this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2023
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Linux
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Gaming: Only if you're playing one of the VERY few games that doesn't run in Linux yet, and that number continues to drop rapidly. There's plenty of tools out there to make games work well in Linux.
Office: For basic things, there's a million and one office suites that work in Linux and you can even use Office 365 Online if you really need that Microsoft Office experience/compatibility. This is only valid if you or your company need specific add-ons that don't have any equivalent in other office suites. My own employer uses these, so in that instance, yes, I do need MS Office for those. But from what I know, still not an entirely common thing, and you can still get by with Linux compatible office suites for most things.
Photoshop: I don't work with images, but from what I understand this one has some validity, comparing the tools available in Photoshop vs the GIMP or other drawing tools. But that's just if you're doing some really advanced image editing.
Ecosystem: if this is just referring to the fact that most people don't use Linux, there are plenty of FOSS programs that work in both Windows and Linux and very few common file types that aren't mutually compatible.
Hardware: another instance that has greatly improved over time, and there hasn't been anything in years that I haven't had "just work" by plugging it in. If the proprietary drivers don't install, there's probably an open source driver out there to get your hardware running. Will admit that in some instances features may be more limited, depending on what the drivers will be able to do, but as I mentioned that's really getting better almost daily.
Out of this list, Photoshop is really the only main thing blocking people, unless they play anticheat-ridden games the likes of Destiny 2, who are outright linux-hostile.
You don't have to be doing advanced work to notice the difference between GIMP and Photoshop. Working in GIMP is painful. Working in Photoshop is also painful, but at least you know your files will work with everyone else.
Try some audio hardware. Linux is still a fucking wasteland when it comes to that.
Random? Small? Niche? Nah, just an entire global professional industry and hundreds of millions of hobbyists across every walk of life around the world. Nothing important there.
Here's a 19 minute video trying to explain the brainfuck of stupid that is the Linux sound landscape: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxEXMHcwtlI
Is that the sound of goalposts being moved in the background?
@hiddengoat @original_reader @LastYearsPumpkin @Grangle1 @Xatolos yikes. Troll much?
Pipewire fixes a lot of issues and is a huge improvement. The best part of OSS and Linux is its the upstart, the underdog, the do-it-for-the-love, the chronically underfunded, hacker os. You’ll find things not as polished as the proprietary alternatives but that’s okay. There’s far more to enjoy: auditable code, open to contributions, infinitely customizable
Oh honey, you'll know when I'm trolling.
Pipewire sucks less. It still does not make hardware work properly.
I have no use for underdogs when it comes to getting shit done. Being less polished is not okay when it comes to getting shit done. I do not give a shit about auditing code when what I want to do is record a song. I do not give a shit about contributing code to literally everything I ever open because precious few pieces of software are actually feature-complete. Trying to push "it's half-assed and broken" as a positive is a new level of Linux evangelist gaslighting I haven't seen and I've been around for a whiiiiiiile.
"Sure, only of your hardware works and the half that does has latency issues or can't communicate with more than one piece of software and also the software can't really communicate with itself very well BUT AT LEAST WE HAVE THEMES!"
I really REALLY would like Linux to suck less ass at audio but more than two decades of trying to get any developers to listen to someone that actively makes music rather than software has proven completely fruitless. At a certain point you realize that devs are there to wank their egos, not produce usable software. At that point you shrug and buy a Mac. Then you plug in almost any piece of musical gear made in the past four decades and holy shit it actually works because MacOS has one sound system that everyone uses because it isn't shit.
But yeah, somehow having three or four incompatible systems is totally better...
Well good thing it's all open source, feel free to get in there and fix your problems with your audio equipment. Something makes me think you'd rather complain about it on the internet than fix anything though.
A fraction of 1% of Windows users use Photoshop. 99.9% of users just crop and resize
Which is utterly fucking irrelevant to the conversation.