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0 pointsAtlasBarfed1y ago0 comments

I agree this is a prime moment for Linux on the desktop to shine, but so has the last 10 years of windows destroying its UI and backwards compatibility.

...I have no faith.

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eigenspace1y ago

> ...I have no faith.

You don't need faith, you just need to look around: It's already shining!

Support for Linux in consumer software applications and devices has improved a huge amount over just the past few years. Using a Linux desktop in 2024 is not a second class experience at all anymore.

Sure the userbase is still quite small relative to Windows and MacOS, but in absolute numbers it's still a huge population of users, and it's also growing very fast. That combined with the fact that supporting Linux is typically quite easy means that more and more vendors are supporting it, which is creating a positive feedback loop by enticing more users.

No need for pessimism here.

AtlasBarfedOP1y ago

I daily drive mint and Linux distros for 25 years now.

I'm avoiding Wayland and whatever rewrite of gnome/kde is underway. Not to mention snaps are noxious and counterintuitive to user applications. At least flatpaks are easily jail broken / repermissioned with flat seal easily.

Upgrading breaks way too often. At least the 32/64 bit migration has occurred. About 80% of the time I've simply needed to reinstall the OS on major upgrades.

The killer app of Linux desktop migration, WINE, is still a crap shoot, although I use it for a lot of retro gaming, but even WinRAR or other common utils are hit and miss.

Hardware support (amd integrated graphics especially) drags.

Portables still are worse at powermgmt last I checked.

A lot of this is only marginally better (or for the rewrites, actually worse, and snaps are worse) over the last decade as ms shot itself in the foot.

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