Slashdot Mirror
Why Aren't People Abandoning Windows For Linux? (slashgear.com)
- Updates on Linux are fast and "rarely call for a restart" -- and are also more complete. "Updates are typically downloaded through a 'Software Updater' application that not only checks for operating system patches, but also includes updates for the programs that you've installed from the repository."
- Windows "tries to serve a variety of markets...cramming in a scattered array of features" -- and along those lines, that Microsoft "has gradually implemented monetization schemes and methods for extracting user data." And yet you're still paying for that operating system, while Linux is less bloated and "free forever."
- "Because less people use Linux, the platform is less targeted by malware and tends to be more secure than Windows"
The article also touches on a few other points (including battery life), and predicts that problems with Windows are "bound to get worse over time and will only present more of a case for making the switch to Linux."
Long-time Slashdot reader shanen shared the article, along with some new thoughts on why people really stay with Windows:
I think the main "excuse" is the perception of reliability, which is really laughable if you've actually read the EULA. Microsoft certainly doesn't have to help anyone at all. I would argue that Windows support is neither a bug nor a feature, but just a marketing ploy.
Their original submission suggests that maybe Linux needs to buttress the perception of its reliability with a better financial model -- possibly through a new kind of crowd funding which could also be extended to all open source software, or even to journalism).
That's it, really. I need to be able to run AutoDesk AutoCADD, Inventor, and Revit. If someone can demonstrate those (with all their built-in components, rendering, and plug-ins) running nicely with full capabilities on any type of Linux, I will happily make the switch.
And no, FreeCADD and Blender are not valid substitutes. Sorry.
Z
60% of educational laptops come with Linux installed by default. Not sure what the Chromebook market is overall, but yeah, you're not going to get many people installing an aftermarket OS on their laptop. What is the point?
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Chrome OS isn't Linux, and Android isn't Linux either. They're based on Linux but they don't work the same. Chrome's application stack is a web browser; Android has its own way of doing things.
If you're a zombie and you know it, bite your friend!
I've used Linux and Windows server, and my experience with Windows server was far and away the best. Easier to get it to do what I want, easier to fix when it broke, major updates didn't trash the filesystem the OS was on (Thanks, Ubuntu). Also, there's not 18 million flavors, each with a bunch of weird quirks and incompatibilities. Obviously, if I was doing one specific task that demanded insane amounts of reliability, I might have considered Linux. But Windows server has been running on my home server in multiple roles very well, on very modest hardware.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it! --Longbottle
Chrome OS is made to run one application: Google Chrome. If you want to run an application other than Google Chrome, you need a different operating system. And if the Chromebook you own was manufactured before Crostini, that isn't likely to happen.
All I want is a computer that can securely have a browser, run emulators for my old school video game roms, play my mp3 collection and play all my movies ripped from DVDs. Can Linux handle all these basic tasks?
The Xubuntu operating system runs (among other things) Firefox browser, VLC media player, Mesen and FCEUX for NES ROMs, Mesen-S and bsnes-plus for Super NES ROMs, and mGBA for Game Boy and Game Boy Advance ROMs. Install Wine, and it also runs BGB for Game Boy debugging, j0CC-FamiTracker for composing chiptune music, and OpenMPT for composing sample-based sequenced music.
Your an idiot. Linux is Easy to use. Problem is lack of software. I can't use any OS that doesn't have putty.
"Your" either trolling, misinformed or just stupid. https://www.ssh.com/ssh/putty/...
Most people would disagree with you including Microsoft themselves.
Also, seems to me you are comparing a special built Ubuntu-derivative with a non-standard file system that had no business running on a production server in the first place with a commercial grade OS.
Third, there isn't a million viable Linux distros, but four distros that give reliable paid server support; Ubuntu, RHEL, CentOS and SuSE. Everything else is to be considered as experimental/non-supported and should be avoided unless you really know what you are doing.
systemd is not an init system. It's a GNU replacement.
Why can't it be all three?
The OP you replied to is EXACTLY what this thread is about. Hell you didn't even have to read the article in this case. The headline "Why Aren't People Abandoning Windows For Linux?", is quite sufficient to give us an idea what this thread should be about. JMZero posted his reasons why, you then proceed to 'blame the victim'.
Maybe another reason people aren't moving to Linux for the desktop experience is having to interact with its zealots.
https://www.pugetsystems.com/l...
https://davidyat.es/2016/09/08...
https://ubuntuforums.org/showt...
https://www.reddit.com/r/VFIO/...
https://bufferoverflow.io/gpu-...
http://vfio.blogspot.com/2015/...
https://www.se7ensins.com/foru...
There is literally 100 guides to this, whoever told you you need more than a $100 GPU and a cpu that supports VFIO lied to you and you should never trust another word they say.