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 :)

[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.

[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.

[kerravonsen]

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[yvi]

because if you are using Windows occasionally, even just for games, then it shows it isn't possible for you to use Linux exclusively.

I disagree. It is totally possible for me to just not play computer games :) I haven't even played one through in 8 years or so.

[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

[blnchflr]

I actually agree with you - but I can understand for purposes of counting exclusive Linux users, you'd want to discount dualboots, because who knows if they get up at 2 a.m. to boot into Windows and surf in IE, you know :o) ?

[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!

[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?

[blnchflr]

I'm impressed!

[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)

[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!

[kirana]

Lucky! ;_; Work gives me a free program license--which is Windows only. xx I had to steal my mother's computer for it.

I use a four-gig, with a persistence file taking up most of the space on it, but, yes, there's still space for storage and, depending on how large you want the persistence file, I believe you can use even a two-gig. I still have about 230 megs free, but my persistence file is 3.0 gigs. ^^'

[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

[blnchflr]

I tried googling, but I'm not really sure what the persistence file is?

[pixel]

Really? That seems....odd. That game makes the 7 year old lego addict in me squee so hard.

I honestly don't get it either, faster, safer, prettier, and because I'm lazy, I love having yum (or apt or whatever floats your boat) to just install stuff with minimum of fuss. There is no reason for Windows, which is the thing that M$ does not want anyone to find out.

sudo yum install betterOS

[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.

[yvi]

So I am not a real vim user because there's emacs hidden somewhere on my computer ;)

[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.

[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.

[holyschist]

There are vastly more Windows games than Mac games (and with big company games, the Mac version is often incredibly buggy compared to the Windows ones), but if you're not hooked on, say, shooting games, there are a TON of "casual" games out there for Mac now.

[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!