this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2023
580 points (88.8% liked)
linuxmemes
20453 readers
153 users here now
I use Arch btw
Sister communities:
- LemmyMemes: Memes
- LemmyShitpost: Anything and everything goes.
- RISA: Star Trek memes and shitposts
Community rules
- Follow the site-wide rules and code of conduct
- Be civil
- Post Linux-related content
- No recent reposts
Please report posts and comments that break these rules!
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
It's really a bit like what we used to do when we poked at autoexec.bat and whatnot when running DOS games back when dinosaurs roamed the land.
It's not really complicated, you just have to prod here and there until it works (unless it just doesn't because some kind of anti-consumer software lock just won't play nice with Wine, although that's becoming less common nowadays).
OTOH, things that aren't Linux friendly... corporate accounting, an awful lot of dedicated software for niche industries... There's no lack of things that are still complicated in Linux.
The problem though is that we are in 2023, a good 32 years after Linux came out. It shouldnt feel like you are in the DOS era. One of the problems that dawns on me is the real issue is a lack of consistency. Sometimes things work great, sometimes they dont. A lot of people arent having the same issues I and many others do which is frustrating because of how the community reacts when someone brings up those inconsistencies. There are a lot of people that dont run into them for one reason or another and all they see is people bitching about from their POV, seemingly nonexistent problems.
You also have to remember that you're running software designed for an entirely different operating system. It's not at all like moving from xp to Windows 10. We're not comparing apples to oranges, but apples to hedgehogs.
That it works most of the time is a fucking miracle in itself.
Yes it is a miracle that it ever works. HOWEVER it doesnt really matter to most people why it doesn't work sometimes. It isn't fair but the reality is that as far as most people are concerned, their PC is basically a microwave in that they have little interest in how the internals work as long as they work and if they can't do x or y, they dont really care that it isn't Linux's fault. All they see is that they installed this new OS that looks really cool but cant run certain games or run certain software. Now if Linux were popular, it wouldnt be an issue because almost everything would have been written for one distro or another (like android is dominant on phones) but it isn't. Steam is doing a lot to change things and hopefully Linux is better supported by other companies as well in the future but right now there are still enough gaps that I would be very hesitant about recommending Linux to a heavy gamer unless I knew that they basically waded in the steam ecosystem and the vast majority of their games could be run via proton.
You're saying that as if Windows "just worked".
The time I spend fixing the Windows machines of the people around me seems to indicate that it's not the case.
Back when I used windows regularly instead of sparingly, I cant remember a time when I ever had to go into the registry files or command prompt to fix anything. You might have to install newer drivers or something but effectively do surgery on the dll files etc? Nope. And you have to remember that the average windows user is... not very skilled with computers. Theyre going to need hand holding a lot more than the average Linux user. Which is why windows is more or less designed for the lowest common denominator. And itd be weird if all the effort spent writing stuff primarily for windows didn't result in an easier experience.
It used to be that the community acknowledged the harm Windows' dominance caused Linux. Microsoft didnt change. They still leverage their monopoly to harm Linux.