My take on Linux as a 'newbeh'


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i've been a gentoo linux user for years and it still never compares to using windows and will always be a secondary boot option.

In what way does it "still never compare" to windows? Linux these days is superior in every way to Windows.

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In what way does it "still never compare" to windows? Linux these days is superior in every way to Windows.

It still lacks key software titles for certain profesional areas (well, and games).

If you don't need those, Linux is great. If you do, though luck.

Not really Linux's fault, but that's the way it is.

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It still lacks key software titles

So you are talking about proprietary windows software. If you use Linux, use Linux software. In the same way windows can't run elf binaries, Linux isn't windows and never will be. There are Linux alternatives for every application in windows.

and games

Again, the distinction must be made between games, and Windows Games. Games written for windows will always be hit and miss under wine in the same way as the doom 3 Linux client wont run on windows. There are however many games which run natively as well as under wine successfully. And at worst, you can always dual boot windows for playing titles that don't work under wine.

If you don't need those, Linux is great. If you do, though luck.

Not everybody is a gamer, and many people who play games do play them in Linux. So to dismiss Linux simply because of the few Windows games that don't work in it, is inane.

Not really Linux's fault, but that's the way it is.

As I said, it's easier enough to dual boot if the game you wish to play doesn't work in Linux. Or you could run a VM. I do that myself when I need to do some software testing on windows.

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So you are talking about proprietary windows software. If you use Linux, use Linux software. In the same way windows can't run elf binaries, Linux isn't windows and never will be. There are Linux alternatives for every application in windows.

I'm talking about software some people need in order to get the work done and bring money home.

Fortunately Linux excels at everything required for my job, but if you had to use, say, AutoCAD, that's exactly what you must use. There's no way around it.

Again, the distinction must be made between games, and Windows Games. Games written for windows will always be hit and miss under wine in the same way as the doom 3 Linux client wont run on windows. There are however many games which run natively as well as under wine successfully. And at worst, you can always dual boot windows for playing titles that don't work under wine.

Not everybody is a gamer, and many people who play games do play them in Linux. So to dismiss Linux simply because of the few Windows games that don't work in it, is inane.

As I said, it's easier enough to dual boot if the game you wish to play doesn't work in Linux. Or you could run a VM. I do that myself when I need to do some software testing on windows.

The point is that people that buy gaming rigs will obviously run Windows (no matter if they dual boot or not), just because that's where pretty much every computer game is released. Whether the OS itself, quality wise, is better or worse is largely irrelevant there.

I played a lot on Linux back in the day, even on EU tournaments, but there's people that want to be able to play any PC game, not just those released for Linux. And if all you do with your computer is gaming, you can't be bothered to reboot to browse the web for a while just to then reboot again and go back to playing games.

I run nothing but Linux on all my computers, both at home and at work (actually even on my phone :laugh:) and it certainly suits my needs better than alternative operating systems, but I think it's naive to not accept that people with different needs could find that OSX or Windows suit their needs better, for whatever reason.

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I have tried Linux several times over the years - most recently after the release of Ubuntu 10.10. What I have found is Linux is an incredibly fugly, unproductive, pathetic and completely unusable OS compared to the beautiful, productive and elegant Windows 7. Ubuntu reminds me of the pathetic XP - those same fugly UIs, unusable Menus, lack of a Search system which by default indexes the hard disk and so on. OpenOffice still uses those fugly and unusable Menus/Toolbars instead of the beautiful and productive Ribbon of Office 2010. So, I always advise people to stay 100 miles away from pathetic OSes like Ubuntu and XP, and enjoy the greatest OS of all time -- Windows 7.

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I have tried Linux several times over the years - most recently after the release of Ubuntu 10.10. What I have found is Linux is an incredibly fugly, unproductive, pathetic and completely unusable OS compared to the beautiful, productive and elegant Windows 7. Ubuntu reminds me of the pathetic XP - those same fugly UIs, unusable Menus, lack of a Search system which by default indexes the hard disk and so on. OpenOffice still uses those fugly and unusable Menus/Toolbars instead of the beautiful and productive Ribbon of Office 2010. So, I always advise people to stay 100 miles away from pathetic OSes like Ubuntu and XP, and enjoy the greatest OS of all time -- Windows 7.

DoubleFacepalm.jpg

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I have tried Linux several times over the years - most recently after the release of Ubuntu 10.10. What I have found is Linux is an incredibly fugly, unproductive, pathetic and completely unusable OS compared to the beautiful, productive and elegant Windows 7. Ubuntu reminds me of the pathetic XP - those same fugly UIs, unusable Menus, lack of a Search system which by default indexes the hard disk and so on. OpenOffice still uses those fugly and unusable Menus/Toolbars instead of the beautiful and productive Ribbon of Office 2010. So, I always advise people to stay 100 miles away from pathetic OSes like Ubuntu and XP, and enjoy the greatest OS of all time -- Windows 7.

Do you work for MS PR or something? Taken, Ubuntu's take on search, which as far as I know is seen across most if not all major Linux distros, isn't the best compared to Windows 7's (and OS X's) search features. But the point is Ubuntu 10.10 is far from being unusable, in fact it is usable, I'm using it right now. The truth is when you compare Windows 7's retail price of over $100 (for the Home Premium version) to Linux's free (and open source) model, sometimes Linux is the best option for some people. It might not be the best OS on the planet (and I'm sure some people would even argue about that) but it's neat little OS that does what people need.

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I'll admit that Linux is ugly out of the box. But there are so many themes out there that are fantastic, and you can make Linux look anyway you want it to look, including Windows 7. As for usage, it depends on what the user. I can use it to do almost anything I can do in any other OS.

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So you are talking about proprietary windows software. If you use Linux, use Linux software. In the same way windows can't run elf binaries, Linux isn't windows and never will be. There are Linux alternatives for every application in windows.

A lot of professional grade software, like Photoshop for example is only available for Windows and OSX, there aren't any FOSS or Linux compatible applications that come close in terms of quality. Whether the software is proprietary or not is irrelevant, if people need to use that kind of software then Linux would be a poor choice for them

Again, the distinction must be made between games, and Windows Games. Games written for windows will always be hit and miss under wine in the same way as the doom 3 Linux client wont run on windows. There are however many games which run natively as well as under wine successfully. And at worst, you can always dual boot windows for playing titles that don't work under wine.

Semantics. When most people talk about games, we know what they are talking about, the distinction is irrelevant because in general terms unless you have one of the few games with a Linux compatible engine, Linux is not a viable gamers OS. Yes, there are a very limited range of Linux games, but when people are talking about gaming, most of the time it is about commercial games.

Not everybody is a gamer, and many people who play games do play them in Linux. So to dismiss Linux simply because of the few Windows games that don't work in it, is inane.

Not really, because a fairly large amount of Windows games will not work properly in Linux, in fact the majority of them don't work that well, and solutions like Wine and Cedega are flaky at best. If you are in that sector of the computing market (which I personally am) it's not at all inane to dismiss something that would be important to you.

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See, I've always found OSX's way of installing 'messy'. Each app has it's own sort of splash screen you have to drag the icon into, while some apps do go through an installer routine similar to Windows. I don't get it.

"Splash screen", what are you talking about? To install smaller applications you simply drag and drop them into your Applications folder (or whatever location you wish). More complex applications like iLife, Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Suite have an installer. What isn't there to understand?

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A lot of professional grade software, like Photoshop for example is only available for Windows and OSX, there aren't any FOSS or Linux compatible applications that come close in terms of quality. Whether the software is proprietary or not is irrelevant, if people need to use that kind of software then Linux would be a poor choice for them

Photoshop 9/10 does run under wine. It's in the top-ten silver list. But not everyone uses it. It's more a niche market really, at least for professional image work. Those who use it for more basic needs can easily accomplish the same thing in The Gimp, or Inkscape.

Semantics. When most people talk about games, we know what they are talking about, the distinction is irrelevant because in general terms unless you have one of the few games with a Linux compatible engine, Linux is not a viable gamers OS. Yes, there are a very limited range of Linux games, but when people are talking about gaming, most of the time it is about commercial games.

And Doom 3, or the Quake titles aren't commercial games? A lot of popular Windows games also run under wine, including most blizzard titles like WOW, and games like COD, etc. But if that doesn't satisfy, then a dual boot can also work. But again, not everyone needs to run the latest Windows games that are incompatible with wine.

Not really, because a fairly large amount of Windows games will not work properly in Linux, in fact the majority of them don't work that well, and solutions like Wine and Cedega are flaky at best. If you are in that sector of the computing market (which I personally am) it's not at all inane to dismiss something that would be important to you.

All the games I play do work in Linux. Halo, ET, Europa Universalis, Starcraft 2, and Doom 3. I'd say a pretty good cross section of popular games run on Linux.

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All the games I play do work in Linux. Halo, ET, Europa Universalis, Starcraft 2, and Doom 3. I'd say a pretty good cross section of popular games run on Linux.

I prefer to game on my XBox. All my PC games work on Linux with Wine, like Bejeweled and Mystery PI, though. :D

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GNU/Linux desktop usage has now dropped below 1% as users continue to abandon it for the more user-friendly and better performing Windows.

Ubuntu reminds me of the pathetic XP - those same fugly UIs, unusable Menus, lack of a Search system which by default indexes the hard disk and so on. OpenOffice still uses those fugly and unusable Menus/Toolbars instead of the beautiful and productive Ribbon of Office 2010. So, I always advise people to stay 100 miles away from pathetic OSes like Ubuntu and XP, and enjoy the greatest OS of all time -- Windows 7.

XP users suffer the same issues as Linux users, in that they are very hostile to change, especially changes that make an OS much more useful and productive.

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GNU/Linux desktop usage has now dropped below 1% as users continue to abandon it for the more user-friendly and better performing Windows.

Do you have a source to back up your (frankly random and illogical) claim? There's not a reliable way to measure it, so people tend to use the web client stats. Wikipedia states that as of October 2010, Linux made up 1.4% of web clients. Also, admittedly it was a while ago (Feb 2009), Steve Ballmer estimated that desktop linux's share was roughly the same as Apple's share. I really doubt that linux's market share has dropped below 1%.

Give us a reputable source (ie, not just some fanboy with a blog or speculative forum post) and maybe I'll take your claim more seriously.

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GNU/Linux desktop usage has now dropped below 1% as users continue to abandon it for the more user-friendly and better performing Windows.

Lollll, Linux has had around 1% market share for more than a decade. It's an epic fail.

XP users suffer the same issues as Linux users, in that they are very hostile to change, especially changes that make an OS much more useful and productive.

Totally agree with you. Linux users are like XP Luddites -- they know nothing about computers, yet behave as if they do. Quite pathetic really. But, the good news is they are a minority. XP has less 45% market share and Linux has only 1%. On the other hand Windows 7's market share is growing at the speed of light -- more than 20% within just 12 months -- wowwwwwww.

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Lollll, Linux has had around 1% market share for more than a decade. It's an epic fail.

That's not what Steve Ballmer believes and I bet he has more up-to-date figures on OS usage that we do.

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Lollll, Linux has had around 1% market share for more than a decade. It's an epic fail.

And for every year in that decade, GNU/Linux users said that year was going to be "The Year of Linux," yet each year Linux failed harder and harder. They kept saying "Ubuntu is going to bring Linux to the mainstream and kill Windows." However today Ubuntu is nothing other than the punchline to every OS-related joke out there.

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To use your words...LAWL

http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php

Anyways, who cares who has more users? Use what you want...I like Opera, and Linux. So...I use Opera and Linux. Yes, I have Windows 7 Pro. Which I have installed for when I want to play games. Otherwise, I use Linux.

People seem to get too caught up in market share...Just stop trying to convert people and making yourself look like an idiot.

It seems like Windows 7 fanboys are getting worse than other fanboys...

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