Richard Stallman Says Windows Is Malware

As for the 'end users aren't intelligent' enough... No. Linux is unpopular and unusable by design. It could very easily accommodate most average user's needs. The community doesn't want normal people using it. They prefer to keep anyone even close to normal away from their empire so they can wallow in their own crapulence. Linux forums are full of cheeto-munching basement-dwelling assholes that proudly show off their introverted ways as a badge of honor. The minute you ask a help question that identifies yourself as "not one of them" it becomes a race to see what one of them can look more pathetic than the Comic-book Guy from the Simpsons.

Sounds like you're butt hurt from a bad experience once upon a time? Maybe try a less toxic community (and this applies to life in general--toxic people and groups of people are all over)?
 
You summed it up well with some good points. Personally I don't care for the guy, but I see him more as an extreme counter-balance so the rest of us don't have to fight so hard.

As for the 'end users aren't intelligent' enough... No. Linux is unpopular and unusable by design. It could very easily accommodate most average user's needs. The community doesn't want normal people using it. They prefer to keep anyone even close to normal away from their empire so they can wallow in their own crapulence. Linux forums are full of cheeto-munching basement-dwelling assholes that proudly show off their introverted ways as a badge of honor. The minute you ask a help question that identifies yourself as "not one of them" it becomes a race to see what one of them can look more pathetic than the Comic-book Guy from the Simpsons.

Sounds like someone is either trolling or has irrational anger issues.

Have you tried it lately?

I find it to be easier to use and install most major distributions than it is to install Windows these days.

It isn't the 90's anymore.

For a beginner coming from windows there will be some things that are frustrating and that take some getting used to, but the same would be the case if switching to OS X, and it is (right or wrong) considered the most usable OS out there.

Thankfully the bad old days of needing to compile stuff from source are mostly gone, especially if you use an apt based distribution like Ubuntu or any of its derivatives (I really like the more classic desktop of the Cinnamon flavor of Linux Mint myself)

Just pop the proverbial disk in and install. The install is pretty and GUI based, there is no need to hunt for obscure drivers, cause they are all just included and work, and most software is easily install-able from an "app store"-like front end, and if it isn't most of the rest can easily be added by adding more ppa sources, which also is doable from the front-end for those who fear the command line.

I feel like a lot of people repeat stuff about how difficult to use linux is, and how angry and rude the user base is because they have heard it elsewhere, not because they have experienced any of it themselves. At least not lately.

In the 90s using most flavors of Linux was a royal pain in the butt. I'll give you that. Though if you pushed through it, you were rewarded with uptimes, stability and security unparalleled by any Windows or MacOS of the time.

These days, Windows stability and security have improved A LOT (I for one can't remember the last time I saw a blue screen) but hasn't quite caught up with Linux. On the flip side, most linux distributions have become orders of magnitude more user friendly, while still giving the enthusiasts room to tinker under the hood. Many aspects of most linux distributions these days are actually much easier than Windows.


If I had to sum it up, it would go something like this:

Linux Pro's over Windows:
  • Stability and Security (though not as much as in the past)
  • Free
  • Tons of free software
  • Less software based on user data mining
  • Lower system requirements
  • Easily set up developer environment
  • Never having to hunt for drivers
  • All your software up to date using the same package manager (unlike Windows where there is windows update, and then each program does its own thing)


[b[Linux Cons vs. Windows:[/b]
  • Software availability. Unlike Windows, you can't always just run the software you want. There are usually work-a-likes but they aren't always as good. On the flip side, they are usually decent enough AND free though.
  • Hardware compatibility. The very latest hardware can have compatibility issues until drivers make their way into the kernel / Xorg. It sometimes feels like it punishes early adopters of new hardware.
  • Installing drivers for hardware too new for the latest revision of your favorite distribution can require manually installing a more recent kernel or Xorg driver package, which isn't as straight forward as it possibly could be, but nothing like the bad old 90s days of having to set up a developers environment and compile everything from source.

Everything has its pro's and its cons.

Personally I primarily use a Linux desktop (again, I recommend Linux Mint with the Cinnamon desktop) but do just about all my gaming dual booted into Windows 8.1.

Linux is gaining in the gaming sector thanks to valves efforts with SteamOS, but it's not there yet, and most of my favorite titles still are Windows only.
 
Its hard to take a guy that wears moo moo's seriously.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041627052 said:
Sounds like someone is either trolling or has irrational anger issues.

Have you tried it lately?

I find it to be easier to use and install most major distributions than it is to install Windows these days.

It isn't the 90's anymore.

For a beginner coming from windows there will be some things that are frustrating and that take some getting used to, but the same would be the case if switching to OS X, and it is (right or wrong) considered the most usable OS out there.

Thankfully the bad old days of needing to compile stuff from source are mostly gone, especially if you use an apt based distribution like Ubuntu or any of its derivatives (I really like the more classic desktop of the Cinnamon flavor of Linux Mint myself)

Just pop the proverbial disk in and install. The install is pretty and GUI based, there is no need to hunt for obscure drivers, cause they are all just included and work, and most software is easily install-able from an "app store"-like front end, and if it isn't most of the rest can easily be added by adding more ppa sources, which also is doable from the front-end for those who fear the command line.

I feel like a lot of people repeat stuff about how difficult to use linux is, and how angry and rude the user base is because they have heard it elsewhere, not because they have experienced any of it themselves. At least not lately.

In the 90s using most flavors of Linux was a royal pain in the butt. I'll give you that. Though if you pushed through it, you were rewarded with uptimes, stability and security unparalleled by any Windows or MacOS of the time.

These days, Windows stability and security have improved A LOT (I for one can't remember the last time I saw a blue screen) but hasn't quite caught up with Linux. On the flip side, most linux distributions have become orders of magnitude more user friendly, while still giving the enthusiasts room to tinker under the hood. Many aspects of most linux distributions these days are actually much easier than Windows.


If I had to sum it up, it would go something like this:

Linux Pro's over Windows:
  • Stability and Security (though not as much as in the past)
  • Free
  • Tons of free software
  • Less software based on user data mining
  • Lower system requirements
  • Easily set up developer environment
  • Never having to hunt for drivers
  • All your software up to date using the same package manager (unlike Windows where there is windows update, and then each program does its own thing)


[b[Linux Cons vs. Windows:[/b]
  • Software availability. Unlike Windows, you can't always just run the software you want. There are usually work-a-likes but they aren't always as good. On the flip side, they are usually decent enough AND free though.
  • Hardware compatibility. The very latest hardware can have compatibility issues until drivers make their way into the kernel / Xorg. It sometimes feels like it punishes early adopters of new hardware.
  • Installing drivers for hardware too new for the latest revision of your favorite distribution can require manually installing a more recent kernel or Xorg driver package, which isn't as straight forward as it possibly could be, but nothing like the bad old 90s days of having to set up a developers environment and compile everything from source.

Everything has its pro's and its cons.

Personally I primarily use a Linux desktop (again, I recommend Linux Mint with the Cinnamon desktop) but do just about all my gaming dual booted into Windows 8.1.

Linux is gaining in the gaming sector thanks to valves efforts with SteamOS, but it's not there yet, and most of my favorite titles still are Windows only.

The last three cons you listed though are big for the "casual/average" computer user who just needs their new printer to just work, or their new video card to just work, or whatever. If 90%-95% is mostly user friendly and requires minimal learning for the new user, that 5%-10% of pain is still going to be enough to ward off the vast majority of computer users I think who just want everything to work all the time. (While of course not everything works all the time on Windows or Mac, they have made great strides since the introduction of plug and play to get close to that point now.)

I personally fall into the "casual/average" group except that I build my own computers, and while always curious about Linux, the pickiness over whether new hardware or peripherals are always going to work has always scared me off. Even for computers where I was not going to be using it for gaming or have other software restrictions. (I think most of us agree that for a gaming rig linux just isn't there yet.) I do however think it is good that linux is out there and that there is this competition as I believe it gives other competitors an opening to introduce competing products, whether they are free or "pseudo-free" like SteamOS. I would love to be able to build a gaming rig and just download steamOS for free and not have to shell out an additional $90-$100 for a new OEM Windows copy.
 
Maybe if products that were free/open source didn't suck so much, we'd use them more.

Hm, most of the software I use is open source and it all seems to work very well for me. jEdit, Firefox, Libre Office, eclipse, Thunderbird, msys2 with MinGW. The only Microsoft software I use is what comes with a Windows install. The rest is some third party stuff (Photoshop and games). Basically, the only things keeping me on Windows is Photoshop and games.
 
As a heavy Office user for work, I tried Libre Office and Open Office and neither cut it. I have similar issues with Thunderbird over Outlook.
 
I love Linux, am running Gentoo (a Linux distro that is too much of a pain in the ass for most people, even people who like Linux) and actually like compiling my own kernels.

And yet I think RMS is a nutjob who only serves to make free software users look bad.

He should STFU for life.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041627052 said:
If I had to sum it up, it would go something like this:

Linux Pro's over Windows:
  • Stability and Security (though not as much as in the past)
  • Free
  • Tons of free software
  • Less software based on user data mining
  • Lower system requirements
  • Easily set up developer environment
  • Never having to hunt for drivers
  • All your software up to date using the same package manager (unlike Windows where there is windows update, and then each program does its own thing)

Not sure about a number of these pros over Windows. There's tons of free software for Windows, many of the same apps that Linux folks like to mention as free alternatives to commercial Windows apps like LibreOffice are available. Windows these days runs on some pretty low end hardware, equivalent to that of a mid-range software. And as for never having to hunt for drivers, maybe for basic stuff but for much beyond that drivers for Linux don't tend to be readily available.
 
Windows these days runs on some pretty low end hardware, equivalent to that of a mid-range software. And as for never having to hunt for drivers, maybe for basic stuff but for much beyond that drivers for Linux don't tend to be readily available.

Have you actually used Linux? Almost anything you plug in will just work these days (though personally I don't care even if I had to recompile a kernel and I don't try to switch casual users to Linux).

Linux driver support can also be better in that I have actually had a lot of hardware over the years that was no longer supported with newer Windows versions or the drivers came out a long time after the OS and/or the drivers were buggy. Linux devs do remove old drivers sometimes but not nearly as much.

And Linux has FAR lower system requirements than ANY version of Windows, especially if you use a relatively lightweight desktop environment / window manager.
 
The Linux community is a cross between a political movement and a religious order wherein all the monks wear mumus. They seem to have a vow of celibacy as well. Also beards.
 
this guy is the type of dumbass that thinks it is "bad" that users of this stuff are "forced" to deal with some of the features and content...but it's "cool" that I am "forced" to buy into the asinine "Obamacare" stupidity...he is a hypocrite like most leftists
 
Sounds like you're butt hurt from a bad experience once upon a time? Maybe try a less toxic community (and this applies to life in general--toxic people and groups of people are all over)?
I like how you give the guy a condescending life protip and then call him "butt hurt".

No wonder why Linux folks are so well loved. You're all so polite and down to earth!
 
Have you actually used Linux? Almost anything you plug in will just work these days (though personally I don't care even if I had to recompile a kernel and I don't try to switch casual users to Linux).

It's not so much plugging something into a device but getting out of box support for what's in the device in the first place. Newer hardware is a complete pain under Linux typically because OEMs don't bother with Linux drivers. Something may come along in time that's not official and might be good or half-assed. The last time I looked into installing Linux on my Surface Pro 3 there were a number of things that just didn't work well, like the keyboard. Now that might very well be fine today but again, newer stuff and Linux are often problematic.
 
As for the 'end users aren't intelligent' enough... No. Linux is unpopular and unusable by design. It could very easily accommodate most average user's needs. The community doesn't want normal people using it. They prefer to keep anyone even close to normal away from their empire so they can wallow in their own crapulence. Linux forums are full of cheeto-munching basement-dwelling assholes that proudly show off their introverted ways as a badge of honor. The minute you ask a help question that identifies yourself as "not one of them" it becomes a race to see what one of them can look more pathetic than the Comic-book Guy from the Simpsons.

If you framed this quote and sold it I would buy one.
 
LOL the gentoo guy doesnt like stallman. wow. Personally I think he's great, like someone said a great couterbalance to the big corps. Obviously over the top a bit, but there is a lot of truth to what he says still. Honestly, he's just trying to help people for the most part. You should try Mint if you havent tried a modern distro, other than gaming that shit is killer.
https://www.stallman.org/
 
Yes. Are you saying that Stallman does not wear a mumu, have a beard, is a lifelong bachelor or represents the Linux community?

Because mocking someone for his appearance is so polite and down to earth?

Get the fuck over yourself.
 
Yes. Are you saying that Stallman does not <snip--those are all true or probably true> represents the Linux community?

Metal gods, no, he does not represent the linux community. Stallman represents GNU, but not linux. That's why he makes such a big deal over GNU/Linux != Linux.
 
It's not so much plugging something into a device but getting out of box support for what's in the device in the first place. Newer hardware is a complete pain under Linux typically because OEMs don't bother with Linux drivers. Something may come along in time that's not official and might be good or half-assed. The last time I looked into installing Linux on my Surface Pro 3 there were a number of things that just didn't work well, like the keyboard. Now that might very well be fine today but again, newer stuff and Linux are often problematic.

I think that's pretty unfair. Linux hardware support is still multiple times that of Windows - even if you were to combine every Windows release ever made - and Surface Pro 3 is not a device that needs to be a high priority whatsoever.
 
LOL the gentoo guy doesnt like stallman. wow. Personally I think he's great, like someone said a great couterbalance to the big corps. Obviously over the top a bit, but there is a lot of truth to what he says still. Honestly, he's just trying to help people for the most part. You should try Mint if you havent tried a modern distro, other than gaming that shit is killer.
https://www.stallman.org/

I run Gentoo too and I'm not a huge Stallman fan either. If he had practical ideas as to how to live in a manner that agrees with what he preaches then I'd be more for him, but his views are so idealistic that it's just not feasible. Don't get me wrong, the idea of freedom is good, but what is the actual implementation of this idea? Don't drive a car because it uses proprietary software? Don't own a cell phone? You can't actually expect people to mass boycott these products that are essential to modern living in the USA.
 
Somebody shut these die hard Linux Kool-Aid drinking neck beards up. My god. I have had to listen to this for 20 years, about how Linux will save us all from IBM/Microsoft/Apple or whatever. Fucking true believers. Run across them all the time. Went to a Server 2012 clustering workshop (awesome) across town and got to hear some 2 ton neck beard interrupt the class every 5 minutes to wax on about how to do that in Linux and how editing 4000 lines of a conf file was far superior to 45 mouse clicks and a few powershell commands.

/rantoff

Outside of the Android OS, Linux will probably never pass muster as a general use operating system grandma's email. That said, there's myriad use cases that make it a superior choice to Windows as a server OS.

For a small business or departmental concern, Microsoft is a fair choice. A Microsoft environment requires a significantly less skilled workforce to maintain. In large enterprises where everything is scaled to the Nth degree, Microsoft's usefulness is generally relegated to domain controllers, file servers, and MS Exchange.

Sure, you could use Microsoft products in environments of ultra scale, it's just akin to using a Snoopy fishing pole on a deep sea charter.
 
I think that's pretty unfair. Linux hardware support is still multiple times that of Windows - even if you were to combine every Windows release ever made - and Surface Pro 3 is not a device that needs to be a high priority whatsoever.

All I am saying is if someone is going out and buying new hardware and expecting to install Linux on it and not have any driver issues because of Linux's great driver support they may be in for a surprise or five.
 
Jesus at some of these comments, people need to grow the fuck up. Let me remind you you're making these stupid rants on a computer hardware forum. Where exactly do you think you rank on the pathetic scale?
 
All I am saying is if someone is going out and buying new hardware and expecting to install Linux on it and not have any driver issues because of Linux's great driver support they may be in for a surprise or five.

Depends on what they buy. A good rule of thumb is that the more portable the device is, the more difficult support is. Desktops will tend to have the best support. Many laptops are okay though you might not have a working webcam. A few laptops won't work out of the box at all. And tablets and phones are even less likely to work.

I doubt that many people buy a Surface * and expect to put Linux on it, but I'm sure it's being worked on.
 
people still listen to this guy? I just lost respect for the Guardian.
 
Outside of the Android OS, Linux will probably never pass muster as a general use operating system grandma's email.

It's actually great for that and chances are Grandma will be just as terrible at using Windows. You wouldn't want her to set it up, but you wouldn't have her set up Windows, either, would you?

And chances are that her Linux machine won't be affected by that .scr file in a spam mail she tried to open without even knowing that she was even attempting to open a file at all.

It's actually the intermediate users and the power users who just don't want to be bothered using something that does take more effort to set up for their more advanced needs/desires.
 
Basically Linux's BIGGEST sin is that Joe Luddite cannot simply walk into Worst Buy, pick up (and buy) a random piece of software off a shelf, bring it home and install it on a Linux system.

The basic desktop is more than adequate for someone who wants to browse the web, exchange IMs, e-mail and maybe do a bit of office productivity.
 
Basically Linux's BIGGEST sin is that Joe Luddite cannot simply walk into Worst Buy, pick up (and buy) a random piece of software off a shelf, bring it home and install it on a Linux system..

Joe Luddite wouldn't WANT to do such a thing in the first place. Don't be ridiculous.
 
Depends on what they buy. A good rule of thumb is that the more portable the device is, the more difficult support is. Desktops will tend to have the best support. Many laptops are okay though you might not have a working webcam. A few laptops won't work out of the box at all. And tablets and phones are even less likely to work.

I doubt that many people buy a Surface * and expect to put Linux on it, but I'm sure it's being worked on.

I would tend to agree with this assessment. It depends. It is vastly oversimplifying to say that Linux has all of this wonderful driver support and that one would never have to "hunt for drivers" under Linux. There's far too much hardware out there to even begin to make that kind of a statement.
 
I like Linux a lot, but I think that this Stallman guy is kinda crazy-cakes. He needs to relax and, like a lot of other people, get over the brand loyalty and infatuation of a certain thing so he can see the merits in things that are outside of his personal box. :(
 
He's one of the reasons Linux can't have nice things. If all you have are Zealots marketing your wares you will forever stay as a niche product,or just a back end server solution.
 
It's actually great for that and chances are Grandma will be just as terrible at using Windows. You wouldn't want her to set it up, but you wouldn't have her set up Windows, either, would you?

And chances are that her Linux machine won't be affected by that .scr file in a spam mail she tried to open without even knowing that she was even attempting to open a file at all.

It's actually the intermediate users and the power users who just don't want to be bothered using something that does take more effort to set up for their more advanced needs/desires.

Yeah, for the grandma scenario linux rules.

She will be able to check the email and visit the web pages

She will be very resistant to exploits

She is not very likely to want to install incompatible 3rd party software anyway.


In a way, modern linux distributions are the ultimate grandma OS.
 
I have to agree with a lot of what he is saying. Computing today is kinda sad. Still sticking with windows though.
 
Well, there is some truth to that (albeit it's largely due to preference). I work in a primarily windows environment and love the shit out of Server 2012 R2. But I also work with Linux on a nearly daily basis and have so for over a decade. And I find it infinitely easier to install and configure software in linux. Things like nginx and apache are stupid easy while IIS is a mess. Not the best example granted since nginx and apache are available in Windows, but I love configuring via conf files vs windows all day every day. Just so much easier to see everything all at once.


Just read this, I don't do linux these days but I'll have to agree that text files can be much easier. But how many people that own computers can type worth a damn. They want click click click! Oh yea, IIS on windows is a mess too haha.
 
He's one of the reasons Linux can't have nice things. If all you have are Zealots marketing your wares you will forever stay as a niche product,or just a back end server solution.

Or the most widely used OS in the world: Android.
 
Funny how Linux people constantly deride Windows as an NSA sponsored plot to deliver viruses to your desktop while praising the malware infested data mining platform known as Android.
 
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