How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too

Re:How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too by drb91 on Saturday January 19, 2019 @10:44PM (#18950866)

> Ubuntu with a Mate GUI "just works", has all the software I need and lacks BS like the Windows interface.

How do you figure? Every part about Ubuntu, from keybindings to menus to window management to user interface expectations, are directly copying windows.

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Re:How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too by ikfmpwdsoz on Saturday January 19, 2019 @11:38PM (#18951135)

You pay for Windows, but Linux is free. Windows is filled with ads; Linux has none. Windows is slow; Linux is less slow. Windows tried to pull some weird tablet hybrid nonsense; Linux desktops are just desktops. Cinnamon, Mate and KDE took the very best parts of old Windows and made them better. Gnome and Pantheon ripped off macOS and they're also great. Every single one of them is more polished and more useable than Windows 10.

But seriously, who in their right mind would tolerate advertisements in software that they paid good money for?

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Re:How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too by tjoff on Sunday January 20, 2019 @04:47AM (#18952206)

I have never seen an ad in windows in my entire life on any of my machines. Apparently it is the first thing I disable when I open up the settings on a new install. It's gotten to the point that I'm almost curious about it. Ubuntu has the amazon integration which bothers me about just as much.

Ubuntu tried to pull some weird netbook phone hybrid that didn't work well on any type of device. 8 years we had to live with Unity.

I'd say that the UI of Windows 10 is about ten years ahead of anything in the linux world (and I doubt linux well ever be as polished). I say that as someone who is possibly going to do the switch to linux this year, but I'm in for a rough transition.

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Re:How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too by chess_buster on Sunday January 20, 2019 @06:17AM (#18952495)

> I'd say that the UI of Windows 10 is about ten years ahead of anything in the linux world

Windows 10 is really really nice these days...

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Re:How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too by CFeminine on Saturday January 19, 2019 @11:44PM (#18951170)

i hear you 5 by 5, i would also wonder who would tolerate subsription like leasing of software such as norton or office 360.

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Re:How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too by killjoywashere on Sunday January 20, 2019 @04:20AM (#18952123)

Some one who has deals with top 5 orgs on Earth gives zero shits about the software or who made it, as long as it gets the job done. Actually, they might care, in a sort of "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" sort of way, but if you're on deadline and there are jobs on the line, people paying rent, you really can't afford to worry about whether Office costs you $100/year every year for the rest of your life.

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Re:How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too by simion314 on Sunday January 20, 2019 @04:54AM (#18952229)

You get downvoted because you are very wrong, Ubuntu used GNOME or Unity, this desktops were very different then Windows, they had a top bar or side bar, they had 3D compositing before Windows released Vista, menus were not invented by Microsoft, MS did not invented the clipboard, keyboard shortcuts, I don't think they invented the "window" either so what is your point exactly? that Linux DEs should be forced to use things different then Windows

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Re:How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too by joe_the_user on Saturday January 19, 2019 @10:50PM (#18950888)

has all the software I need and lacks BS like the Windows interface.

Darn, pardon me. I should have said the Windows 10 interface. Yeah, Mate is copying Windows 7/Vista task bar stuff, with perhaps less of that system's unneeded flash.

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Re:How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too by drb91 on Saturday January 19, 2019 @11:00PM (#18950935)

So it copies the user interface of windows, with all its problems, but it doesn’t carry over the reliable variable DPI support, a notifications framework, a unified reliable software management interface, and consensus on how to provide basic utilities like secret management, file associations, and accessibility controls for the visually impaired. That is, the features of windows ACTUALLY worth copying. Linux is still mostly a bad XP clone.

Linux is usable for daily tasks, but only barely, and it gets further behind state of the art software every year. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone who isn’t fluent with critical debugging skills (bash, knowlege of logs and how to search them, the ability to manipulate system tasks, x11 and graphcis driver configurations, etc etc).

Until the FOSS community decides to unify behind a single experience and actually invest in the experience, it’s always going to be a shitty clone of the user interfaces people actually want to use.

I use linux every day but the idea it is usable for the average person without paying someone to support them through issues is an utter pipe dream.

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Re:How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too by likeclockwork on Sunday January 20, 2019 @12:38AM (#18951390)

> Until the FOSS community decides to unify behind a single experience [...]

People always say this whenever Linux is under discussion. No one actually wants this. If you want "one-size fits all" use MacOS or Windows and see how that fits you.

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Re:How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too by Alan_Dillman on Sunday January 20, 2019 @05:29AM (#18952347)

Precisely. The Linux community was/is a movement of people who do not want one size fits all. People who do not want a dictated experience.

People who trumpet a unified Linux experience expect the river to somehow flow backwards.

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Re:How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too by AnIdiotOnTheNet on Sunday January 20, 2019 @09:30AM (#18953184)

>No one actually wants this. If you want "one-size fits all" use MacOS or Windows and see how that fits you

looks at user counts for each OS

reads parent comment again

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Re:How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too by bscphil on Saturday January 19, 2019 @11:35PM (#18951121)

>Linux is usable for daily tasks, but only barely, and it gets further behind state of the art software every year. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone who isn’t fluent with critical debugging skills (bash, knowlege of logs and how to search them, the ability to manipulate system tasks, x11 and graphcis driver configurations, etc etc).

Would you say the same for Chromebooks? Chromebooks are Linux. If not that proves that it's at least possible for a user-friendly experience to exist on Linux. And I would further suggest that running Ubuntu on well-supported hardware closely approximates the Chromebook experience for most users. I personally know several ordinary users who find Ubuntu as easy as Windows to use, if not easier.

I think your statement that Linux gets "further behind state of the art" as time goes on is probably the oddest claim you make here. It runs counter to everything I've heard from anyone running Linux for a long period of time. Most reasonable hardware configurations just work right out of the box. Remember that the average user never installs an operating system. Either the OS comes with the computer or someone competent is doing the installation for them; in any case the end user isn't expected to fix any problems that arise. Whenever I've installed Windows I've encountered driver problems that had to be fixed to get a working experience, but that's not something I count against Windows when talking about the end-user experience.

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Re:How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too by CFeminine on Saturday January 19, 2019 @11:50PM (#18951194)

i think hes a troll

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Re:How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too by joe_the_user on Saturday January 19, 2019 @11:47PM (#18951182)

"State of the Art" desktop GUI essentially provide next to no benefit for the end user. Most people use their GUI only to launch their browsers but those who launch multiple application, search for and move around file and similar stuff can use any GUI from the last twenty years quite easily for the purpose - Windows 101 idiocy or Gnome Shell or whatever Kiosk interface might be faster to learn but a person only has to learn to use a given GUI shell once in their life but then they have to surfer it's inefficiencies, it's advertisements and updating every day or every inconvenient period. Of course, few users take action to stop time-wasting interfaces for the same reason few users learn to touchtype.

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Re:How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too by CFeminine on Saturday January 19, 2019 @11:48PM (#18951187)

i am in the habit of providing linux installs on new machine builds,and all my customers love linux, extolling the fact that everything they need and want is right there when they want it, no sudden updates in the middle of use and no extra price tag for libre office or gimp.

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Re:How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too by jayalpha on Sunday January 20, 2019 @06:28AM (#18952535)

Well, mate is not the default Ubuntu Desktop. Honestly, I never got used to the Ubuntu desktop (What is it now? Unity?) but I always stayed with KDE and Kubuntu.

Recently I am unhappy about the stability and also about the RAM requirements of KDE since I only have 8GB Ram. I am pretty sure my next installed Linux system will be Bodhi Linux on my Laptop.

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Re:How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too by CFeminine on Saturday January 19, 2019 @11:43PM (#18951163)

emulating is the less perjorative term, and this is done to provide a familiar environment to the unwashed masses that are not keen on the CLI terminal interface.

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