Linux as a daily desktop.

[130R]

The problems people typically run into on the desktop is lack of Linux support from vendors. You can't really blame the Linux distro for that but it's a major issue regardless.

[TonyRPH]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I agree that Android "just works". What I meant was, because it's so customisable and easily replaced with other ROMs etc. there is a huge temptation to fiddle with it unnecessarily in many cases (hence the many sites out there dedicating to Android 'hacking').

But with IOS and Windows Phone - you are stuck with the factory ROM (upgrades aside of course) and there is little tweaking that can be done.

[Blown2CV]

Ran Ubuntu as my main OS on my work machine for about 5 years. Mixed really. Some things work really well, some core things broke after updates. It's a good learning tool as you have to get involved to make it work for you. Distros have the habit of disappearing certain tools after update and replacing with equivalents. Esp if they had a fall out with the authors. Annoying if you get used to using something and then it disappears, esp when they did it with tomtom notes or whatever it was. I was forced to change back to windows for a short while and then given the option of a Mac, so grabbed that with both hands.

[mw88]

Use Ubuntu for my work pc and just works great if I'm in full dev/sys admin mode.

It's a becomes a bit of a pain when doing front end development - Gimp just isn't upto editing PSD files, and CS6 running on Wine isn't ideal..

Luckily, I've got windows machine connected using synergy, so I can run CS6 properly.

Currently contemplating going back to Windows on my home desktop, as I don't have the luxury of the additional box with a 3rd/4th screen to run windows!

[Blown2CV]

maybe a contentious issue, but as soon as you've got Wine or a VM on the go, you've dug your own grave. If you're having to hoop-jump (and i know there are grades of hoop-jumping) to use the things you need (and inherently that means the things you need include some windows-only apps) then one day it will just become too attractive to clean that right up and just use an OS that can actually do what you need it to do. It's not Linux' fault, it's just only truly (natively) suitable for a subset of the variety of things different people might need a desktop for. Plus i hate hate hate open/libre office, so as soon as you have to collaborate with actual MS office users, you're fked. I'm not interested in hearing moaning about it being a perfectly good office platform... when you're working with a team of ten people on a multiple hundred page doc, and you write a bit of content and it gooses the formatting of the entire file, and everyone knows it's your fault, and the deadline is 2pm... doesn't really cut it.

Now that I am no longer a hands-on technologist, I just want a Mac. All I use is office apps! My company only authorise company-owned lenovo windows laptops, but they're entertaining BYOD with Mac... anyone know if there is a Mac MS Visio version now?!

[CAFEDEAD]

Blown2CV said:

t's not Linux' fault, it's just only truly (natively) suitable for a subset of the variety of things different people might need a desktop for.

So's Windows.

I'm amazed anyone has the patience to still use Office for documentation in 2015.

[Blown2CV]

CAFEDEAD said:

Blown2CV said:

t's not Linux' fault, it's just only truly (natively) suitable for a subset of the variety of things different people might need a desktop for.

So's Windows.

I'm amazed anyone has the patience to still use Office for documentation in 2015.

well, i think the example i used is pretty common. People use it because everyone else is using it, and collaborating is at it's most trouble-free when everyone's on the same platform. Same as the reason windows still exists.

[TonyRPH]

CAFEDEAD said:

So's Windows.

I'm amazed anyone has the patience to still use Office for documentation in 2015.

Having just endured a week of having to do documentation, I concur with this sentiment. As a Word processor, MS Word is appalling.

It's fine if you're writing text only, but inserting tables and fancy indenting opens up an entire new world of pain.

Not to mention it's insistence on double spacing any blocks of text pasted into it - that just becomes an impossible to edit mess.

This week I ended up copying an entire document, pasted it into vi, doing a search and replace on unwanted characters and then emailing it back to myself as plain text (not into Outlook I hasten to add) and then subsequently pasting it in to Word to do the final formatting.

Blown2CV said:

well, i think the example i used is pretty common. People use it because everyone else is using it, and collaborating is at it's most trouble-free when everyone's on the same platform. Same as the reason windows still exists.

And herein lies the problem. Despite each newer version of Word becoming increasingly bloated and (IMHO) worse to use, it's become the de facto standard Word processor of choice, simply because it's Microsoft.

I'm reminded of my DOS days and having to choose between Word Perfect (YUK) and Professional Write. Word Perfect required intimate knowledge of all the formatting shortcuts etc. etc. where as Professional Write just worked.

Anyone tried to print labels in Word lately? That's fun.

[anonymous-user]

I concur with the OP
Its a shame as the various Linuxs Ive tried all have some really great points to them
But
Just too fiddly

[theboss]

Blown2CV said:

maybe a contentious issue, but as soon as you've got Wine or a VM on the go, you've dug your own grave. If you're having to hoop-jump (and i know there are grades of hoop-jumping) to use the things you need (and inherently that means the things you need include some windows-only apps) then one day it will just become too attractive to clean that right up and just use an OS that can actually do what you need it to do. It's not Linux' fault, it's just only truly (natively) suitable for a subset of the variety of things different people might need a desktop for. Plus i hate hate hate open/libre office, so as soon as you have to collaborate with actual MS office users, you're fked. I'm not interested in hearing moaning about it being a perfectly good office platform... when you're working with a team of ten people on a multiple hundred page doc, and you write a bit of content and it gooses the formatting of the entire file, and everyone knows it's your fault, and the deadline is 2pm... doesn't really cut it.

Now that I am no longer a hands-on technologist, I just want a Mac. All I use is office apps! My company only authorise company-owned lenovo windows laptops, but they're entertaining BYOD with Mac... anyone know if there is a Mac MS Visio version now?!

I think you're spot on with your first comment, which is why it pains me to have a top spec Haswell rMBP with Yosemite acting merely as a glorified hypervisor (in conjunction with Parallels) which just so happens to have a web browser and a pretty GUI! Yet from a hardware perspective I just can't think of a 'native' Windows laptop I'd rather have.

[otolith]

My sister came to me with an XP netbook which she had managed to get royally infested by downloading antivirus software from a dodgy site. I wiped it and installed Mint, and she's been perfectly happy with it ever since.

We're having a clear-out in the office sometime this week, and I may well rescue a skip-bound desktop and stick Mint on that too - my mother needs something for mail, web and word processing, and I suspect Mint + libre office will do all she will ever need of it, without ending up like her currently borked Vista machine.

[ZesPak]

I love Mint and a lot of other distros, have been playing around with them for year.

But, as much as it pains me to say this, Windows is just so good. People like to hate it, but it just works.
Plug in 90% of the webcams, headsets, printers,... they all just work.

I've found linux generally good, but as soon as something extra needs to be done, out comes the console.

[Doctor Volt]

Besides the very good Linux OS, the Linux support forums are by far superior to any other OS forums, Linux professionals are always prepaired to help anyone no matter how small their problem is

[wombleh]

Used Linux as daily desktop for quite a while. I do have Windows machines around for gaming, testing and MS Office when needed but find it quite limited. Most of my systems just work with default Linux but I'd need to spend time downloading drivers for Windows and let it run Windows update for a few hours. Use Windows at clients but with more cloud apps like Office365 that might change.

One thing Linux is lacking for me is decent application whitelisting, SELinux and AppArmor aren't a patch on Applocker. I accept that's probably not something most people care about though!

[Zumbruk]

grumbledoak said:

The closest 'Unix' has come to 'making it' on the desktop is Apple. I don't see it taking over on the future. And, indeed, why would anyone want it to? A monolithic kernel isn't exactly progress and the Hurd, if it ever works, runs on a mach kernel.

Unix got big in academia because the Unix vendors got grant friendly pricing right first, and now Open Source allows researchers to use students as slave labour rather than buying licenses. It isn't because it is superior tech. Get it if you want to play with stuff. If you want 'just works', pay for commercial.

Unmitigated garbage, from beginning to end.

[Zumbruk]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Yep. Solid ste, all the way through.

[Pentoman]

Zumbruk said:

grumbledoak said:

The closest 'Unix' has come to 'making it' on the desktop is Apple. I don't see it taking over on the future. And, indeed, why would anyone want it to? A monolithic kernel isn't exactly progress and the Hurd, if it ever works, runs on a mach kernel.

Unix got big in academia because the Unix vendors got grant friendly pricing right first, and now Open Source allows researchers to use students as slave labour rather than buying licenses. It isn't because it is superior tech. Get it if you want to play with stuff. If you want 'just works', pay for commercial.

Unmitigated garbage, from beginning to end.

While I don't fully agree with everything grumbledoak says, you will I'm sure agree that Windows make a more user friendly operating system, for the majority of users in the majority of scenarios.

It's not perfect. In fact most IT is pretty terrible.

[Blown2CV]

Pentoman said:

Zumbruk said:

grumbledoak said:

The closest 'Unix' has come to 'making it' on the desktop is Apple. I don't see it taking over on the future. And, indeed, why would anyone want it to? A monolithic kernel isn't exactly progress and the Hurd, if it ever works, runs on a mach kernel.

Unix got big in academia because the Unix vendors got grant friendly pricing right first, and now Open Source allows researchers to use students as slave labour rather than buying licenses. It isn't because it is superior tech. Get it if you want to play with stuff. If you want 'just works', pay for commercial.

Unmitigated garbage, from beginning to end.

While I don't fully agree with everything grumbledoak says, you will I'm sure agree that Windows make a more user friendly operating system, for the majority of users in the majority of scenarios.

It's not perfect. In fact most IT is pretty terrible.

It's utter naïveté to assume the battles waged in the OS wars have ever been won by the best product. It's marketing, luck, reputation, dirty tricks and lies.

[stargazer30]

I left windows about 5 years ago. Vista was the last straw. I use ubuntu and more recently mint. I find it easier to mess about with than win 7 these days. Its true what they say. You use Linux, windows uses you. Win - I will update for you without asking and reboot mid way through your work and you'll loose it. I have an important security update so I'm updating and F you. Then stuff breaks afterwards. Then don't get me started on IE and virus guards.

With linux, free software, all centralised in one repository so no having to search the web and get malware, just much easier for me.

My kids used it too since they were 7 so it cant be that hard.

[grumbledoak]

Blown2CV said:

It's utter naïveté to assume the battles waged in the OS wars have ever been won by the best product. It's marketing, luck, reputation, dirty tricks and lies.

http://www.jwz.org/doc/worse-is-better.html

Nothing has changed.