I know that this might not be interesting to most people, but i’ve just felt the urge to write this down. So i thought i’d share it with you fine people.
At work, i’ve been with Linux only for the better part of two years. At home it was dual booting for 2 or 3 years too. I really like Linux. I like the concept of Open Source. I personally think it is the correct way to do software. I don’t like using a Product, that depends on a single company existing.
I also am a big fan of “the right tool for the job” and actually getting my job done. I’m not interested in making my OS choice a ethics discussion. I appreciate that others do and it’s certainly for the better, but i’m not on my PC to do politics. I either work or play and have fun. Both of those do not include making politics.
All that said, I’m really fed up with the endless holy wars of “X”. “X” being basically anything you use/do on Linux. I appreciate choice, to an extend. But using Linux for me has increasingly become an endless cycle of two to twenty solutions fighting over whats the best. And i don’t have time for that. My head wants to do that. I want to engange in finding the best terminal emulator out there. But it kills my productivity. Once i’ve spend a whole work day evaluating xTerm over Terminator compared to allacritty when st is still out there, i knew it was time to leave. The endless amount of choice for every single part of the OS never lets me get to a “i’m done point”. Wayland vs. X, Vim vs Emacs (and god forbid you use VS Code), the endless demonification of Electron Apps, DE vs WM, tiling vs floating, Firefox vs Chromium. I could go on for days. No matter what you choose, there is an alternative and people endlessly arguing how one is clearly supperior to the other. Limiting the available choices with Windows (basically, only the Browser is left for choice. The rest is as it is) has been a major productivity boost for me.
Same goes for my home/gaming rig. I know that almost anything CAN work on linux. This doesn’t mean i want to MAKE it work. Putting some work in is expected. But having to reinstall several games after every update, spending to evenings in winetricks to get the correct combination of settings for something to launch, and having lost countless weekends to Compositors, VSync, DPI handling and 144Hz mixed Setups, i’m really frustrated and fed up. I don’t spend my life in the Browser or Terminal. If i did i’d probably be fine on Linux. I have an Nvidia Card, three screens that aren’t the same, do Audio production and want to play the currently “hot” games with my friends. Because it’s what i do in my free time. I don’t spend my free time programming (mostly) or being on facebook, twitter or what not.
This doesn’t mean Windows hasn’t had it’s fair share of Problems. I’m in a special situation in that i have access to an LTSC License. This has fixed any gripe i’ve had with Windows 10 so far. I’m now back to Windows 10 LTSC on both my work and home machine. I enjoy that i can just install a programm. I know anything i paid for already just works (Games, VST Plugins, Software). I get official support for the errors my software produces, and don’t spend 20 hours a week looking for a new DE or Theme or Font. My Laptop goes to sleep properly and switches Displays when docked or not. All Monitors behave like they should and my Graphics Card hast the performance i expect. I’ve now settled with Firefox and will stop looking at new browsers. Because at the moment it just works.
Keep in mind, that my situation might be different than yours. I have access to a legal LTSC License, my work environment is based on MS products (Exchange, Teams etc), i need to use a Ticketing tool that’s Windows only and all the Games i mainly play aren’t officially supported on Linux. But i also feel that this is a big factor in why “normal” people don’t like Linux. You basically have to get into the very detail of every choice. And the community won’t accept that you don’t care. It’s expected that you care for what editor you use. Some people don’t want to get into why they are using systemd or KDE. They just want to install an OS and get some help if it doesn’t work.
This does NOT mean i don’t want Linux do suceed. I would love to do what i do now, just on Linux. I’ll be following it closely and keep testing in VM’s. My work is still 90% on Linux Servers and i still think Linux would be the better solution over Windows.
I’m just done being a beta tester, on the bleeding edge trying to make stuff work. I appreciate every single person who does push Linux forward. I’m contributing to projects i feel have an impact in that way and will keep doing so. Once all my needs just work on Linux, i’ll be the first to switch.
Until then, i’ll be chearing from the sideline and get some work done.