Why Linux on the Desktop Is Dead

[Red Falcon]

Linux died on a cross for your sins.

So did your mom.

 

[Courtesy_Flush]

Well, I'll be damned! I've been hearing good things prior to 12, but haven't really been up to date on it since it's latest release.

wtf linux mint

There's nothing wrong with Linux Mint. I'm running the latest version now without error(s).

 

[hakstarr]

hmm seems i cant browse to the last page

 

[MavericK]

Most people don't even know wtf linux is.. and those non technical folks that do look at it like its technie/nerd stuff that they'd have no interest in touching.

To a non-technical person that's exactly what it is, lol. Even to a casual techie, I'd guess.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Getting DX to work on linux isn't the right way to go about it, imo. Using an open API that allows for multiple platforms is. Maybe we can all focus on openGL more

Now that many Steam titles re starting to be OS X compatible, I wonder how they are handling this. Do the OSX versions of games render in OpenGL? if so, a OSX ported title should be a hop, skip and a jump away from Linux compatibility.

 

[Blown 89]

THIS is why I didn't bother. Many many years ago I gave it a whirl. The community is dominated by the noted self-righteous ass-hats who dislocate their shoulders patting themselves on the back over how clever they are compared to the newbs.

Pretty much.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

I try linux every now and then. However, the issue I have every time I get stuck is the same.

I find an issue and I go looking for the solution. When I find articles on the solution all of them are written as though the first two pages of it have been torn out. You are expected to know how the command line works, how to handle tar.gz archives etc. etc. so straight away there is a barrier to okay lets use the term 'noobs'. A lot of linux articles are written with many assumptions already being made to the level of user experience.

So you then go to a linux forum and politely ask the question "Please can you tell me how I..."

Oh boy you may as well have thrown yourself to the wolves. You can just hear a worldwide collective eye roll and 'tsk' before angry fingers hit the keyboards and literally tear you a new one for daring to ask.

I remember being told by one helpful linux user "Oh so you expect all these people to take the time to help you??!!"

Well no, but I guess you hot a little help when you started? I just need a few pointers to get me started.

The Linux community is unfortunately it's own worst enemy. I find it very unforgiving to people that are new and want to learn more. Lack of empathy or social skills I don't know which but it really put you off trying to get to grips with it.

Yeah you can find same kinds of people in the Windows world but if you are looking for "How to" articles for Windows there are many and most start with "Click on the Start Button".

Totally different way of doing things. One works and one doesnt. The Linux community needs to calm down and be far more inclusive to people wanting to try. If people are wanting to try you should at least respect them for that and not just punch them in the face for trying to join your exclusive club.

There is a learning curve - for sure - and yes, there are a lot of asshats on the forums (though I feel back when I really started digging into learning my way around the command line Gentoo, the Gentoo forums were pretty good and lacking in these asshats. Also when I first started using Ubuntu, this was the case as well. Lately the forums seem to have gone down hill.

I feel like one does meet some resistance at first, but once that is overcome going back to a gui setup like Windows feels clunky in comparison.

Personally I am now at the point where I find it easier to read through a config file and tweak it, than to dig through layers of GUI menu's and tabs looking for that one setting you want to change. I feel fairly certain that most people get to this point if they just persevere through the hump.

While I don't defend the holier-than-thou types on the forums, I can somewhat understand a little bit of the eye rolling that goes on though. In some cases it's justified. My stepsons - for instance - when having problems come to me for lots of things. First thing I do is usually to tell them to Google it, and if they can't figure out the solution, to come back (after all this is what I'm going to do).

The problem is they won't even read an article to solve their problems. Unless there is an instructional video on youtube, they just give up. Sometimes it feels like society is on its way to losing basic research and problem solving abilities, and some of th epeople I run into on the forums come across like this. I typically refrain from the snarky comments though, and if I have the time I may even google a few articles with suggestions for them.

 

[Red Falcon]

Personally I am now at the point where I find it easier to read through a config file and tweak it, than to dig through layers of GUI menu's and tabs looking for that one setting you want to change. I feel fairly certain that most people get to this point if they just persevere through the hump.

+1

Once this point is reached, there is little reason to use a GUI outside of basic web browsing and other gui-related functionality.
Back-end functionality can almost all be done through CLI, depending on the distro.

 

[nOrVow]

+1

Once this point is reached, there is little reason to use a GUI outside of basic web browsing and other gui-related functionality.
Back-end functionality can almost all be done through CLI, depending on the distro.

Some people just don't understand the simplicity and quickness of CLI based computing. Once you get over the steep learning curve - you reap a lot of benefits. Getting a lot of crap done in a very short period of time due to not taking your hands off the keyboard feels damn good.

 

[Red Falcon]

Some people just don't understand the simplicity and quickness of CLI based computing. Once you get over the steep learning curve - you reap a lot of benefits. Getting a lot of crap done in a very short period of time due to not taking your hands off the keyboard feels damn good.

It totally does, and I'm sure some people will say "you can do that in Windows too", but reality is, CLI in Windows is abysmal and requires a full GUI to operate, it's really lame.

UNIX OSes do CLI fairly well, but the commands seem to feel a little obsolete, depending on the OS.
Linux does CLI right though and is always rock-solid, regardless of hardware being used.