Engadget Comments Every Once In A While Are Pure Gold

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PhaseDMA
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Engadget Comments Every Once In A While Are Pure Gold

Post by PhaseDMA »

Someone on why Linux sucks on the mainstream level.

(In reply to "crossover is the answer to lack of mainstream windows programs")

[quote=thegaysayer]
Um, no it's not. And neither is Wine, Cedega, or any of those "don't-call-them-emulators-they're-compatibility-layers" apps.
For the vast majority of casual users, Linux may indeed be up to par, but we are only talking about user-friendly distros like Ubuntu, Mint, Redhat, and SUSE. And even then, the only reason those distros work is because they do things that Linux purists will not stand for: like adding non-free driver support or cloud integration like Ubuntu One.

The problem with Linux is not necessarily that it can't overcome these things, but it's in a chicken-or-the-egg bind. It needs users to get better apps (Adobe, games, etc.), but it needs apps to get those users. Unfortunately, just like any product that is focused exclusively on principles and heretical axioms, diehard Linux users adamantly reject and label regular people's desires as just Fear, Uncertainy, Doubt.

If they even try to accommodate new users, it's only to yell at them for their incompetence at using the terminal, or why they aren't using OpenOffice, GIMP, Banshee, or playing Sauerbraten. In other words, the diehard Linux contingent firmly believe that the problem isn't with the operating system's wholesale rejection of pragmatism, but mainstream users themselves.

If they really believe that Linux can cling to its philosophical purity and remain free through and through, using half-baked open source alternatives instead of tools people actually WANT, and still dominate the home computing market, they're just another belief cult.

(And no, I'm not using "cult" here in any sense like mac fanboys or windows fanboys or Google fanboys... the Linux heretics are the real deal.)

In conclusion: until Linux achieves native support from actual first-rate developers, they will have zero adoption whatsoever of the operating system. The kernel itself may thrive and be taken up for use in other segments - like we're seeing now with smart phones, servers, DVRs, etc... - but you will never see Linux challenge Windows, Apple, or whatever directly.

Ever.[/quote]
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My MPG sucks cause' I remote start all the time - And than drive 2 miles to work
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