Anyone using Linux?

[MyFutureSelfnMe]

As I've said twice before on this thread, I'm not interested in hearing how something hasn't gained market share for reasons other than people not wanting it. It's 2015 and we have a very competitive market.

 

[113]

The decree that ended that Microsoft practice is 21 years old.

This is just one of the practices that allowed MS to get their foothold. They still do all kinds of ruthless business practices to prevent other OSs from getting a foothold. You can scroll down on that page to "boot locking concerns."

It is more likely that Dell prices Linux laptops higher, because they don't want to damage their lucrative ecosystem of Windows-related add-ons like antivirus, graphics software, etc. It's more profitable for Dell if fewer people use Linux. For an example, go through their checkout process and watch all of the upselling for software that they wouldn't be able to upsell to Linux users.

Like I said, I'm not really interested in arguing about which operating system is "better" – only in dispelling the myth that Linux is inferior or not productive.

 

[MyFutureSelfnMe]

If we wanted to talk about a simpler alternative explanation, we could say "they had to develop/improve drivers for their hardware on Linux, and with it being a smaller market, the cost of that expensive work per unit is higher". I seriously doubt Dell management would be driven by the relatively weak cause and effect you describe.

We have already agreed that Linux is superior or more productive for some users and some tasks. And for others, it's inferior or less productive. It's personal and the market is competitive. I do not want to hear explanations of Microsoft's business practices in the 90s. That's as dead as fried chicken.

 

[MyFutureSelfnMe]

As for your comments on Secure Boot, it exists for a reason. Ubuntu supports Secure Boot, and it can be disabled at any time. It is not a marketing play.

 

[113]

I do not want to hear explanations of Microsoft's business practices in the 90s. That's as dead as fried chicken.

Not true, but it isn't worth debating.

We have already agreed that Linux is superior or more productive for some users and some tasks. And for others, it's inferior or less productive. It's personal...

I agree with that.

 

[The Penguin]

OS X is limited by its lock-in with specific, expensive hardware. For $1,000 I can get a laptop with the specs of a $4,000 MacBook.

Yes. I really hate how locked down OS X is. I still hate you have to buy from Apple to develop iOS apps. I'm aware of hackintosh but it not easy to do for an laptop.

 

[The Penguin]

I only run Linux in a Virtualbox these days...dual-booting was more trouble than it was worth for me.

I do the same except use Vmware Workstation. Though I know it not free, I like their products.

I'm using Genymotion which is a product have a bunch of Android emulators that is much faster than the default one Google provides. Genymotion uses Virtualbox to provide their Android emulator.

 

[The Penguin]

For many types of programming, Linux is far better than Windows unless you are programming in .NET.

I can agree with you but I'm still use to doing all my developing on Windows. I started to get the courage to understand the basics of Linux 5 years ago to manage a server. All my testing servers for Linux is under a VM. I also find using a VM is a good way to learn something new because if you mess up, you can revert back to the snapshoot.

 

[113]

Windows works for programming. Linux just has some extra features that make it especially nice for some things.

Examples: the terminal. Developing in the same OS as the remote servers. Tiling window managers. Free software for nearly every task. Etc.

 

[The Penguin]

Linux just has some extra features that make it especially nice for some things.

I will get there one day

 

[MyFutureSelfnMe]

Yes. I really hate how locked down OS X is. I still hate you have to buy from Apple to develop iOS apps. I'm aware of hackintosh but it not easy to do for an laptop.

OS X has fallen behind, especially with Windows 10 coming out. I used to run Mavericks on my laptop and did so only because scaling for high resolution displays was still not working properly in Windows 8. Windows 8.1 plays nicely with 4K displays finally.

The OSX finder requires more clicks to accomplish tasks, and happens to have more relevant information offscreen at any given moment, than Windows Explorer. And Windows' paradigm for maximizing and restoring windows makes more sense - historically Macs did not have maximized windows, and this is one of those Mac paradigms that has persisted.

I have also found the OS to be less stable than Ubuntu 14.10 or Windows 8.1. Both have made huge strides in stability.

All of those things considered, few people really think it's worth it to build a Hackintosh, so the infrastructure never matured and it remains hard/annoying to do it even if you want to.

 

[MyFutureSelfnMe]

And by the way - I've developed a couple of iOS apps (one for Lego and the other is doodle.ly).

I would have really appreciated it if Apple shipped a build environment compatible with Visual Studio or something.

XCode was very unstable - sometimes I would have it hang hard on me a dozen or more times in a day.

 

[apt-get]

Linux is something that can be interesting to use on the desktop if you're not focused on productivity. I know a lot of people here will tell you that OpenOffice/LibreOffice and modern desktops are adequate, but they are in many ways quite a few years behind the state of the art in commercial OSes. The same people will tell you that the ways they are behind are cosmetic, but they are very much ergonomic and not just cosmetic

My 2c.

Honestly, when I get a laptop that I'm going to be using primarily for work purposes, it's going to have Linux on it, and Windows will be removed completely. Talks of doing work on Windows are almost always done as a joke in my lab. Aside from having a very productive work environment, I've found that Linux machines are more aesthetically pleasing to use (I switched to GNOME 3). But, that's just my opinion.

 

[StephF]

I like Linux

 

[MyFutureSelfnMe]

Honestly, when I get a laptop that I'm going to be using primarily for work purposes, it's going to have Linux on it, and Windows will be removed completely. Talks of doing work on Windows are almost always done as a joke in my lab. Aside from having a very productive work environment, I've found that Linux machines are more aesthetically pleasing to use (I switched to GNOME 3). But, that's just my opinion.

Your username indicates you're an enthusiast.

 

[apt-get]

Your username indicates you're an enthusiast.

Honestly, not as much as I used to be, and I don't use debian distros anymore (really old username). I really don't have time to spend configuring things (why I use GNOME), and I need something that just works and works incredibly well for the type of work that I do. Linux does that amazingly. I could probably get by on a Mac. Windows is a joke.

 

[MyFutureSelfnMe]

We all have our preferences, but I don't think Windows 8.1 + Classic Shell is a joke. It's a stable, fast booting OS that runs all of the programs and drivers I want it to run, including several I can't get for Linux. I can move around in it pretty quickly, including to my PuTTY window that gets me into my Ubuntu Server VM.

 

[apt-get]

A lot of the work that I do requires using Unix-like environments. When I say that Windows is a joke, it's in that context.

 

[Jono]

As I've said twice before on this thread, I'm not interested in hearing how something hasn't gained market share for reasons other than people not wanting it. It's 2015 and we have a very competitive market.

Ubuntu has become quite popular, actually. That's why some gaming companies are starting to offer games for Linux as a platform. In fact, I think that linux has become the third most popular OS after Windows and Mac OS with Ubuntu being the most popular distro.

 

[113]

That's why some gaming companies are starting to offer games for Linux as a platform. In fact, I think that linux has become the third most popular OS after Windows and Mac OS with Ubuntu being the most popular distro.

I saw some news about that recently. Steam runs on Ubuntu and they're launching a new Debian-based distro of their own (SteamOS).