (see below)
4. There's no elegant way of telling the desktop to inherit screen orientation changes to the login screen. You can copy a cfg file over, but that's garbage. Include a prompt or have some sort of backend sudo for 'blessed' users
5. NV Graphics / Audio / All hardware worked out of the box and great! 0 complaints.
6. The whole 'indicators' thing between Ubuntu's skin and XFCE is functional, but a little ham fisted. I guess I should be happy that there's a widget for them at all but I'd wish someone put some more love into it.
All in all, things are certainly moving in the right direction, and a big thanks to everyone who contributes regularly in making my workhorse better and better!
Bye!
For me when running Fedora 22/23 is that it loses my display session sometimes coming out of sleep / hibernation and it loses all my open apps.
You do realize that a single character wrong in the data field will cause you issues in Windows too right?
You can also put a string into an integer field in regedit, as you tell it what type the key is, not the other way around.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
If "Configurable via GUI" in Windows means you "add some arcane registry key via the registry editor", then *maybe*.
Yes, that case actually counts.
In Windows, you actually can do all sorts of user-unfriendly configuration-tweaking without having to open a command prompt or hand-edit a text file.
This is a big part of why Windows is far more accessible to a certain level of "power user" who isn't quite comfortable with hacking their way across configuration files, but can manage the rest of it.
I keep saying the Linux community focuses far too much on two extreme user stereotypes:
A notional "grandparent" who is afraid of any options and can use a simplistic already-configured-for-her system
and
The uber-geek who isn't scared of compiling their own kernel.
They keep forgetting about the notional "grandchild" who is "good with computers" but not to our level. This under-served segment is who actually acts as tech support for the notional "grandparent," and who probably makes the majority of the actual tech decisions.
In 2003/2004 I used Linux desktop at my job. I used Redhat 8 and 9 with KDE. It was usable. Ten years later, default KDE on Ubuntu 14.04 is barely usable - too many annoying things. Plasma 5.3 looked promising, but "not there yet". Unity is at least stable, but completely unconfigurable and I *hate* window buttons being on right. Also, selecting a window from the panel is completely annoying as you have to click on the panel, and then to move mouse to select screen - complete waste of time. I now use Cinnamon, and it is ok, except that I had to tweak UI via changing CSS file, and that power off window does not show "ok" button, only "cancel". And I have problem setting Alt-Shift for changing keyboards. And probably many more things but I did not have a chance to notice them yet.
From my perspective it looks as if Linux desktop is going backwards. I believe that problem is that there is no big companies behind it, like it was Redhat it its days. Yes, there is Cannonical, but it seems more interesting in pushing their political agenda than in desktop itself.
No sig today.
the Registry is a database. This means it's more likely to be resilient to data entry errors.
...no it doesn't. ID10T errors are no different no matter where the keystrokes go. It also doesn't prevent the registry itself from corrupting, which Windows is rather legendary at doing.
With text files, a syntax error usually invalidates the entire file...
...assuming you mean 'a bad configuration entry breaks the application', yes. It means you only have the application/service that relies on it going south. Just like borking a registry entry will bork the application/service that relies on the now-broken registry entry. Not seeing much difference there, unless you're referring to the registry's backup copy (which amazingly enough, you yourself can do before you edit a config file in *nix.)
Now if you meant that the file is completely useless from that point onwards, then you'd be wrong; the typoed/mistyped portion of said file can be edited back to normal and everything is hunky-dory again. By comparison, sometimes you cannot do that with a broken registry (that is, if you broke it badly enough and was dumb enough to reboot in-between... a not too outlandish scenario).
Finally, a config file can do something that a registry entry cannot: properly carry its own documentation within the file itself.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Control-Shift-Eject ? Slightly more annoying than Windows-L.
"Why do you consent to live in ignorance and fear?" - Bad Religion
I'm not a Mac user, so maybe I'm mistaken on this, but isn't OS X (and Apple in general) rather infamous for not letting users configure things very much?
A typical user, yeah - the options are plentiful, but not all-encompassing.
However, if you have admin rights on the box, changing any aspect of OSX' behavior is just a text editor and the right .plist file away.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
The lack of virtual desktops is a huge, glaring blot.
If you're the kind of person who mainly uses windows, and thus doesn't notice the weaknesses, then you will really like Windows 7. If you are aware of the full potential of the desktop, then you will see plenty of holes in it.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
I use Linux on the desktop and 90% of this stuff does not affect me. But.. what really gets on my nerves... remote desktop support.
Sure there is VNC but VNC has no sound! I guess Pulse can do it... That's what I keep reading but I can't make it work no matter how hard I try. Even if Pulse actually can provide remote sound.. (which I am begining to thing requires a visit from the friendly ghost of Leonert Poettering himself) it should be seamless with the remote desktop app to be considered good enough for 2001 (let alone 2016). Look how easy it is in Windows! Check the fucking box and it works. That's what I want to see in Linux.
Yes, there have been other sound servers over the years, eSound, aRts. I remember eSound even having a java client so I could hear my Linux Desktop from someone's Mac or Windows box. So what... they still were not (click a box) integrated AND they were only supported in certain applications.
Once upon a time, when I was first switching to Linux I was super impressed by remote X display. Windows had no native remote desktop back then, you had to pay a bunch of money to PC Anywhere to get that. Linux was light years ahead in my eyes in that it ran over the network natively.
What the hell happened? All those years, Windows gets Remote Desktop which seamlessly incorporates sound AND on terminal servers even separates the sounds by login session. I can log in to Windows remotely while a buddy does the same and we can listen to separate sounds on our respective terminals.
Linux has what? VNC plus PulseAudio? WTF?
I could rant about VNC not having built in encryption too. I guess RealVNC has it.. for a price. I think TightVNC can do SSL but you have to use the Java client. That sucks. At least SSH tunneling gives me a solution to that though. Still waiting for such a simple sound solution.
Alas... Linux seems to be finally changing on this front. IN THE WRONG FUCKING DIRECTION! Now we are supposed to be switching to Wayland and relying on each respective desktop environment to independantly invent and implement a remote protocol for us to use?
I think the Linux Desktop is in the process of self destructing. Where to now?
Finally, a config file can do something that a registry entry cannot: properly carry its own documentation within the file itself.
Including a comment stating when you made a change, and the original line transformed into a comment so that it's easy to undo. If there's a way to do that kind of thing with the Windows Registry, I've never heard of it.
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Umm... Eject? I've never seen an Eject key on a keyboard, certainly not on my Macbook (which is also missing "Home" and "End" keys, because Apple).
I'm not a Mac user, so maybe I'm mistaken on this, but isn't OS X (and Apple in general) rather infamous for not letting users configure things very much?
A typical user, yeah - the options are plentiful, but not all-encompassing.
However, if you have admin rights on the box, changing any aspect of OSX' behavior is just a text editor and the right .plist file away.
Also with the right commands or hackware a bunch of normally invisible files and folders become visible and ready for your miscreance.
Youtube, Steam games, Netflix, and LibreOffice work great. Laser printers, too.
I put Linux Mint on my retired Mom's laptop two years ago and no complaints!
Linux desktop has been here for years. No one cares because the users are have smart phones now. All desktops are dead.
To make a god solution the following is needed.
Unification. The reason everyone fall back on windows7 behavior is because very little have changed since win95 and pretty much everyone know how to navigate it. The only reasonable solution is to simply jump on the boat. Everything else is pretty much like trying to trying to sell a car with no steering wheel (Windows8 anyone?, and for me personally Ubuntu, I HATE IT). Startmenu, controlpanel, my computer. Drop the pride and just copy.
Everything need to work out of the box, that is pretty. A good step would be if the major dist would release (in cowork with the normal laptop/workstation companies like dell, lenovo and HP, think GOOGLE)
Unified clipboard, you need to be able to copy anything and paste it into anything.
Virtual desktop areas, with higher and higher resolution we need to splitt the screen into several of areas where you can have fullscreen apps.
Office and internet explorer domination used to be the biggest problem, but that is in the past.
Aside from that gaming could be a hurdle, but I think that one will solve itself if linux desktop manage to get movement.
please....! or/and reads so poorly.
My eject key is to the right of F12 and above delete.
I'm starting to think GNU is the problem with "GNU/Linux" these days.
I went to go buy an XPS 13 Developer edition in Canada and well you can't buy it. If there was real vendor support for this then it would be different. although if there is no demand then they won't sell / support it
Every Windows user I've met likes 7 and prefers staying w/ it over 8 or even 10. Only thing - I got a laptop w/ 8.1 preloaded, didn't wanted to fork out extra for 7 Pro, and so moved to 10 at the earliest opportunity. Had I been on 7, I'd have stayed there, but the fact that Microsoft is undermining support for 7 and will end it in 2020 makes it time to look at alternatives. I have 10 as well as PC-BSD.
When you say 'rest of us', it's highly presumptive to imply that the 'rest of us' are Linux users. Linux is still an asterisk in the market, no matter how many slashdotters use it. Even Apple - it's only users are those Apple fans willing to spend >$1k on a laptop: anyone who pays b/w $200-$1000 has to settle for Windows, and there, everybody I've met to date prefers 7 to either 8 or 10.
On this PC-BSD laptop, I sometimes use multiple workspaces, and it has been useful at times. Yet, I don't miss it in Windows 7, and I don't use it at all in Windows 10. I can see how it would be useful if I had multiple displays.
I can see Workspaces becoming a resource hog if one has different wallpapers for different virtual desktops. Lumina however doesn't allow that.
I think I heard someone mention it once, but I've never seen it...
no wonder I've never heard of it: it is only 1.5% of desktops
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems
Is this like the joke about academia, the fights are so bitter cause the stakes are so small ?
...assuming you mean 'a bad configuration entry breaks the application', yes. It means you only have the application/service that relies on it going south. Just like borking a registry entry will bork the application/service that relies on the now-broken registry entry. Not seeing much difference there, unless you're referring to the registry's backup copy (which amazingly enough, you yourself can do before you edit a config file in *nix.)
At least in a database, you can change one entry in-place without rewriting everything. In a text file, if you rewrite a single line to be shorter or longer, you have to rewrite the whole rest of the file. And it's easier for an error early in the file to affect the interpretation of lines later in the file because even though '\n' is often a synchronization point, it isn't always.
The lack of virtual desktops is a huge, glaring blot.
Just update to Windows 10 then. You get all the benefits of virtual desktops ... yeah you get virtual desktops. Hurrah!
Between Siri, Google Now voice recognition, and Cortana, usable voice recognition to perform searches is going to also be a major deficit. I'd argue it will totally kill Linux. Those have changed computers to provide the illusion of a near-human interface without clunky UIs or command line. It's over folks.
We just had about a solid decade of incompetence by Microsoft in desktop OS and Linux made zero headway. It's sad. A squandered opportunity. That door is closed. KDE or Gnome# or Cinnamon or MATE or XFCE or whatever: it's all death by balkanization.
The future is Android or Chrome or iOS for linux on the desktop. A chrome/Android merger (controlled by google) is the only path forward.
I honestly don't know why Google or APple didn't chase the desktop / laptop market share. It's was a prime growth opportunity and they squandered it. They could have created dominant desktop OSes for fractions of their profits. ..
If "Configurable via GUI" in Windows means you "add some arcane registry key via the registry editor", then *maybe*.
I'm pretty sure no one I know outside of the serious tech heads know what the registry is let alone have added a key to it. Compare that to pretty much no one I know has ever managed to get a working Linux system fully up and running and setup the way they like it WITHOUT resorting to the command line or Google at some point.
Comparing the two is silly.
That said I don't mind the CLI and it at least keeps the support calls for Linux away as there's a minimum proficiency that it seems to require which includes the ability for the users to Google problems themselves.
Some of the things listed are valid, some not (like updates breaking the boot process - i experienced that once in the last 15 years of continuous linux use. OTOH I use debian (based) distributions for stability.
I hope they didn't pay you much--cause they didn't get much for it.
FYI, Apache is not a volunteer based project. The Apache Foundation is staffed by paid, full-time developers sponsored by their respective member corporations.
Mod parent up as troll.
I know it's a troll, and a pretty dated one at that, but...
If you're a VB developer, you have no business being a sysadmin.
I'm starting to think GNU is the problem with "GNU/Linux" these days.
Finder is replaceable, mac ships with a system scripting language and has for decades, the setting for icons on the taskbar is a set by you to shrink mine and most everyone else's expand when you mouse over....
You really shouldn't be doing reviews.
I'm not even sure that /. is majority Linux users any more. I'm not entirely sure what happened. Oddly, when it was majority Linux users - I was still using Unix at work (mostly) and Windows at home. Recently, I got tired of having Linux on a partition and never bothering to boot to it to do much more than poke around or update so I got rid of all my Windows installed, let my MSDN lapse, and am just using Linux. Now they've all gone to Windows 7 or 10.
The fickle hands of fate have weaved their skein and a reading of the the loom has determined that I am destined to remain a minority. Well, not quite the minority you are. You use PC-BSD. I've found a few other Lubuntu/LXDE users here. Actually, I should like to see Slashdot's user data and find out what percentage are actually using what OS.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
a syntax error usually invalidates the entire file, and there's nothing preventing the user from typing in a string where an integer is expected
An application which can't recover and use default values is at fault here. Besides, it's Microsoft that is constantly warning us about bad registry edits.
Hi, I've been using Windows since 3.1 and prefer 8.1 over all (though many forms haven't changed since NT). Sometimes I even use the tiled interface. I'll wait till 10 settles down before changing to that.
I find Windows 8.1 to be completely stable, unlike Linux where crashes still happen and it's always a gamble whether the system will come up after installing updates.
I have to disagree, I am running a perfectly usable Linux Desktop here, and have been for years. Multimedia, Video/Audio editing, Vover IP, Instant Messaging, Browsing, Emailing, Word processing. All on a bog-standard desktop PC.
I add my voice to those with bad experiences with Linux, in my case, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS Trusty Thar. You can read the full details on my blog here (pretty long list of bugs): http://www.deragon.info/ubuntu... In essence, the big problem are bugs. Never mind compatibility with other OSs or Apps missing; if the desktop is not even reliable, you cannot even recommend it for simple browsing. And while I report against Ubuntu, since many components are used by other distributions, I expect many of the same problems to occur on other distributions.
Remember the year 2000? They promised us flying cars. They delivered the PT Cruiser...
Export the key as a .reg before editing it. Save it with a name that you can remember or something that's detailed. The file date and time will tell you the rest. Backup the registry before you edit it. Keep good, multiple, backups of said registry.
It's not the same but the end result is the same.
And no, I'm sending this from Lubuntu.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
What a beautiful 3D desktop (11:43) Feb 2006
Ubuntu 3D Desktop(2:41) - Sep 2010
Ubuntu Linux 10.10 3-D Desktop Demo (3:27) Mar 2011
KDE Plasma 5 (30.08) May 2015
3D Desktop+Linux Mint 17.2+Runescape Demo (3:36) Oct 2015
Meanwhile some of us will continue using Linux as our desktop just like we've been doing for the last 20+ years. We glance around at our colleagues that are fighting and cursing at their MacOS X and Windows desktops and realize that any minor problem we have isn't that big of a deal.
If you don't consider fucking with the registry to be editing by hand than the phrase has no meaning.
I installed Linux in 1999 and never looked back. Ok, I've tried various BSDs, but always came back to Linux. Been through a dozen distros, settled on Ubuntu. I am not a developer (just some hobby-dev'ing) or a sysadmin. Linux does the job perfectly for me - I have been running various businesses, have lots of clients (99% running Windows) - and I close to never experience any issues - on the desktop or with compatibilities. Running i3-wm (no KDE/GTK desktop), qutebrowser, LibreOffice when I have to, mutt, weechat... and write just about everything in VIM. I am jolly happy. Linux gives me exactly what I want.
You must be an idiot because you can install a few free programs that provide that feature.
I can use kate, gedit, etc to make Linux "Configurable via GUI". I prefer to see the config for a program all in one place rather than spread into a thousand different obfuscated places in a tree structure like the (shudder) Windows registry.
I was a Windows developer for about 7 years before my first experimentations with Linux in 2002. By 2005 Linux had become my primary OS. I still play with Windows to stay "current" enough to be able to troubleshoot and repair it. I am consistently seeing way more "issues" that keep Windows from being "ready for the desktop" than I do in Linux.
If something breaks in Linux I can drop to a recovery console. That is not always the case in Windows (Win10 requires that you enable recovery options before you need them).
To top it off, Linux doesn't force me to install updates, and if one does break something I can roll it back. I keep waiting for M$ to force some patch (like the black-screen-boot direct draw dll one) that breaks displays or networking. You know their answer will be to connect to Windows update and apply the "fixed" patch.
Linux has been "ready for the desktop" for a LONG time. At this point it is way more stable than the abortion that Windows 10 is becoming.
Holy crap. Dude, OS X is UNIX. You can run the entire thing from the command line. Try to keep up.
If you miss mess up the syntax in a text configuration file (misplace a quote or brace, etc) at best, the items after the error will be ignored. At worst (and more likely) the entire config file will be either ignored and go with defaults, all just not load the module that depends on it altogether. If you make an error in a registry key (text when it expects an integer, etc) the rest of the registry is fine.
The main issue w/ Windows 8 was that it was neither fully tiled nor fully desktop. Like you could be in the desktop, but if you clicked the Windows key, you'd automatically get back the Metro screen. Yet, from the Metro screen, if you wanted to run an app, unless it was one of the readymade Microsoft apps like News or Food or Travel or one of those, it would take you back to the desktop. Even things like Classic Shell weren't a solution, since they would not give you the cascading menus, nor would they get rid of the hot corners. And I'd have the Charms bar pop up everytime my cursor came anywhere near the east of the screen.
Windows 10 has this right. I have a Winbook, which I use all the time in tablet mode. I have a laptop, which I always use in laptop mode. Each is fine in its own way. Only beef I still have is getting those huge tiles when I pull up the menu, and HERE, classic shell has been great. I've installed it, and use it just like I used to for Windows 7.
I dunno about Linux, but I haven't had any crashes w/ PC-BSD. Lumina has now matured a bit and is quite flexible, despite still being 0.8.7. Only problem so far is WiFi and lack of a proper sleep mode, but other than that, I just love it.
The worst key omission on Apple laptops is the delete key. I'm not talking about the backspace key marked "delete". I want a real delete key I can delete stuff with.
Wealth is the gift that keeps on giving.
http://www.mageia.org is an excellent choice for good hardware support and a great out-of-the-box experience.
Mozilla has this site flagged as harmful!!!
It's spelled out explicitly on the website itself:
"I want to make one thing crystal clear - Windows, in some regards, is even worse than Linux and it's definitely not ready for the desktop either."
I've tried Linux on the desktop. I've tried it for more than a decade. I've *REALLY* tried it because I want to see the OSS community succeed. However, time after time I have to keep coming back to Windows to get even the simplest things done. These are my scenarios and results...
1. My kids want to watch Netflix on the laptop. -- Community says to install Ubuntu+Chrome or use WINE.
2. I just want to watch a random YouTube video (or *ahem* a "tube" video). -- Great, lemme install an old version of Adobe Flash on Firefox on Linux and hope that my CPU doesn't melt in the process after being pegged at 100%. Or even worse, get hacked with all of the security holes.
3. I just want to listen to some music. -- Oh wait, compile this ALSA plugin for the kernel and then edit several config files with vim. After 12 reboots it may work.
4. Laptop never comes out of sleep mode after closing the lid.
5. Kids want to skype with the grandparents. Except my built-in webcam isn't supported. So lemme try my Microsoft LifeCam USB webcam. Oh wait... USB drivers aren't working for it. Community says I should download some kernel source headers and see if I can trace the bug with gcc/gdb myself.
6. Just bought a cheap $50 HP Wifi Inkjet printer from Walmart for the kids to print out their book reports for school. Oops, no Linux support.
7. Wife wants to create a spreadsheet and chart out our budget. -- 5 hours later I'm still trying to find a LibreOffice extension that can do simple charting.
8. I bought a new 2nd monitor. Hot-Plug support doesn't work, so I have to reboot in order for graphics card to recognize it.
9. Boss from work wants to me to review a PowerPoint presentation before the big meeting tomorrow. LibreOffice crashes opening the file.
10. I want to transfer pictures from my Samsung Galaxy S5 so I can try to crop them with GIMP. Community says to install libmtp, edit the config file, reboot, transfer the files using raw MTP commands and pray that I don't have ext4 issues.
I know all of this sounds pretty elementary, but IT SIMPLY WORKS ON WINDOWS. Until the simple cases are fixed, Linux won't see desktop penetration in the enterprise or consumer markets. Sure, there are workarounds, but I can do all of these things painfree on Windows/MacOS.
triggers a forged alert in my browser!!!
Ah, the wonders of the intertubes... sigh.
I'd be embarrassed, too, if I didn't know how to set up a file type and default application for it in *the installation image* before the user ever has a chance to take it for granted.
Just hit Fn+Delete (backspace) to have traditional delete functionality.
Been that way for a long time now - even my old PowerBook had that feature.
The Eject key only exists on Macs that have internal optical drives.
I've never got the obsession with avoiding it - the command line can be just like adding extra conditions to a search term in google.
I don't have to write trivial little apps for the computer users in my workplace because they know about grep and some of them are very handy with sed and awk.
Knoppix is a good start since you can try it out from CDROM without it doing a thing to the installed system.
Well that sounds like something serious... LOL
Who else has a browser warning when trying to click the link?
Atari rules... ermm... ruled.
Like, not at all. Still cannot manage standby/sleep issues. Just crashes.
https://twitter.com/GunstickUL...
Atari rules... ermm... ruled.
I have only just learned, to my complete chock, after using Linux for my desktop system for something like 20 years, that Linux Is Not Ready For The Desktop. I'll have to stop using it, then..... *sigh*
Hah! I use a Surface Pro 3 running Win 8.1 for work. About 1 time in 3 it won't resume when i open it and I have to force a reboot with power+vol up. It often hangs when installing updates. Networking is flaky and difficult to debug. Trying to use the internet connection of a tethered mobile phone results in a 10 to 20 minute wait before any apps respond. Sometimes when I resume I find that no apps will open and even the shutdown icon has no effect, forcing me to do a hard reboot. There are many other issues that affect me on a daily basis, and don't get me started on printing.
And this is MS's flagship hardware product!
In contrast, the issues I've had with my Linux desktops, servers and laptop over the last few years have been few, and have been easy to diagnose and fix when they have occurred.
I am using FreeBSD, it's support for USB drives, and NTFS, is abysmal.
Linux has no place anymore.
If you are going to support systemd, you might as well use Microsoft. Systemd ruins everything Linux used to stand for. Red Hat is the new Microsoft.
Windows sucks in many ways, but it runs the apps that business, and government, use. If you are going to be a financial analyst, you need to use Excel. Real pros use Photoshop, or AutoCAD, or other Windows apps.
If a desktop OS does not run the apps you need, it's just a curiosity.
Desktop Linux only fills a very tiny niche, and that is all it will ever do. FreeBSD is better for servers.
Almost every major issue on that list, when brought up by a user, will lead to them being fobbed off and the blame placed on the user.
The entire Linux developer community and its culture is the problem.
That's not the same thing, though, as having it right there in the file. An (almost) real-life example from a past job had something like this in it.
#For the last time, "useful_feature" isn't compatible with $database. The next one of you scrubs that "helpfully" turns this on will be killed.
#Remember, I have access to the sudo logs and to the personnel database. You can't hide. -- Local BOFH
#enable_useful_feature=1
enable_useful_feature=0
Can't do that with a .reg backup
A lot of distros have a live trial these days. I use Mint with MATE and you can try it off a usb key or CD as well.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
The truth is, Linux, as embodied by Gnome, KDE or Unity, will NEVER make it in the desktop. I.e. such offerings will remain the choice of a very, very small minority. These offerings have adopted a Microsoft-like way of doing things - essentially, my way or the highway. The individuals that might find this appealing already have a choice: Windows. Windows already comes bundled in their PCs; as far as they can tell, it is free (the fact that it is not is not really relevant under such conditions.) It does what they need out of the box, and the fact that it has a tendency to get infected by malware is, as far as such users are concerned, a fact of life. No, the masses will stick with Windows in the desktop, period.
However, my contention is that that is good for some Linux users. Like me. I have had a Gnome-, KDE- and Unity-free Linux desktop for years that does what I need. I can even watch Netflix on my Linux desktop, if I am so inclined. Granted, getting some things to work in my desktop sometimes takes a bit of initial effort, but I end up getting what I need. Well, not always - I am still looking for a frame-accurate H.264 video editor for Linux. Anyway, what is great is that I have a Linux desktop that works for me, that is unencumbered by Gnome, KDE, Unity and Windows, and that most malware out there will remain focused on Windows.
Linux making it big in the desktop? I hope (and expect) it will never happen. I know, this is a selfish feeling.
"You take every and all criticism personally, and won't admit when you are wrong. You also spam flood any dissenting opinions, even when every one of your points has been refuted" - by Coren22 (1625475) on Wednesday December 30, 2015 @10:06AM (#51208675)
What's that you said, Coren22 after your massive technical blunders I crushed you with here http://slashdot.org/comments.p...
?
APK
P.S.=> Can you say "hypocrite"? Can you say "pot calling a kettle black"?? Can you ADMIT you're full of shit??? apk
Linux does not, natively, run the apps that are used by business, and government, Windows does.
Does not matter how much Windows sucks. An OS that does not run the apps is a non-starter.
> Wine whining - use a VM you putz and run windows for windows apps
Windows will run Windows apps much better than Linux, running a VM, running Windows.
Why buy a laptop with Windows installed, format the drive, install Linux, install a VM, the re-install Windows in the VM? Why not just use Windows in the first place?
What is the use-case for virtual desktops? They're a part of Windows 10, and have been available on Linux for a while now, but I've never felt the need to use them.
I consider myself to be a power user... often have dozens of programs open at a time -- including a browser with dozens of tabs open. I even have a 3 monitor setup. I've just never had the thought "fark this, I need to completely hide all of this and start another program in a different virtual desktop because reasons. Then switch back to this later."
Clearly, there are people like yourself who laud the capability, so there must be a use-case... I just can't imagine what it is.
WITHOUT resorting to the command line or Google at some point.
>
You don't know the right people I can configure Debian, Ubuntu, Redhat, and several others without ever using a command line. On the flip side I can also configure them completely from the command line with out Googling. I also happen to be a systems administrator of actual servers that are used by a a medium sized 400-500 employees company.
What is the use-case for virtual desktops?
Do you ever use dual monitors? It's basically like dual monitors, except a little cheaper (and not quite as good).
I've seen a lot of people who use Windows by making every program full screen and switching between them using the task bar (or alt-tab). If you're one of the people who does that, then I would guess virtual desktops are not very useful for you.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
You could add a key immediately below to hold your comment. There's no requirement that registry keys actually DO anything.
Also, if a line in a .reg file begins with a semicolon (;), it is considered a comment. I haven't tested how that gets imported into the registry itself.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
. I even have a 3 monitor setup.
Oh, I guess you do lol. Sorry, I just woke up and didn't read that clearly.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Thank you. I'd been wondering if that would work, but it's been well over a decade since I last worked with Windows, so if I'd ever known, I'd forgotten.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
Welcome. I still prefer Windows, tho there's starting to be hope of a linux I could live with for everyday (PCLinuxOS full-monty with KDE4 is close, tho if it goes to KDE5, I'm outta there).
Now that I think of it, .reg files usually have the first line commented out with the semicolon: " ;REGEDIT5 " or some such, and that never appears in the Registry, so seems they're just ignored.
But I've seen keys that evidently didn't do anything but hold a name for reference -- no value set -- and since you can name a key however you like, that name could be instructions for the adjacent key.
Back a decade and more, I used RegEdit routinely because I found it an easy way to paw through Windows' guts -- but haven't had the need since XP came along. I recently used it to check something on my "new" XP64 box** -- and suddenly realised it had been a good ten years since I used Regedit to *alter* the Registry.
** 'New" because I've tried Win7 and 8, and ran away screaming.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
You're right - that's why I said it wasn't the same but that it amounted to the same thing. (Name the .reg key something you'll understand at a later date.) If you *really* wanted then you could probably just make a .reg and a .txt with the same name and put your comments in there but that seems like a lot of work.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
Never cared for virtual desktops, only multiple monitors. There are 3rd party apps available to give windows such functionality, but they aren't in high demand. It's really not a compelling feature for most users.
There are 3rd party apps available to give windows such functionality, but they aren't in high demand.
That's because they don't work very well.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Another approach which works better for complicated or extensive application registry sub-trees is a do-nothing string value, possibly the default value at the application's root registry key, which points to the on-disk location of the relevant documentation plus a fall-back URL location in case some tool (software or human) deleted the on-disk documentation. This way avoids an explosion of registry string value documentation entries. I've seen a compromise approach where the values under "SomeAppRootKey\SomeKey" are documented with namesake values in a sibling "SomeAppRootKey\SomeKey_DOC" key. That keeps the documentation out of the way, yet still directly accessible.
- T
You can also put a string into an integer field in regedit, as you tell it what type the key is, not the other way around.
You are confused. Windows registry keys don't have a data type; only registry values have a data type. Registry keys do have an unnamed string default value. When you create, for example, a registry value of REG_DWORD data type, you cannot later enter string data into it (though the RegEdit modify dialog will accept hex values). You cannot change a registry value data type using the RegEdit modify dialogs, and you also won't find that capability provided by the Win32/Win64 API. Some libraries provide it by deleting the old key and creating a new key of the same name with the new data type. A sample of modifying a REG_DWORD value using RegEdit appears near the end of this article.
- T
That's not a feature, that's a bug.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
How errors in a text configuration file are handled depend on the programs that use the file. The program can use the file in a robust manner or in a fragile manner, it's up the the programmer.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
If Windows 7 is the best PC operating system AND it's a turd, what does that make Linux as a Desktop OS? Explosive diarrhea with blood mixed in?
Many of us use (only) linux every day and it just works.
It's easier just to use an easy linux distribution than to compile such an list of "oh, when i search deep enough, there may be still a problem" excuses for being lazy.
Go to regedit, create a key, you will notice that you have to define the data type you are creating the key for. The data type is set on the key, but defined the data type of the value.
I am not confused at all, the data type is defined on the key, not on the value.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
I'm going to take the time to respond conclusively because I see so many incorrect assertions on slashdot about the Windows registry. I don't mean opinions, like "The registry sucks", but rather factual inaccuracies. Most of this is probably rooted in the prevalence of users here who hardly ever (for some, never) work with Windows. There's a TL;DR, but it doesn't add much by itself.
Go to regedit, create a key, you will notice that you have to define the data type you are creating the key for. The data type is set on the key, but defined the data type of the value.
At this point, I have to assume you haven't used Windows in a very long time and are misremembering the RegEdit UI. The older RegEdt32 had a different UI which might have behaved as you describe (I've still got a WinNT351 system somewhere, but I'm not sure the hand crank still works), but that was deprecated in Win2000 or WinXP, and on the latter running RegEdt32 actually started RegEdit instead. The action you describe does not produce a dialog in RegEdit since at least Win2000.
You also continue to confuse registry keys and registry values. The Windows registry is tree structured. Think of registry values as leaves which have a data type, and registry keys as nodes which have no data type and which "contain" one or more values, including the unnamed default string value, and zero or more registry keys (sub-keys). All of that holds in the context of using RegEdit to work with registry keys and values. However, the Windows registry API allows greater flexibility. For example, keys need not have a default unnamed value, and when a key does have such an unnamed value, it need not be a REG_SZ data type. If you're conflating the behavior of the deprecated RegEdt32 with RegEdit, this could be the source of your confusion. When creating a new key in RegEdit, an unnamed registry value of string type with a default empty string value is also created; when creating a new key in the older RegEdt32, it might (I'm guessing here; it has been a long time) have allowed setting the data type and value data of a default registry value (maybe the name, too; I don't recall). It would be easy to come to the mistaken conclusion that registry keys have a data type based on a straightforward interpretation of what the RegEdt32 UI was (perhaps) presenting. That doesn't make it so.
Since you ignored the obvious use of the term "value" in final two example dialogs shown in the article I had previously linked, here's how you can satisfy yourself that you're wrong:
- Fire up a WinXP or later box/VM, log in under an account which has permissions to edit the current user registry hive, and run RegEdit
- Find the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ and right-click that key; a local menu will appear
- In the local menu, the New entry has a sub-menu with Key as the first entry (for creating a new key), followed by a separator and then the remaining entries which create values of various types
- Select the New | Key entry from the sub-menu of the local menu; the result will be a new key in the left-hand pane (the registry key tree-view) with a default name such as "New Key #1" ready to edit with the desired key name; no dialog appears, just an edit field for the name, and there is no way to set an initial data type on the newly created key; note that an empty unnamed string registry value is also created for the new key
- Name your new registry key "_test" (the underscore will keep it near the top of the list of sub-keys so it's easier to find when you want to delete it later), then right-click the new key; there is no provision in the local menu for modifying it (other than the name and permissions) or setting a data type, nor is there any way to do so through the main RegEdit menu; if you do choose to modify the name, you just get an edit field over the key name, without any way of setting a data type; choosing to change the key permissions is orthogonal