-c

I have win7 mainly because a handful of games (like Metro 2033) have better performance on win7 than Linux. But the difference is not great and in my experience, win7 crashes on run-of-the-mill games more often whereas the games that Linux/Wine runs, run well.

I think this is generally the One Microsoft Way way. It claims to offer a cornucopia of wonderful toys, but in fact those toys mostly don’t work or work poorly and fail mysteriously (instead of messages, hexadecimal error codes, yippee). I prefer Ubuntu because what it does, it does well and without drama (and you virtually never have to reboot).

I admit that a gui interface for configuration can be wonderful but only if the buttons that you need to press are actually available. Any truly creative person will need things that are not in the mainstream. Also, there times when one change-all of a config file eliminates a lot of incredibly tedious menu clicking.

IMO, Linux is similar to math in that both are not particularly easy to learn but once learned, are easy to use, very powerful and when needed, indispensable.

Incidentally, I have wacom cintiq which I use nearly every day with win7, winxp and Linux. The pressure mapping does require a little fiddling but it is not that hard to do and if you are particular about the mapping, then no matter what system you use, you have to tinker with it.

I think that this is the experience of many people. I guess the bottom line is that free software developers build free software for themselves, not to become the next Microsoft.

That quote from Linus says a lot:

The thing is, at least to me personally, Microsoft just isn’t relevant to what I do. That might sound strange, since they are clearly the dominant player in the market that Linux is in, but the thing is: I’m not in the ”market.” I’m interested in Linux because of the technology, and Linux wasn’t started as any kind of rebellion against the ”evil Microsoft empire.”

They aren’t trying to prove anything to anyone, just just get on with it and build software that they want. When your focus is not on making it super easy for others, then it’s always going to be lacking. Sure, there are some companies like Canonical for whom the goal is to make Linux easy, but that’s the goal for most. Why should they care what you run on your machine? If you want Windows, then use Windows. If you want something different that works better in many ways, then try Linux or something else.

I do think that it comes down to what you expect your computer to do. If you expect Linux to be a “free version of Windows” then you’re always going to be disappointed. People buy hardware for a specific operating system (i.e. Windows) and then complain that it doesn’t work in Linux, OS X, BSD, Solaris, etc. That’s crazy in a way. It’s like saying, “I bought this random carburettor for my car, but it doesn’t work!”. Well, duh. Linux does a great job (better than any other OS) at detecting and enabling your hardware – mostly without any support from the manufacturer! Having said that, some thing just won’t work well and that’s just the way it is – for now. It’s improving all the time. If you make the decision to use Linux as OS, then you should make hardware choices which suit that decision.

But yes, it does suck that consumer buy random hardware (and especially vendor lock-in technology like iPhones) which don’t work on Linux. In many ways this is obvious to most IT people – not everything will work on all operating systems (even between Windows versions. Windows 2000 anyone? Windows XP 64bit? Windows Vista? Gah!).

For me, Linux does absolutely everything I need my computer for. I make smart choices when I buy hardware and for me it’s by far the best operating system, bar none

-c

If you can use it on your system, and you don’t mind playing around with obscure config commands buried in odd places within the file system, fine, but for most users linux just does not work.

And as for ease of use – such as using a gui for configuration changes – forget it. I still can’t get Ubuntu to work with my old Wacom graphics tablet without having to modify parameters in a conf file every time I do a system update – and even then the functionality is much less than I get from a default install of Windows.

I want to spend my time doing productive work, not playing at system administration all day, so why should I bother?

Yes Microsoft sucks, but people still use Windows because the competition hasn’t come up with a better alternative for the majority of users.

I wish it were otherwise, but until linux developers submit to rules for centralising and standardising the operating system configuration – to take just one example – and recognise that users’ desire for gui-based user-friendliness is not an excuse to treat them as contemptible intellectual inferiors, it will remain geekware.

One problem, I can see, is that it is bloody difficult to know if hardware X will work with Distro Y. Trying to find a USB wireless N adaptor that will work with linux is not easy. Out of all the wireless adaptors for sale at a recent computer fair, only 1 said anything about Linux on the box. Getting that thing to work with my particular breed of Linux is another issue – it definitely was not plug and play.

Don’t get me started on Digital TV tuners.

In the perfect world, hardware vendors would provide the necessary application/drivers/etc to enable their devices to work with operating systems of all flavours. To take your Ipod example, Apple could (fairly easily, I imagine) take their UNIX version of iTunes and compile a version that works with Linux.

But that raises another problem. Some Linux fans would not trust that proprietary software (I assume that Apple would not release itunes under a FOSS friendly licence). The average computer user just wants the thing to work. The (dare I use the term) “Stereotypical Linux zealot” wants a lot more – it must work, it must be completely open, it must be able to be modified to suit their own unique need. For commercial enterprises, filling that last niche is a quantum leap in thinking.

More discussion over coffee?

Drink!

>>Do we care that proprietary vendor lock-in devices like iPod don’t work seamlessly?

Feck!

>>Should we be putting effort in to making them work?

Arse!

>>So, should we be making Linux more like Windows to gain more market share?

Girls!

>>Or keep Linux unique and special?

That would be an ecumenical matter!

HTH, qian