I’m a software developer (my background), I was always kind of interested in it, but primarily the fact that Apple stopped giving my 2015 MacBook Pro OS updates, including security updates, which forced me to do something.
And yeah, Plasma or GNOME is pretty much how the OS looks like.
It just means it isn’t built using technologies native to Android, but it will run on every Android phone. I can’t speak of the performance of the newest releases, I use an iPhone now. YMMV.
But how long did it take you to get there? I think the point he was trying to make is that GIMP has a steeper learning curve. If you’ve never used krita/pinta/etc, but you gave a lot experience with GIMP, then yes, GIMP will be easier
I’d never used anything & I tried them all. GIMP was by far the easiest for me to learn & I don’t know why. The rest are not in any way bad, I just found GIMP the easiest for whatever reason…
I think a lot of people have already learned some things about it when they try gimp, and then when gimp is completely different, it is rather unintuitive to them, but if you started with gimp, you don’t have that problem
I don’t support Linux fanatics who insist that Linux is for everyone and anyone. It is vastly different (IMO in a good way) than your typical Windows OS but once you spend some time figuring it out, following “cumbersome” installation instructions might take no more than 5 minutes.
This article is on the other side of the spectrum. Presenting the Linux desktop as a “collective delusion” is, at least, disrespect to all the people who struggle to make it real.
I know people who switched to Linux as their main OS and claim to be more productive than they were on Windows because they can adapt the desktop experience to their workflow and there are no unnecessary distractions like popups and ads that Microsoft likes to overuse in their latest OS versions.
LibreOffice is just good enough for most paperwork with good MS-Office compatibility (neither I nor anybody I know ever had a single problem in years).
Of course there are drawbacks, but most of what the article mentions are purely over-generalisations, distribution-specific quirks or “I can’t be bothered to spend 5 minutes to learn something new” type of arguments. In Linux, the time you spend learning something new is a good investment.
Finally, I myself am a computer geek who likes to meddle in programming. For me, using anything else than a *nix-based POSIX-compatible system (except, perhaps, for Haiku) would be a nightmare.
Linux is not a religion. It’s a tool, and you should always pick a tool based on whether it can perform the needed tasks and whether you are comfortable with it, without fanaticism. And Linux is objectively better than Windows in some respects, and vice versa. So, if I were to follow the author’s logic, the Windows desktop would be as much a collective delusion in my eyes.
LibreOffice is just good enough for most paperwork with good MS-Office compatibility (neither I nor anybody I know ever had a single problem in years).
Are you sure, it can’t even handle simple typing and bullet points consistently…
OnlyOffice is indeed a good choice for the best MS compatibility. Also Google Docs is amazing for collaboration in teams (yes, I know it’s not FOSS, but hey, it works). NextCloud is nice but it doesn’t offer collaborative editing of Office documents AFAIK.
For presentations I have been lately preferring Inkscape. It has multi-page support since some versions ago and can export to PDF, clickable links and everything. I don’t use animations or anything too fancy in my presentation and I like the flexibility that a vector editor can offer me, so Inkscape works well for my case.
Linux has found its niche on the server side and among tech enthusiasts and counter-culture types, and that’s okay! I, for one, like it that way. Having Linux at home is a nice change from using Windows at work all day, but I might not feel the same way if I used Linux at work.
I don’t consider myself a Linux fanatic by any means, but I do think that something like Linux Mint is viable for pretty much anyone as their home desktop OS, in the much the same way that Android is viable for anyone as their mobile OS. As others have said, the main thing where Linux needs to improve for home users is game support, and that has already come a long, long way. If all my games worked perfectly on Linux, I would ditch Windows at home altogether. Fortunately, Steam is pushing for more Linux support.
I like challenges like just like any other person, but aren’t they supposed to be… fun, at least? Of If I wanted to do what you’re describing I’d just go back to Windows or Mac
I enjoy Linux so much that I think vanilla distros are a good experience, for example the main theme of Linux Mint is green, I wouldn’t feel ok with changing the color!! Or for example, Ubuntu is orange, well I will use the OS with orange colors.
Manjaro kde on 3 computers in the ham shack, manjaro KDE on the media center, and guess what’s on the two lap tops…you got it…manjaro KDE. Most have windows 10 dual boot on a separate drive. I haven’t spent the time to figure out radio control and antenna switching on Linux so windows is still needed for radio contesting.
I have tried many and keep going back to manjaro, everything just works. The Arch wiki is awesome, and the aur has multiviewer to F1, ready to go.
If you encounter problems you can’t find information on, do Ubuntu LTS next and use askununtu.com, help.ubuntu.com and wiki.ubuntu.com. The existing documentation and the largest community is what makes this the easiest option. Once you gain XP for a couple of years that XP is transferrable to Debian.
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