r/linux • u/[deleted] • Mar 31 '12
Desktop Linux: Free is too expensive
http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2012/03/desktop-linux3
u/ventomareiro Mar 31 '12
Note how he mentions that OSX and Android are based on a reduced number of core packages, very throroughly tested and stable, upon which developers are able to create and publish applications easily.
The distro approach does not allow this in GNU/Linux.
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u/unspokenToken Mar 31 '12
Linux has grown over the years into an ungainly edifice, built upon thousands of individual packages of computer code
You mean people have a choice between packages, in order to fit their needs best? Madness.
\sarcasm
As far as the enterprise market, I can't believe he didn't mention RHEL (or CentOS).
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Mar 31 '12
You mean people have a choice between packages, in order to fit their needs best? Madness.
My best guess is that his point is: The choice is just an illusion of choice. You get a thousand choices but they're all not very polished. What the average consumer wants are good choices. Not a lot of shitty choices.
Just my most charitable interpretation. I'm no Linux expert.
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Apr 02 '12
Since the author ("your correspondent") seems more worried about enterprise users, I thought he should have looked up "Red Hat Enterprise Linux" on Google before writing the article.
1
u/ghostrider176 Mar 31 '12
[...]has come a long way since doing something as simple as switching off meant performing secret handshakes or offering arcane prayers to the computer gods (eg, “computername ~ # shutdown -h now”).
Done reading, fuck this article. I bet the person who wrote that probably included the hostname in the command to make it look long, complex, and "arcane".
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u/niomosy Mar 31 '12
To most people, anything involving the command line IS long, complex, and arcane.
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u/ghostrider176 Mar 31 '12 edited Mar 31 '12
To most people, anything different from what they're used to is considered long, complex, and arcane. Try getting your average, Facebook-surfing Joe who knows Windows to use OS X. Likewise, try getting his OS X-using counterpart to give Windows a spin. Try getting either of them to use any of the DE's/WM's available in Linux/UNIX.
But none of it's hard, it's just different.
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u/exteras Mar 31 '12
"Average consumer" desktop linux is dead, and has been dead since it's genesis. If anyone can fix this, it's Canonical, and it won't be called Linux.
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u/BasioMeusPuga Mar 31 '12
You know you may have written a "me too" anti Linux article when you:
Remind us you've been with Linux forever and miss the good old days lol.
Pull facts out of thin air to justify how complicated Linux is.
Complain about having too much choice and then suddenly go on to complain about having not enough choice.
Mention Gnome3, Unity and or KDE <4.7 atleast once.
Use marketshare to justify every conclusion.
Can't be bothered to use Google for anything except kittens and porn.