Biggest Gripes with Linux?

[kill3rt0m4t0]

Biggest gripe about Linux is that it makes it really difficult to get anything done, other than web surfing (assuming your wireless works).

Productivity? OpenOffice still can't open Office files correctly. It's still impossible to open large PowerPoint presentations without Impress locking up your CPU. Still no tabbed PDF reader for Linux.

Watching or listening to content? Not if your media has DRM. I've also had Ubuntu simply throw up "codec not found" errors for some files, though admittedly those are rare.

Gaming? Let's not even go there. No DirectX, Compiz is HORRIBLY incompatible with most stuff, lack of drivers for high-precision gaming mice, Wine sucks hard in general, etc etc etc.

No video/audio chat over most protocols, except for Skype, which is horrendously buggy on Linux. Say hello to 60-70% CPU usage, lockups, crashes, distorted and choppy video, and dropped calls as a result from a combination or all of the above.

And those are all assuming you manage to get your hardware working properly in the first place.

Tried Ubuntu a week ago. It's fun as a toy, but not as a serious OS as far as I'm concerned. Free software needs to get off its behind and actually present a viable alternative if it wants to attract users, not just preach an ideology.

[Southern Patriot]

Productivity? OpenOffice still can't open Office files correctly. It's still impossible to open large PowerPoint presentations without Impress locking up your CPU. Still no tabbed PDF reader for Linux.

Watching or listening to content? Not if your media has DRM. I've also had Ubuntu simply throw up "codec not found" errors for some files, though admittedly those are rare.

Gaming? Let's not even go there. No DirectX, Compiz is HORRIBLY incompatible with most stuff, lack of drivers for high-precision gaming mice, Wine sucks hard in general, etc etc etc.

No video/audio chat over most protocols, except for Skype, which is horrendously buggy on Linux. Say hello to 60-70% CPU usage, lockups, crashes, distorted and choppy video, and dropped calls as a result from a combination or all of the above.

Each of the things I just highlited are entirely due to other companies not being willing to write their software for Linux or allow Linux developers access to proprietary information that they would need in order to get things working correctly. Hell, Microsoft won't even allow DRM'd Windows Media content to be played on anything other than Windows (not even on a Mac). These things, while they make Linux less viable for someone like you, can hardly be held against the developers who work on Linux.

[kill3rt0m4t0]

Each of the things I just highlited are entirely due to other companies not being willing to write their software for Linux or allow Linux developers access to proprietary information that they would need in order to get things working correctly. Hell, Microsoft won't even allow DRM'd Windows Media content to be played on anything other than Windows (not even on a Mac). These things, while they make Linux less viable for someone like you, can hardly be held against the developers who work on Linux.

I'm not too sure about that. I've heard plenty of stories about how developing software for Linux is a nightmare. I've never tried it myself, but I could understand why - so many DEs, so many distro quirks, so many audio systems, so many window managers, so much fragmentation in general. Even stuff that work properly on other platforms generally just take a trip on on the failboat when ported to Linux - slow Firefox, slow Flash, what else?

[sic133]

Fonts. Font's look horrible in Linux and that's the 1 and only reason I don't use it. I can't stand having sites look bad with deformed fonts.

This. /thread.

[TokiToki]

Fonts. Font's look horrible in Linux and that's the 1 and only reason I don't use it. I can't stand having sites look bad with deformed fonts.

This. /thread.

Reply

[speedstr3789]

Just tried puppy linux and ubuntu.

Wanted to run wireless. Puppy had my wireless adapter listed and the drivers were loaded but it never worked. (usb wireless). Ubuntu couldn't even see the wireless adapter.

Screwed around with that for longer than I wanted and never did get it figured out. I even have the wireless file on a cd but had no idea how to install them.

Whatever. Fine, I'll hook it up with the ethernet cable.

Everything is good to go.

Go to Hulu to watch some videos.

oops, needs flash player. No problem I think. Download 3 different flash player plugins for firefox. No idea how to install them. Except good news that the deb(?) package actually installed but it still said the plug in wasn't installed. WTF?

Now, here is what I had to do with windows doing the same thing (XP)

Plop the wireless usb adapter cd into the drive, setup starts automatically. a minute later the drivers are installed. Plug in my wireless adapter and windows recognizes it and sets it up. Surfing the web in under 2 minutes.

Go to Hulu to watch my favorite videos. Oops, needs flash player. Download the flash player plugin for firefox, it installs and I'm watching my videos within minutes.

THAT'S the difference between the two.

Now, I'm sure that there is a slight learning curve and I understand I do not understand the Linux way of things but I'm past the point in my life where I want to learn how to do all this crap just to get something to work. I want to plop in my cd and have it do what it needs to do by itself. I want to download a plugin and have it install and work. Linux doesn't do that. Or at least it isn't obvious how it's done.

Bleh. Every couple of months I tinker a little with Linux and I never seem to enjoy the experience.

[Udedenkz]

Doubling/tripling of effort due to inability to work as a team : multiple audio systems and package formats.

[TechFreak:)]

Each of the things I just highlited are entirely due to other companies not being willing to write their software for Linux or allow Linux developers access to proprietary information that they would need in order to get things working correctly. Hell, Microsoft won't even allow DRM'd Windows Media content to be played on anything other than Windows (not even on a Mac). These things, while they make Linux less viable for someone like you, can hardly be held against the developers who work on Linux.

99,5% of computer users don't care about that. They only want to use something that's without problems and works well.

Vendor is responsible for integrating DRM into the standard and every vendor does it differently. Because of that you can't play windows media content on Mac. There is a support for DRMed iTunes songs/videos for Windows, but you have to use iTunes for Windows which is bloatware and slower than iTunes for Mac. Of course, DRM isn't supported on Linux - we can be happy that Linux supports DVD video playback.

[+Raphaël G. MVC]

1) It doesn't run my favorite applications

2) It looks like poopoo

3) I get Windows for free (as a student)

It pretty much boils down to that...

Replies (of course, only from my point of view):

1) just a matter of adapting. After year of linux there are no apps that I'm missing in Linux.

2) that's a matter of what you do with it. Most distributions look like poopoo out of the box indeed.

3) I hope you won't be a student forever

Have you seen the new Ubuntu font? It basically destroys your arguement through and through. Its gorgeous :)

Ubuntu has been doing a great job over the years to get the fonts right. In the beginning it was a major reason for me to use Ubuntu.

[+Raphaël G. MVC]

Dunno about you guys, but IMO Fedora and OpenSuSE look great.

Also, Droid Sans makes everything look awesome.

Droid Sans FTW!

[soldier1st]

if linux or any distro are unstable then you simply need to follow these rules: newest hardware takes time to develop mature drivers and don't install prereleased or unsupported updates/software but simply use your package manager and software center to get software and using old distros is a bad idea and Ubuntu is very simple and it just works.

[Solid Knight]

Each of the things I just highlited are entirely due to other companies not being willing to write their software for Linux or allow Linux developers access to proprietary information that they would need in order to get things working correctly. Hell, Microsoft won't even allow DRM'd Windows Media content to be played on anything other than Windows (not even on a Mac). These things, while they make Linux less viable for someone like you, can hardly be held against the developers who work on Linux.

Doesn't really matter. In the end you can't do it and that's all that really matters. Further Linux intentionally breaks comparability with some proprietary software from time to time. And of course their complete lack of standards across distros make distributing software a nightmare without handing your code over to everybody in the world. This is intentional as well. It will always hold them back.

[_I am Reptar]

Firefox and Flash

[BilliShere]

hardware suppport, lack of polish, ugliness, not enough "wizards" to make things easier,

[medium_pimpin]

drivers

[LiquidSolstice]

1: Nor does Mac OS or any other operating system.

2: No it doesn't. Windows 7 is the first good looking OS they have ever made, it it looks good because it looks like it's based on KDE

3: Funny, almost every linux distro out there is free too.

Quit being a troll

as for the topic: I just want better hardware vendor support. Once that comes around, all the bitching about installation issues will stop.

1. You don't know what his favorite apps are, and whether or not they are multiplatform.

2. That's entirely subjective, and in your case, heavily biased. Every fanboy will accuse everything else in the world from ripping off its design, get over it.

3. Buying a computer premade in this world generally means you get some flavor of Windows. So that point is generally moot.

Quit trying to be an anti-troll when you're no better yourself.

Back on topic: Linux looks butt ugly. Unless you import Segoe UI back into it and use the Elementary Theme.

[soldier1st]

1. You don't know what his favorite apps are, and whether or not they are multiplatform.

2. That's entirely subjective, and in your case, heavily biased. Every fanboy will accuse everything else in the world from ripping off its design, get over it.

3. Buying a computer premade in this world generally means you get some flavor of Windows. So that point is generally moot.

Quit trying to be an anti-troll when you're no better yourself.

Back on topic: Linux looks butt ugly. Unless you import Segoe UI back into it and use the Elementary Theme.

linux may look ugly for some but you know that you can always change it your liking. you have choice.

[ichi]

Fortunately for me Linux does everything I need it to do, and it does it fine. Maybe it's because I work on IT, if I was a graphic designer or a sound engineer I would surely be using a Mac or Windows.

OpenOffice doesn't cut it on most situations as I get a lot of docs that lose the proper formating when opened with OO, and that's why I run MSOffice 2007 on Linux at work. At home I have almost no use for an office suite, and whenever I do OO suffices.

I got tired of PC gaming long ago, even before using Linux exclusively. Now I do all my gaming on a console.

There are a few things though that could use some improvement:

-The terminal server clients (at least those that ship by default) don't allow setting arbitrary screen resolutions, which is weird considering that they rely on rdesktop, which does allow that.

-Support for 3G usb dongles. Some work out of the box, some require tweaking the usb and udev configs, and others just won't work at all. I don't know to what extent that's something that could be fixed by Linux devs. but I guess something could be done at least with those devices that require tweaking.

-VPN. You can install support for different types of VPN connections, but it would be nice if they shipped by default with at least the most common ones other that PPTP (namely Cisco). You also have to manually install a Cisco client on Windows, but there's no reason why we would have to share limitations of other operating systems.

-Evolution on Exchange. It works fine for the most part, but there are sometimes issues when querying the GC.

-The Citrix client works fine, but the browser plugin doesn't (at least not for me). No biggie, but would be nice if it worked too :p

-ViClient. OK, this is VMWare's screw up, but how comes their whole ESX infrastructure is based on Linux yet you need a Windows box to run the ViClient and VCenter? And (now this is funny) their excuse is that it would be hard to port the client because of .Net. Write once, run everywhere, right? :laugh:

All in all I can't complain. I'm well aware of the software limitations if you are, say, a graphic designer, but those don't affect my job nor my home needs, and I'm far more productive with the Linux window management than with that of the other operating systems I've tried. After years using Linux those others feel clunky and awkward (I can't type on a non active window? I have to drive the pointer to the window borders to resize? I have to reach the title bar to be able to move the window around? Really? Come on).

[chevyordeath]

I love Linux.

I use it all day at work as a systems administrator. All of our server run Linux.

If I need to run something in Windows, I just start Windows 7 up in VirtualBox and bam; I've got Windows 7 functionality, and on dual monitors it looks great.

On my home computers I run Linux and Win 7 side by side. I use Win 7 mainly for media and entertainment. All work is done on Linux.

[Jen Smith]

Is it me does it seem like we have one of these threads(What's wrong with Linux/Why don't you like it) at least once a year around here?

Hmm.. haven't seen a The Year of Linux thread lately.. due for one of those too.

Biggest gripe for me would probably be a lack of standardization. I'm all for freedom of choice and all that, but having that much choice can be a bit counterproductive too. A bajillion different audio systems is a good example. Would also have to agree on the fonts; with some tweakage it's not bad, but just not as good as Windows or Mac, altho that one's not a big deal for me. I use Windows for my desktop stuff, Linux and BSD are handling my server needs.

[nXqd]

it's not about linux , it's about this social not smart enough :) I'm pretty sure, good apps [ I mean professional ones ] are one windows due to its' business :)

I love linux, it's fast and all the configs is text file make sense to me .

My biggest: It's not big enough, get bigger linux :)

[kiwi89]

Recently I've found a lot of use for Linux. I use it full time on my work computer, I use it at home on my laptop and on my server.

But lack of decent drivers (ati I'm looking at you), and refined UI (fonts :s, crappy colours and logos - yes Mandriva and KDE I'm looking at you).

These two issues are both workable though. I've managed to get around my ati driver problems by putting up with some small graphical issues.

As for the UI. Most of the distros seem to be alright. Gnome looks good with the right fonts. But most of the time I think KDE could do with a lot of work. Its fonts are horrible, its colours don't work well and I think it looks quite ugly. Sure you can change it, but thats not really the point. If they maybe put a heap of work into making it look good I'm sure that they would win over a few people.

From what I've seen Mandriva is probably the biggest offender in this case. All that blue with the fake shine and crappy gradients..... it looks cheap and it just makes me think less of the entire OS.

[EvilDMT]

To be fair Windows and Linux both have their flaws. Both operating systems are used for different things. For example I would use Windows to play games and maybe use Adobe products. And then I use Linux for everything else. I have numerous web server applications running under Linux that I access from remote places that are a life saver. Not to mention SSH, I couldn't live without it. Both operating systems have strengths at specific tasks. Use what works best for you and don't try and replace Windows with Linux if you think it is a Windows-replacement, because it isn't.

And for views on Linux being ugly, I actually prefer the look of Gnome /w Compiz enabled but that is my preference.

There is no need to hate any operating system, just use what you are comfortable with and what needs you require.

[ZekeComa]

The only thing I don't like about Linux is there are no games. But, I knew that before I ever started using Linux 6 years ago. to be honest, I only use Windows for gaming and testing my application on it. That is about it. Linux for everything else. Personally, I don't see the point of spending $300 for an Windows OS that I cannot really customise like I want. Every time, I go and use Windows, I just want to go back to Linux because I cannot find my favourite apps really in Windows. Personally, I find Windows very ugly and a pain in the arse to use. Like, I cannot alt+f2 to bring up an run dialogue. I cannot use Konsole, Windows console is just garbage, so is Powershell.

If anyone really wants to talk bad about WINE, I can say the same about Windows's Cygwin and what not. It's a pain in the arse to even compile Linux applications on it. But I do again, Every OS has it's flaws and I accept that. Windows has it's uses, while Linux has better uses imho. That's why I picked Linux, because I don't have to pay $300 for an OS, when it's actually free, I can customise the hell out of it, I have command line, I have all my tools and system files organised. I have Bash, Python, Perl, Ruby, etc at my disposal,

I don't see the point in spending endless amount of money to customise my desktop. I have wide range of choices and not cost me a single penny. If anything, GNOME is the ugliest desktop.

[.Neo]

Linux in a nutshell for me: There's always some major issue that can't be resolved without sacrificing a newborn while performing voodoo rituals. :rolleyes:

Right now an issue where I can't change resolutions within VMware Fusion without screwing up the menu panels. What a joke...