My problem with desktop Linux is actually development - it seems really hard to get patches and fixes into upstreams or deploy them stably (i.e. not fighting apt overwriting your custom builds, etc.)
There's scope somewhere in there for Canonical to improve Launchpad so the experience of fixing issues is more streamlined.
Re:Why I switched from OS X to Linux
by pareidolia on Thursday January 12, 2017 @08:31AM
(#13382022)
This use case is filled for me by Gentoo's portage (https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Overlay)
Currently I'm looking into what Guix and Nix can offer me wrt. custom packages.
I've been on Ubuntu for nearly a decade, so I barely notice many issues any more, but you're absolutely right. It's a long way away from wonderful.
Obviously, I'm just used to it; I wait 2-3 months before upgrading to the latest releases because having three monitors has _always_ been a headache for me when upgrading any sooner. That's my new normal.
That said, I rarely have any issues that make me lose time. I might have to spend 5 minutes googling around before buying things like web cameras to ensure compatibility, but otherwise, everything tends to be stable. My desktop stays running for months at a time without complaints.
The next step would be to go beyond stable and make the platform a joy to use. I want to be able to plug in some of these fun toys like multi-touch pads and high dpi screens and have them work just as well as they do on other platforms. The journey to that ideal is far longer on Linux. But it remains free, hackable, solid, and powerful. And the more people using the system, the faster progress will come.
I remain hopeful and patient.