Off the top of my head:
- Built in spell/grammar check
- Cloud integration
- Collaboration tools
-
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Do you remember when people promoted Linux as the superior platform, and blamed users for picking Windows?
- Thread starter fireflame
- Start date
Off the top of my head:
LibreOffice has built in spell/grammar check, and has cloud integration:
Synchronous Collaborative Editing is in development, at the moment the best they have is LibreOffice Online, but one of the next updates should bring collaborative editing to LibreOffice proper.
Can I install and use Adobe Photoshop and Premiere exactly like in Windows just by clicking colorful things? Does Linux support all the games I want to play? Does Linux support the DAWs I use (FL Studio and Ableton Live) again without spending any time fiddling around with stuff? If the answer to that is either "no" or a "yes" with a "but" inserted then Linux is useless to me.
The few times I actually tried it (various distributions) I never felt it did anything better than Windows already did and I lost the programs I frequently use so why the hell would I use Linux?
I've used Linux as my primary desktop for nearly 20 years at this point. I've at least 5 machines in my house with it running.
Windows is a dog compared to it (although since windows 10 its gotten better), especially if you are a poweruser. Its still playing catchup.
I work in deskside support so I still get all the joy of windows.
Windows is a dog compared to it (although since windows 10 its gotten better), especially if you are a poweruser. Its still playing catchup.
I work in deskside support so I still get all the joy of windows.
People have actually gotten photoshop to install with Steam Proton as a non-steam application. It's probably not quite where you're asking yet, though, but it's very rapidly approaching what you're asking for.
No clue about any of the rest.
Adobe, abelton and flstudio are probably the last holdouts for software people actually give a fuck about. If that's all you really wanna use your computer for then linux doesn't make any sense, I agree.
For softwave dev enviroments tho... Kreygasm
Installing software is easier/faster/better on most Linux distros than it is on windows btw
I have ubuntu inside my windows work computer. Works great for my work stuff.
But for gaming at home, I am sticking with windows until everything is playable day 1 on linux.
But for gaming at home, I am sticking with windows until everything is playable day 1 on linux.
No to your specific software but with regards to "install just by clicking colorful things", distros with GUI package managers are arguably easier than Windows.
Not suggesting you should switch but if you're going to try to portray things as simply as possible like "clicking colorful things" then best to make sure Windows is superior in that regard.
Yeah, installing software on linux in distros like ubuntu now look basically like the mac store, except you can manually edit the list of repositories the "store" pulls from. So when you are visiting a website for some small software that isn't on the default "store," many times now they'll just put up a repo link that you click and it adds it to your "store" so you can now search and install it from there.
It's basically a nice gui for apt or something similar deep underneath.
This is how you install programs for the average user in Ubuntu. And for most big software, it's on the "store" by default. VLC, gimp, libre office, steam, etc.
my god, that's a mouthful...how do you even pronounce this word..
every linux distr uses their own mascot though...
ubuntu, mint, etc.........you don't see them use the penguin
This is coming across as unnecessarily hostile. I literally said I don't care what OS you use and my issues are with the companies themselves, not the users of their products, yet you seem to be taking it as a personal attack? I'm not trying to sell it to anyone, I'm just explaining that most Linux users are fine with how things are now because things have gotten a lot better and continue to get better, so you're gonna see less evangelizing to try and justify it to themselves and others + to push more people to convert so more devs will support it.
For basically anything you could want to do on your desktop, Linux either:
- Has the program you use natively supported or
- Has an equivalent program that is natively supported and works just fine (this is the case for FL Studio and Ableton Live, I've found plenty of high quality DAWs on Linux) or
- Can run the program through either WINE or the Steam Proton layer, with Steam Proton being trivial to set up (this can also be the case for FL Studio and Ableton Live).
Regarding your other questions:
- Programs on Linux are installed and updated through the package manager, which is even easier to use than the Windows Installer process since it's one click to install or update, and all programs can be found through simple searches without needing to even open the web browser
- I've yet to find a game that doesn't work either natively or in Proton
- I'm not trying to convert you, very few people in this thread are, if Windows or Mac works for you then awesome, good for you
This. I cannot count the number of instances where I had to discuss with people why I choose to work with Windows.
Do you not see that your list is like an extreme list of "but"s? That's pretty complicated, to look for alternative programs that happen to have a comparable feature set or to use a (sort of) emulator.
They aren't wrong, but it was never going to happen. In a world where Windows never happened, something else would have take it's place. Some things are just too particle to not occur. Pyramids in three continents, tools that across cultures are largely the same. If it wasn't windows, it would have been a variation of Linux that took aware the openness.
The main reason Linux is considered good is because it doesn't hold your hand for the most part. It expects you to know what you are doing. Which can be great, but it also meant that you could just delete the root drive from your os without anyone stopping you. The openness came at the expense of usability. That particular example is no longer the case, because even most Linux platforms figured out there was pretty much never a time you would want to do it, but the point still stands.
That's why in most software companies people use Linux. The infrastructure will always be Linux and if it isn't, there will be people wishing it was.
The main reason Linux is considered good is because it doesn't hold your hand for the most part. It expects you to know what you are doing. Which can be great, but it also meant that you could just delete the root drive from your os without anyone stopping you. The openness came at the expense of usability. That particular example is no longer the case, because even most Linux platforms figured out there was pretty much never a time you would want to do it, but the point still stands.
That's why in most software companies people use Linux. The infrastructure will always be Linux and if it isn't, there will be people wishing it was.
The first iPad didn't come out until 2010, whereas I think I switched my parents to Linux in 2004, possibly earlier, so iPad wouldn't have been an option. I'm also not sure how TV output works on an iPad either; my parents use a lot of locally stored movies, TV shows, music, and also a lot of YouTube, so one of their requirements is to have the device connected to the TV and a decent sound system. That's easy to do with a PC and a second video output.
My dad eventually got a Google Chromecast, but he ended up never using it, preferring to keep using the Linux PC instead. My mum is on her third Android tablet, but she mostly uses it for playing match-3 games and Farmeville clones, preferring the PC for web browsing and other stuff. My dad never seemed interested in having a tablet.
My dad still occasionally has problems with the PC, but not often. The latest one was caused by him trying to play an album in VLC, but selecting "Always use this program" for the Folder type. So of course he couldn't browse his files any more because every folder would open in VLC instead of the KDE file manager. Easy for me to fix though.
Those are like the Hamburglar and the purple thing to Ronald McDonald.
That's cool and I can deal with Windows type installers too like no problem, it just shouldn't get any harder than that.
I just don't want to have to deal with any terminal like interface at all and also not having to jump through hoops to get something working. And then when a program I use crashes and doesn't have native support for linux I ask for support and have to tell them I run it on linux through wine and the support ends there. Windows isn't running fine all the time either but at the very least I can solve problems simply by using google.
That's not what my post was about. It was about you claiming that Linux can do anything Windows can. That should (at the very least) include being able to use programs from Adobe and other big companies, I wouldn't even ask for every little obscure program I use besides those.
I hate that argument though. I actually had a linux user tell me that there is a great alternative to photoshop for linux and it's called gimp. Apart from the fact that I could use gimp on windows too, that is not an alternative because they lack features I need.
That's fine. Again I'm not saying you should use Linux just your particular example of installing things is not the best one since lots of package managers are now basically windows store / macos app store tier.
I've been using Ubuntu/Mint for the last four-five years as a developer and I much prefer it to anything else. Yeah you have your issues sometimes but for the most part it's better.
Most of the people at work use a mac book and I can't stand it when I have to use their computer.
I have Windows at home (for gaming/school) and I recently installed dual boot on my Ubuntu so I can play WoW (though I previously played dolphin, tf2 and factorio on my Ubuntu and it all ran great).
Most of the people at work use a mac book and I can't stand it when I have to use their computer.
I have Windows at home (for gaming/school) and I recently installed dual boot on my Ubuntu so I can play WoW (though I previously played dolphin, tf2 and factorio on my Ubuntu and it all ran great).
Well Linux is actually superior within most technical aspects and powers most of the Internet.
But technical superiority doesn't mean that the average Joe should use it as a desktop OS.
edit: even tho the average Joe could easily use a desktop based Linux version because stuff like KUbuntu is basically Windows 10 without DirectX
But technical superiority doesn't mean that the average Joe should use it as a desktop OS.
edit: even tho the average Joe could easily use a desktop based Linux version because stuff like KUbuntu is basically Windows 10 without DirectX
I mainly use Windows to play videogames. All my work is done on Linux or OS X these days.
Next year I'll be eligible for a new machine at work, and will be ditching my MacBook pro for a Linux laptop.
Next year I'll be eligible for a new machine at work, and will be ditching my MacBook pro for a Linux laptop.
Despite OS Wars being absurd (just like Console Wars, or... basically any Tech-related "war"), I do think there a valuable effort in certain countries and politicians within those countries to make public services work with free, open-source software instead of wasting a lot of (taxpayers') money on proprietary licensing fees and being beholden to certain corporations.
I do think it's admirable, but there's also the need for the workers of those public services and the common people at large to understand that there's a learning curve when using different software and the fact that a lot of free, open-source apps aren't as feature-rich as their proprietary counterparts. I bet many people won't find LibreOffice Calc that pleasant to use after being accustomed to Excel for so long...
and, well, that's a bureaucratic cost not many people will find fair or will be willing to endure, especially if certain public services in your specific country are known to be slow/cumbersome/outright unfriendly.
I do think it's admirable, but there's also the need for the workers of those public services and the common people at large to understand that there's a learning curve when using different software and the fact that a lot of free, open-source apps aren't as feature-rich as their proprietary counterparts. I bet many people won't find LibreOffice Calc that pleasant to use after being accustomed to Excel for so long...
and, well, that's a bureaucratic cost not many people will find fair or will be willing to endure, especially if certain public services in your specific country are known to be slow/cumbersome/outright unfriendly.
There's a reason why "This is the year of Linux on desktop" is a meme.
Having bash on Windows (or macOS) is enough reason to not touch it.
Having bash on Windows (or macOS) is enough reason to not touch it.
Last time i installed linux..i had to install all these packages for the modem. Speakers.. Keyboard.. Etc..
Is there a build that has a simple install these days? This was back in 2008. Just install and work?
It was definitely a speedier desktop than.. Winblows!
#freewarez
#age/sex/check?
Is there a build that has a simple install these days? This was back in 2008. Just install and work?
It was definitely a speedier desktop than.. Winblows!
#freewarez
#age/sex/check?
I'm pretty sure if you just install Ubuntu or any other popular distro everything will Just Work™. You can try it out on your PC without permanently installing it pretty easily too
I'll give you Mac OS. Bash on Windows I'm not too sure. I switched from Arch to Win10 to run some graphic design software and set up both Git Bash and WSL. WSL 1 is still fairly slow and kept bluescreening when I tried to install Yarn packages. I'm assuming WSL 2 is better but it's only available to insiders. I'll stick with Git Bash and see if I can get used to the workflow, though I may succumb to the dual boot eventually.
Yeah, any variation of Ubuntu. You could also go with Elementary, Mint, or Manjaro (I recommend Elementary, it's very user-friendly and pretty).
Most Linux distros are basically out of the box now, I've been able to install any distro on my XPS 13 and get full driver support (even the IR camera for Windows Hello)
A lot has changed from 2008. My high school desktop computers in CS classes came with Ubuntu in 2012, and it's even improved from then (no more wobbly windows though).
The best OS depends entirely on your usage case. I'm a compsci student, so a Linux/windows dual boot currently works best for me.
I want to stick with Linux but the games and XGP is what's keeping me from joining.
I could just the next gen Xbox and have a Linux and Proton for gaming.
I could just the next gen Xbox and have a Linux and Proton for gaming.
Don't really care for desktop wars. For me, Linux is vastly superior for my workflow as a dev. If I was still using Adobe stuff like photoshop then windows would be better, but at that point I'd rather just get back my MacBook Pro.
When it comes to using a desktop for leisure I'd rather just use my phone or iPad to surf the web, or a console to play games. 🤷‍♂️
When it comes to using a desktop for leisure I'd rather just use my phone or iPad to surf the web, or a console to play games. 🤷‍♂️
5
Good to know. Might dabble again. Dont really use windws specific software anymore.
Is fedora core still a thing?
Good to know. Might dabble again. Dont really use windws specific software anymore.
Is fedora core still a thing?
Android and ChromeOS are both Linux IMO. Linux has ALREADY conquered the world.
Microsoft adding Linux to their OS ( which works like shit BTW ) was not a power move. It was them waving a white flag because people were leaving the platform in DROVES due to built-in advertisements and other obnoxious bullshit. Plus the OS is slow and hard to configure. Plus people want the same environment as their server environment to develop on. Plus they were super hostile to start-ups and other companies for years and years and people began hating them.
Amazing amount of ignorance in this post. Goes to show you: Don't listen to people on the internet. They have no idea what they are talking about. Do people really not realize that the internet is overwhelmingly running on Linux servers?
Linux on the desktop is BORING, which is perhaps the highest praise you can give a desktop environment. Put in the CD, install Linux on the hard drive. Install the drivers. Open the web browser. Congratulations. You are using Linux.
If all you need is a cheap tower to drive your TV like what freegeek sells, Linux will work great, and you do not have to purchase a CD key.
Distros like https://elementary.io/ have come a long way in making Linux look beautiful and a joy to use.
I've used Linux as my primary desktop for 5 years. It is great, never have any troubles with it. I recently switched back to OSX because I changed jobs, and and OSX is... fine. Seriously, fine. I barely notice a difference between OSX and Linux. The laptops are way more expensive, that is one thing.
Libre/Openoffice are pretty decent solutions, but I feel like most people who use Linux are software developers, and software developers will prefer their favorite IDE and structured text ( markdown, latex ) over a WISYSIG 90% of the time because it is better. Personally: I use Markdown and style the HTML output like I want to for documents.
Niche industries like running the entire Google, Facebook, Amazon, IBM, Wikipedia, Twitter, NASA, Redhat, Docker, Netflix, and internet host provider's server infrastructure?
OK, friend, whatever you say.
This is true for gaming support, but the amount of development Valve has done for Linux is NOTHING compared to what the companies listed above have spent on Linux.
Literally all things Libe/OpenOffice support.
Microsoft adding Linux to their OS ( which works like shit BTW ) was not a power move. It was them waving a white flag because people were leaving the platform in DROVES due to built-in advertisements and other obnoxious bullshit. Plus the OS is slow and hard to configure. Plus people want the same environment as their server environment to develop on. Plus they were super hostile to start-ups and other companies for years and years and people began hating them.
Amazing amount of ignorance in this post. Goes to show you: Don't listen to people on the internet. They have no idea what they are talking about. Do people really not realize that the internet is overwhelmingly running on Linux servers?
Linux on the desktop is BORING, which is perhaps the highest praise you can give a desktop environment. Put in the CD, install Linux on the hard drive. Install the drivers. Open the web browser. Congratulations. You are using Linux.
If all you need is a cheap tower to drive your TV like what freegeek sells, Linux will work great, and you do not have to purchase a CD key.
Distros like https://elementary.io/ have come a long way in making Linux look beautiful and a joy to use.
I've used Linux as my primary desktop for 5 years. It is great, never have any troubles with it. I recently switched back to OSX because I changed jobs, and and OSX is... fine. Seriously, fine. I barely notice a difference between OSX and Linux. The laptops are way more expensive, that is one thing.
Libre/Openoffice are pretty decent solutions, but I feel like most people who use Linux are software developers, and software developers will prefer their favorite IDE and structured text ( markdown, latex ) over a WISYSIG 90% of the time because it is better. Personally: I use Markdown and style the HTML output like I want to for documents.
Niche industries like running the entire Google, Facebook, Amazon, IBM, Wikipedia, Twitter, NASA, Redhat, Docker, Netflix, and internet host provider's server infrastructure?
OK, friend, whatever you say.
This is true for gaming support, but the amount of development Valve has done for Linux is NOTHING compared to what the companies listed above have spent on Linux.
Literally all things Libe/OpenOffice support.
Do it! Linux is great.
Valve has primarily focused on Ubuntu so if you want the compatibility layers that is what I would recommend using.
I'm doing mainly Houdini and Unreal Engine Dev personally. Looks like both work.. but probably should dual boot with UE4... anyone have any ue4/linux experience?
I keep bouncing off because the compile time is suuuper long.
I'm not sure about the Unreal dev experience. If you are trying to get work done, I wouldn't put up any roadblocks for yourself.
I've used Linux as my primary desktop for 13 years now. I keep a half dozen Windows versions on virtual machines for when I have to do windows coding, but most everything I do these days is linux. Home computer dual boots with Ubuntu and Windows 10 for gaming. Since most of my time on the PC is programming, I go with linux. It's easier to get things up and going. It's free.
I've given a few family members Ubuntu over the years. It keeps them from getting viruses and I almost never have to do support calls. And thankfully, tablets and phones eliminated all the other people who would bother me.
I'm amazed at the progress they've made over the years, but I have to admit that many of the annoyances were removed by everyone transitioning all their stupid browser plugins to just use HTML5. If I eliminate programming, then the only major things I really think linux has over windows is the use of the repositories, it's free, and it's harder for grandmas to screw up things. Repositories are the best thing ever. Want that program? Okay, well here's a nice safe way to install tons of free shit and not have to worry about fake download links or finding this or that web site. It's just right there.
Linux is an okay desktop, but it's the best IDE by light years.
I've given a few family members Ubuntu over the years. It keeps them from getting viruses and I almost never have to do support calls. And thankfully, tablets and phones eliminated all the other people who would bother me.
I'm amazed at the progress they've made over the years, but I have to admit that many of the annoyances were removed by everyone transitioning all their stupid browser plugins to just use HTML5. If I eliminate programming, then the only major things I really think linux has over windows is the use of the repositories, it's free, and it's harder for grandmas to screw up things. Repositories are the best thing ever. Want that program? Okay, well here's a nice safe way to install tons of free shit and not have to worry about fake download links or finding this or that web site. It's just right there.
Linux is an okay desktop, but it's the best IDE by light years.
In terms of raw numbers, the entire software/tech industry is a tiny % of computer users in North America. I'm talking about the millions of people in regular small-to-large businesses, schools, and governments on computers. They all run Windows 7 or Windows 10.
In terms of raw numbers there are probably more servers (definately if you look at virtualized servers, prolly also true for barebone servers) in datacenters than computer users world-wide and within those servers Linux has a market share of around 95%
I'm glad there's a spell/grammar check because I remember when it was just some poor add on.
Can we work on documents I share at the same time now?
Can I just log into the web and use openoffice without downloading an app now?
If these things have also changed then I stand corrected but usually with a lot of Linux apps the answer is usually, ' yeah, but...,'
Dual booting is a pain in the ass. It's easier just to set up a virtual machine or (if all you want to do is mess around in terminal) even easier just to install Windows Subsystem for Linux + Xming.
I will balk at trying to do programming work on anything other than a system w/ a Linux/bash terminal.
I will also shudder at the concept of using anything but Windows to run games and anything else that doesn't require software engineering work. My family has a PC running Win 10, that we all share, and I will not entertain the thought of forcing others to use Linux against their will.
I will also shudder at the concept of using anything but Windows to run games and anything else that doesn't require software engineering work. My family has a PC running Win 10, that we all share, and I will not entertain the thought of forcing others to use Linux against their will.