- You love giving your data away
- You enjoy being tracked by your operating system
- You’re happy when your computer tells you “no”
- You prefer someone else deciding what you can run
- You feel uncomfortable if you get to have options
- You’d rather battle corporate tech support
- You’d rather rent your software than own it
- You think ads belong on your desktop
- You love being lied to about what’s “industry standard”
- You like rebooting for every little update
- You’re uncomfortable when software is transparent
- You think community-made tools can’t be “professional”
- You want intrusive AI everywhere, whether it helps or not
- You think the command line is only for hackers
- You never really wanted your computer to be yours anyway
#3 is what does it for me. There are few things more enraging than something I own refusing to do what I’m instructing it to do.
This article likely came from a very sad and self-righteous place
Shh we’re trying to circlejerk here! Keep your voice of reason down and grab some lotion
I enjoy the snark, but also agree it’s condescending. Folks, take it as cynical humor, and don’t be so harsh.
Anyway I commented to say that #10 is creeping into at least some distributions.
My Ubuntu sends security updates that frequently impact system libraries and thus demands (politely) a reboot.
Gnome software does it all the time, but a regular “check for updates” will often install without demanding reboot. I suspect the update won’t be in effect until reboot, though.
This is exactly the kind of shit that keeps people from switching to Linux y’all know that right?
Yeah no its cos it breaks all the time.
Why should I care? Linux has enough users as it is, development is sustainable. I don’t want all users to switch at once because that would flood forums with noobs asking silly questions.
It’s their loss if they don’t use Linux. Why should I encourage them to do so? Just to have some shitty Electron apps more which I don’t use?
It’s much more painful for me that the places I work at don’t use Linux. They won’t be swayed by such an article anyway.
I’m a bit less nihilistic about it, though. I acknowledge the benefit if being a small enough “market” that the enshittification doesn’t hit Linux like a tsunami as you alluded.
More users means more bullshit money grubbers, more dishonesty, more incentive for greedy hackers to attack.
Exactly! That would make all Linux users miserable and paradoxically more users would probably mean a worse experience for those additional users aswell.
Are you serious? Do you really believe linux can’t get any better or that linux is perfect for you?
The more people that use linux the more donations it gets from people and the more people use it.
Also if you think linux is so awesome isn’t it nice to other people to share that awesomeness with them?
As well the more people that use linux the more apps will be supported on it. Can you say with full confidence that there isn’t a single windows or macos app that doesn’t work perfectly on linux that you don’t want? Even if linux is perfect for you, you rely on the kindness of open source maintainers to maintain linux, can you really not reserve any kindness for other people?
That is the real altruistic, hopeful view, but there are downsides that I enumerated in my other comment. Here’s another, though - With large scale acceptance comes a flood of people who just want a tool that works, not something they can build on or improve.
The greatest strength of this community is the love of the platform and the joy of exploration. Most are in it for altruistic or at least self enrichment reasons. Many are able to contribute when they see a gap. That can be diluted quickly.
Then the entrepreneurs see opportunities to make money from those people, and the enshitification begins.
This is why distros exist!
If the masses come to linux they will use distro’s like zorin os a distro that costs a bit of money but gives you premium support options so you can have the just works experience.
My point is thay the more niche distros for people like us won’t be used by the masses and neither will there forums, and I agree there probably will be some distros that get enshitified, honestly if linux gets popular enough we might even see a microsoft linux distro. But it won’t be the distros that we use because we rely on distros built by the community, not corporations.
This is the same argument I see people use for the fediverse but this is why instances are so useful.
I did not say I don’t want more Linux users. I just don’t want them all to switch at once and make it unbearable for “community support” to help each other and improve the ecosystem.
When everyone switches to desktop (!) Linux all of a sudden, it will make both the current users’ lives and the new users’ lives worse as the community can’t handle such a huge influx.
Organic growth is fine. You don’t need to market Linux to the masses, as that would only lead to enshittification.
I’d rather have Linux be imperfect and rough around the edges, but with sustainable, positive growth, than have everyone use Linux and flood bug trackers with so much work that maintainers give up and move to less demanding hobbies. Then the companies would take over and well, we know how it ends (see Windows 11).
The more people that use linux the more donations it gets from people
I don’t know if that’s true.
Also if you think linux is so awesome isn’t it nice to other people to share that awesomeness with them?
Sure, but I won’t force it onto them. They can choose to use it.
Do you know what consent is?
I agree with everything. Except the donations part.
Countless FOSS maintainers have lamented that millions of users use their software and nobody donates. (Lib)Curl for example is used in countless applications, basically all of them used by huge corporations, and they get flooded with bug reports for software they don’t even maintain, AI slop merge requests and pennies in donations (excuse the hyperbole).
The lead dev of curl has some funnysad stories to tell: @bagder@mastodon.social 💔🫶
Yeah, I read this as: YOU ARE FUCKING STUPID, I AM MUCH BETTER THAN YOU
That is really a good way to communicate.
“Well if you don’t buy this car you are a moron who can’t see how much better this car is. So keep driving that piece of shit car you dumbass. So, have I sold you on this car?”
- You can’t be trusted with keeping your desktop secure (because Linux sure as hell won’t do that for you).
- You need software that can’t run on Linux even via compatibility tools (Multiplayer AAA games don’t count).
- You have access to extended security updates for Windows 10.
Massgravel ftw, then I’m full on linux cause fuck 11.
10: But honestly, with an immutable distro you are not that far off 😀
I’ve been running Fedora for a few weeks and if I update it every time there’s updates available, I’d be rebooting nearly daily, because it insists on rebooting for “system packages”, where debian and even Arch based distros did not require restarts for most things… I’m not even using an immutable version of Fedora
You can change that setting in your App Store (eg. Discover for Plasma)
Good to know, I’ll check that out tonight, thanks!
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Back on the 90s (I know, I know) the joke was that of your VCR was still blinking 12:00 Linux was probably not for you.
Maybe this was true then, but my microwave never once knew what time it is
Same, too many clocks, all getting out of sync, and some on power strips that get turned off periodically.
I just wish there was an OS that was bloated to heck and back, and tried to shoehorn AI into weird places.
Nah, that still feels like too much freedom. What if I get lost?
- You own an AMD GPU and want to use your fancy HDMI 2.1 monitor / TV
Here’s a few more.
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You want to use multiple monitors without messing around.
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You don’t want to run an emulator for your games.
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You like being able to share software with people.
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You need corporate software for work or your own business.
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You’re looking for a computer that ‘just works’.
16: I’ve had more headaches getting multiple monitors to work in Windows than I ever have in Linux. Try connecting 2 monitors of wildly different resolutions in Windows and witness the abject failure of windows to handle that elegantly. Your mouse can slip off into a “void” where no monitor exists, and yet your content can just disappear to, dragging the mouse between monitors slips the cursor way off and to the right, screenshots are a mess, etc. etc.17: I only play games in Linux and I never use emulators… unless it’s for things like SNES.18: I don’t know what you’re getting at with this one. Software is way more shareable in Linux. You just say “it’s in your package manager” or “install this Flatpak”. Windows and Mac on the other hand have half-assed app stores and a culture of "just go to${URL}and click “download, ok, ok, ok” which inevitably leads to stuff breaking and no discernible way to determine what failed 'cause your machine is full of rando installations.19: This is fair, though most high-profile stuff like CrowdStrike works for Linux now.20: I cannot begin to tell you how much Windows and Mac don’t work. Like, at all. Just today I spent an hour on a call with another developer stuck in Windows trying to get a JDBC driver to work. The constant ambiguous error messages, useless documentation directing you to "just go to${RANDOM_SITE}and installsome-cryptically-named-executable.msithat craps out with error messages about missing runtimes… the whole operating system is hot garbage and that’s before you factor in the missing keyboard shortcuts, flaky monitor support, creeping AI, and ads shooting into your eyeballs. The only way Windows “Just Works™” is if you redefine “works” entirely.For #18, here’s how my sneakernet software sharing goes: Windows: I copy the installer exe, or a zipped version of the software as installed to a flash drive. The person can then run the software from the drive, or copy it to their own PC. No Internet required, no outside connection called for.
Linux: after determining that they have the right distro type for the software, I have to walk them through either getting it from a GUI repository client, apt, pacman, flatpak, snap, or whatever other cockamamie thing it’s on. They have to install it from the central authority - which is not sharing the software. It’s suggesting that someone else connect to the Internet and download a thing.
If it requires the Internet to for a typical user to share software on media, your operating system is hostile to freedom.
If you want to share software like that, just use AppImage. It’s perfect for sneakernet software sharing: no internet access required, and it requires less technical knowledge from end users than telling them to use a package manager. Just copy the file and run it.
A computer that “just works” nowadays is an android phone, windows has so much broken due to them replacing devs with AI that you can’t justify that as a reason nowadays.
I don’t understand the first two.
The first one is because at least on Mint, on the machine I have, multiple monitors just don’t work, and I’ve been told it’s not just me, it’s X11. The second is the need for Wine or Bottles (or whatever Valve has done).
Wine literally stands for “WINE Is Not an Emulator”.
That said, Proton is pretty transparent, you can just install any game off Steam right now and it’ll work 9 times out of 10 without you noticing that you’re using wine. I often can’t tell if I’m using proton or not and get surprised when I go into the game files for one reason or another expecting proton and am surprised to find a native Linux build. There has even been at least one time I’ve switched from a native Linux build to Proton because it ran better, and it was just one toggle.
Why the resistance to wine? Did you have an issue while using it, or is it the principle of using a compatibility layer?
Just never works
Most of these points are fair, but… wine is not an emulator!
And yet you knew exactly what I meant.
#20 is what it is
The monitor thing is very dependent on distro, I didn’t really have any issues at all with Linux mint or nobara
As others have said wine/proton is not an emulator and some games run even better on Linux, that being said a lot of AAA games have DRM that prevent you from running them on Linux, that would be your real argument there
Don’t like being able to share software? A ton of software on Linux is FOSS and available on windows, not all of it of course, but you could say the same about Mac
Depending on the corporation and software, you can use Linux, but yes, most places are windows shops, so that is difficult
But yeah,a computer that just “works” I concede most distros will not get you there. Nobara is definitely a bit unstable but I can deal with it because I was in IT for 6 years. Although immutable distros are close, but they definitely still take some knowhow to use, and have their limitations
Edit: misread part of the comment
A ton of software on Linux is FOSS and available on windows, not all of it of course, but you could say the same about Mac
Wine question 2.0: Does WSL count as Windows?
There are several apps that are compiled for both Linux and windows natively, that’s what I was referring to
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This is exactly the kind of shit that turns people off.
Good.
muh sekrit club!
Please, article writer, be a little more passive-aggressive.
Oh, it’s just a list of pro Linux items but in reverse psychology… Kay.
I’m already a Linux user, I was kinda curious about a listing of actual reasons Linux might not be for someone.
actual reasons:
- want to use some specific program or game only available for another os
- lazy, dumb or afraid of computer stuff.
- can’t decide from 10,000 different distributions
#2 is the cause of #1 & #3 so you only really listed 1 reason.
You forgot the real actual reason: I don’t care about computer stuff. My current computer does what I want and I don’t care to switch.
It is okay not to have the interest in computers. I could probably change the oil on my car but I don’t care and don’t want to do the work, so I don’t do it (the mechanic does).
that’s just another word for lazy
Perfectly valid. 👌
Not just reverse psychology, I can’t imagine anyone agreeing with most of these. It’s definitely got a holier-than-thou attitude. Like who is this even written for other than people who already use Linux and just want to feel smugly superior?
Exactly, it just reads like a smug rant.
Linux users? Being holier than thou? Say it ain’t so!
I use arch btw
- You start making weird passive aggressive lists to shame people into your preferred…whatever…
