He tried CS:GO in my Linux box and liked that it just worked, apparently ran smoother, and according to him the OS itself seemed simpler. He wants to try Linux on his computer now with my help. Let's see how that will work out, but still, it's a start.
I'd like to eventually be using an open source operating system on my desktop, I really would, but Linux Desktop is crap and from what I can tell will remain crap because their community has crap ideas.
But now Windows is getting more crap too, by trying to copy the crap parts of the mobile ecosystem and the crap parts of Linux at the same time.
I'm facing a future where I end up with a Linux Desktop not because the Linux Desktop has finally become worth using, but because Windows has become so shit it is better by comparison.
It's enough to make me want to give up computing altogether.
I'm curious what MS Windows has copied from a common Linux DE or distro that you believe is "crap"?
Yeah, that's a big part of the problem right there.
> I'm curious what MS Windows has copied from a common Linux DE or distro that you believe is "crap"?
Rolling releases, i.e: break everything every 3 months, an over-reliance on the the command line for configuration tasks (and I say this as someone who loves powershell), package managers, and hardcoded paths (mostly for their dev tools), to name a few.
Things break on Ubuntu for those addicted to upgrades (me!).
In my preferred DE, KDE/Plasma, I can't recall ever needing to use command line for normal user level configurations.
Which in typical Linux evangelist fahion means it never happens to anybody else.
But sure, there are edge cases where you might need to use the terminal or edit a configuration file.
As an analogy, in Windows I've occasionally had to make configuration changes through regedit.
That doesn't mean it's normal to have to make changes in the registry on Windows, it can usually be done through the gui
It depends on your hardware as much as anything IME - sadly most PC hardware sellers make stuff to work under MS Windows, so if you're not careful with your purchases you can have problems.
I used to use Slackware, and that was a lot of command line - or at least text based - configuration; but I chose it to learn about administration. Like buying an old car so you can practice fixing it.
Kernel support is improving too. AMD is contributing to the open source amdgpu driver now, Intel's open source driver is one the most supported among distros.
And what if a Linux Desktop ends up being better than Windows at some point in the future, well, why won't you use the best tool you have available?
If memory serves, when Valve was initially getting their feet wet, publicly, with Linux, they were getting Left 4 Dead (1 or 2, can't remember) to work there. If I remember correctly, they got it to a point that hardware for hardware, they got the Linux port to run better than the Windows version.
And that's a direction worth going if you want the gaming crowd to follow: come this way and get an extra boost in performance. We know you just spent $300 to get a couple frames per second boost, come get a few more for free.
They really need to do something about Big Picture mode though: that thing looks terrible on anything above 1080p. Even more so at 3440x1440 where it is blurry and inside black bars. If they're trying to make Steam into an appliance of sorts, the user interface needs to be right.