Pointer: blog post, "RANT: Is the Linux dream a myth?"

[blnchflr]

I came across this blog post in the openSUSE forums: RANT: Is the Linux dream a myth?

I've met a few characters that are living the Linux dream or at least claiming to. But here's the rub... is there anyone who's exclusively using it? I don't mean "I've got Linux installed on my USB stick" or "I dual boot". Is there anyone who is actually using Linux as there sole operating system. Booting into everyday to check their email, write their documents, develop their code, surf the web and yes.. play their games. I fear there is not.

Having used Linux exclusively for almost a year, and knowing people who've been Linux-exclusive for longer than that, not to mention MAC USERS, the author seems naive or sheltered. Which surprises me, as he's a coder - apparently I'm prejudiced about coders :o)

Comments

[yvi]

Huh, that sounds very uninformed. I know a couple of people using it exclusively and I would even count myself as one of those people - I have two desktop computers (home and work) and a laptop and of that only the laptop is of the "OMG dual boot doesn't count" variety - because I want to occasionally play The Sims 3 :)

[blnchflr]

I can understand saying "dualboot doesn't count" - because if you are using Windows occasionally, even just for games, then it shows it isn't possible for you to use Linux exclusively.

Anyways, I don't think anyone denies games/Linux are a problematic combination. I'm not a gamer, so I'm happily Linux-exclusive, but if I were a gamer, I doubt I could live without Windows, even if I only used it for gaming.

[kareila]

But Mac users aren't Linux users, they're BSD users! :)

It seems a lot easier to be an exclusive Mac user than an exclusive Linux user. But I guess it begs the question of what is most important to you when choosing an OS.

[blnchflr]

Mac users aren't Linux users
I know. I'm saying exclusively-Linux users aren't using Windows at all, and presumably so aren't most Mac users.

It seems a lot easier to be an exclusive Mac user than an exclusive Linux user.
Outside games, which I assume are more likely to be Mac-friendly than Linux-friendly (though I still assume there aren't anywhere near as many Mac-friendly games as there are Windows-only games? I'm not a gamer, so I admittedly know very little about this), I don't think that's true anymore. I can do everything I need to in Linux, including netbanking. And I can do nifty things with middle-click, which Mac users can't, so as far as I'm concerned, I'm better off :oD

[umadoshi]

My husband and I are both Linux-exclusive, and I know other people who are too. I think I'm going to have to put a Windows partition on my desktop when Starcraft II comes out, but I'm angry about that, and I certainly don't intend to use it for anything else.

[blnchflr]

Windows just takes up a ridiculous amount of hd space - though I guess most other people than me have large enough hds that it doesn't matter :o)

[dragonwolf]

Sun VirtualBox, FTW! :D

[kerravonsen]

Ha! I haven't used MS-Windows on my own systems for more than ten years. So there.

[blnchflr]

I'm impressed!

[kirana]

I have a dual-boot laptop, but . . . that's been languishing since I got my Ubuntu desktop set up again. ^^' And I carry around a USB drive with Ubuntu on it so I can use that when I'm using someone else's computer. The only time I use Windows is at work or for filing my taxes.

[blnchflr]

I can file taxes online fine \o/

I should totes get around to making a bootable Ubuntu usb - will it take up the whole usb drive, or can I still use parts of it for storage? Or can you partition it and only install Ubuntu on parts of it?

[nafs]

I suppose I can't count as Linux-exclusive because my work computer runs XP, but on my home desktop and netbook I've been running Linux exclusively for 10 years.

[blnchflr]

I don't think we can be judged upon what we're forced to use at work, but that's me.

Tangent: Maybe it's just because I'm such a relatively new Linux convert, but I can't fathom why anyone would allow their business computers to run on Windows. I don't care if it's a bitch to find alternatives to business-related programs, I'd never allow my employees to work on something as unsafe as Windows, not to mention surf on IE - at my previous workplace, most employees were still running IE6, gahhhh!

[pixel]

I've been running Linux exclusively as my day-to-day desktop PC for a few years now. The rub being I don't game, or, well, I have one game I play (World of Goo) that plays just fine on Linux but I don't do the MMORPGs or anything like that. I've even got it on my netbook, and would put it on any laptop that I'd buy. I don't want to run Windows anymore if it's not absolutely necessary (and even then I'd try to run it as a virtual machine.)

Live the dream!

[blnchflr]

I have the free trial of WoG, and it's fun - but it seems you can't buy the Linux version anymore?

But yeah, as non-gamer, Linux works ton better for me - faster, safer, and way more customizable. I don't understand why my non-gamer friends insist on clinging to Windows so hard O_o

[syntheid]

I was Linux-exclusive for a little over a year, I think? But I was also doing nearly no graphic design at that time, and when I went back to trying to do more of that, it became really hard not to use Windows because of Photoshop (I did get it to run on Linux, but it was too buggy to use). Also for some reason, internet would randomly not work, which was a little annoying. I did play my particular flavor of gaming on Linux-- I actually found it tended to run better on it at the time. (I play Guild Wars.)

But even though Linux is currently "dual boot" on my computer, I keep booting into Windows these days because of program compatibility issues like that, so yeah, I also understand not counting "dual boot" users. I'd really like to get off Windows entirely (at home, anyway, I know that's a pipedream at work, for sure), but haven't been able to as of yet. I may end up moving in the Mac direction, since, as kareila was saying, it's a bit easier to be Mac-exclusive than Linux-exclusive.

[blnchflr]

But I was also doing nearly no graphic design at that time, and when I went back to trying to do more of that, it became really hard not to use Windows because of Photoshop
Gimp is a very strong application these days!

[troisroyaumes]

I use Linux at work and on my netbook, though I admit to being a Mac user at home. But I've been Windows-free at least for the past three years and have not regretted it at all.

[blnchflr]

I don't know how Windows 7 is working out for people, but my Ubuntu installation is tons better than the Vista horror was - don't miss it one bit!

[holyschist]

I exclusively ran Linux (on a Mac!) most of my freshman year of college. I've thought about going back, but I don't have anyone to talk me through installation this time (granted, I'm not sure I'd go for Gentoo again--it was still pretty buggy with things like, say, sound card functioning when I ran it, and frustrating to troubleshoot). Plus I'm sort of hooked on ridiculous time management games. Hey, if I ran exclusively Linux, I'd probably waste less time!

That said--there are a couple Windows-only scientific analysis programs that I need for my research that I'm currently having to borrow other people's computers to run (e.g. EcoSim). Fortunately, most of those types of programs are available for Linux/Mac as well, since Linux is pretty established in scientific computing--but not quite all. So even if I were going to use Linux exclusively, every now and then I'd probably run into something I needed that would only run on Windows. If I weren't involved in science, it might be a different matter--although I don't know of any good embroidery charting software for Linux, either. I think for most people it would be fairly easy to just run Linux, though.

[yvi]

On the other side of that, I absolutely could not do my kind of science on a Windows computer. I do stuff via bash scripting :)

[blnchflr]

I've thought about going back, but I don't have anyone to talk me through installation this time (granted, I'm not sure I'd go for Gentoo again--it was still pretty buggy with things like, say, sound card functioning when I ran it, and frustrating to troubleshoot).
If you want to try out Linux again, I recommend Ubuntu - it seems to have a bad reputation in some Linux circles, because it caters to the masses, but fact is it's extremely user-friendly, and supports a wide range of hardware.

I think for most people it would be fairly easy to just run Linux, though.
For people that mostly browse, write the odd text document, play solitaire, watch movies and listen to music, yeah, they'd be fine with Linux.

[jana]

This is a pretty meaningless debate, IMO. Linux, Windows, Mac - these are just operative systems and they're good at some things and not so good at others. I don't use just one browser exclusively either - my favorite is Opera, but sometimes I have to switch to Firefox because some web applications don't always work like they're supposed to, and sometimes I use Konqueror because neither Firefox nor Opera get the job done. It's pretty much the same with Linux, Windows, or Mac.

Windows has a lot of drawbacks, like awful security, lots of usability issues, lack of transparency of internal workings/processes and so on, but if you want to play good games and want to be able to choose from a wide range of game types and genres, you really have no choice but to use Windows.

On the other hand, if you're a graphic designer who works professionally, then Mac is usually your best choice because of all the high-end graphic software, and I'm not only talking about Photoshop. The same goes for musicians, composers, and other music lovers. An exception is probably game designers because they design games for the windows market...

Linux is your best choice if you're a programmer, or a scientist who likes to write articles and reports with LaTeX. Some Linux distributions are also a good choice for people who don't know much about computers, don't know how to protect themselves from viruses & co. My mother uses it, and her problems have nothing to do with Linux, but her still-rudimentary computer skills. And it's perfect for everyone who likes to configure the computers settings, depending on their needs, preferences and moods.

Personally, I have dual-boot on my work computer, but I haven't booted Windows on that one in over a year (I'm not allowed to remove it...), and when I get the occasional "windows only" file format, well, then there's always the virtual machine :) At home I also have dual-boot, simply because I like to play games, but for everything else I use Linux. Windows is a royal pain in the ass, but, well, like I said, I like to play computer games...

[kareila]

Yes, this what I meant when I said "it begs the question of what is most important to you when choosing an OS."

Especially with advances in modern game consoles and web browsers, I find PC-specific game software more and more superfluous.

[darkemeralds]

I was dual-boot for a couple of weeks on my brand-spankin' new Dell Studio whoop-ass laptop with everything. Vista got buggy and insecure really fast, so I thought I'd try Ubuntu. Loved it. Two weeks later, Vista died altogether ("NO OPERATING SYSTEM FOUND!!! DOOM! DOOM! DOOM!") and the only thing I could do was stick my shiny new Ubuntu boot disk in and follow instructions, because I'd be damned if I was going to pay money to upgrade to Windows 7 when Vista was such a piece of crap.

*deep breath* Okay, rant over.

So anyway, I'm now Linux-exclusive at home, but...

But there appear to be no solutions for three items that I really loved and paid money for and now miss:

• Audible.com audiobooks (them wot loves DRM does not love opensource)
• BluRay player support (ditto)
• My ATI Radeon Mobility HD3650 graphics accelerator - sad! Ubuntu does not seem to know it's there.

Mostly, though, the transition has been smooth. I'm getting used to GIMP, I don't game, I'm not an iTunes aficionado, and I do most everything else in the cloud.

[blnchflr]

Getting a computer with Vista on it was the reason I got serious about trying out Linux (had run a couple of livecds prior, but my old computer was ooold, with not much hd space or RAM, and having never installed an OS/partitioned before, I was too chicken to try it) - it would crash for realz every 1-2 days, and it took me forever to figure out and download the fix. And even with 2GB RAM, Vista was slow, gahhh. Yeah, don't miss it.

Audible.com audiobooks (them wot loves DRM does not love opensource)
In Denmark it's legal to break encryption if you have no other way of reading/playing a file - they specifically mention Linux systems \o/ ! This doesn't help you one bit, of course :o/

From Googling it, it looks like there is trouble with the ATI Radeon Mobility HD 3650 - you can dl a driver from ATI, but again, people don't seem to have had luck with it. Ubuntu documention and installation guide, if you haven't already checked it.

[dragonwolf]

My friend has his entire family on exclusively Linux, and I'm pretty sure he's pretty hardcore OSS. No flash, no MP3, no nothing unless it's completely FLOSS. He's been that way for longer than I've known him and I met him a good seven or eight years ago.

As for myself, I run solely Linux on both my desktop and my laptop. I do have a virtual machine for testing on IE, and to make occasional use of Visual Studio, because I'm a web developer (there is no way in hell that I would disgrace my Linux installs with the atrocity that is IE, especially in the rare case that I have to test on IE6, so IE stays locked in VMs, to fire up only when needed).

I consider myself somewhat of a gamer. I played World of Warcraft until about 6 weeks ago (and might pick it back up when the next expansion comes out), and it arguably ran better under Linux than it did under Windows (especially with OpenGL enabled). I've also had Diablo 2, Starcraft, Supreme Commander, and Sins of a Solar Empire running under Linux. The rest of the games I play are console games, so those are moot.

I've actually found Linux more convenient than Windows for a recent web server setup that I did through SSH. It's possible I did it the hard way, but it taught me a ton about terminal commands, and it was as simple as firing up a terminal window. No need for other software, like PuTTy, to get going. It was also nice that I happened to be running the same OS as the server, so a lot of stuff mapped to the same places and the naming schemes were all the same, so I didn't have to deal with remembering with file system scheme I was typing in for which half of the command.

I actually feel like I'm cheating on my current Grad school course. It's a web development course and the first assignment is to create a basic web page (to be built on through the course), to be done in a basic text editor. The school assumes you're running Windows, so they assume "basic text editor" equals "Notepad", but since I'm on Linux, "basic text editor" equals gedit, which means I still get the code highlighting that's part of the reason a real code editor isn't supposed to be used yet.

[blnchflr]

I wouldn't mind having easy access to testing webpages in IE, because I do want my websites to be accessible to all browsers. I write xhtml 1.0 strict, and validate - but that isn't always enough to make sure IE doesn't do cooky things to it. However, I couldn't live with Vista taking up 29GB of my hd, when I wasn't using it for anything else.

since I'm on Linux, "basic text editor" equals gedit, which means I still get the code highlighting that's part of the reason a real code editor isn't supposed to be used yet.
:oD