Re: I've thought better of Linux
- From: Ulrich Hobelmann <u.hobelmann@xxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 12 Jun 2005 12:09:04 +0200
Brandon J. Van Every wrote:
When I decided to switch from Windows to Linux, it was on the premise that this would actually save me labor over using Cygwin or MinGW. I am disturbed to find out how bad Linux actually is.
Well, most hardware vendors don't care enough for you, the customer, that they don't give you (or anyone else) the details needed to write a working device driver. So in a political sense, using Linux sucks, yes, because you're on your own.
Near as I can tell, Linux is not some consistent OS that has come a long ways since my early forays from 1993 to 1996. Rather, Linux is a gamble. It might work fine for you, or it might royally suck. Here, "sucks" means "more work than beating Cygwin or MinGW into shape." I thought it would be a good trade. I am surprised how bad a trade it turned out to be.
Nobody ever said Linux was consistent. It's a collection of free (beer&speech) software tools that many people happen to like. It's definitely NOT consistent, both in the tools working together (or even having as much as a similar look and feel) and in terms of quality.
I've also become deeply averse to large stacks of dependent packages. This is common in open source land, and it forces one to get stuck on a particular OS. It's also the reason why Longhorn is shipping so late. Perhaps in time, both open source and Windows will evolve to be equally stacked and equally bad.
Isn't it normal that one kind of software DEPENDS on another, say, utilities, data structures, a GUI library, maybe a database?
I'm also realizing how irrelevant Linux is to shipping games. It isn't "an extra platform where I might pick up a few sales." It is an impossible platform.
I could have told you that ;)
Linuxers don't buy software. That's why they use Linux. But Unix in general is a great platform for *development*, like most Lisps run well on Unix, but not other systems. Just don't expect to write commercial stuff FOR linux.
In terms of consumer friendliness, it is complete junk, and incapable of being otherwise anytime soon. I can't even begin to fathom taking the tech support calls on this monstrosity. It makes the disparate world of Windows 3D drivers look like cake!
It's a volunteer-based system, with the advantages (lots of nice features appear early in some window managers), and the disadvantages (user-friendly it isn't).
Plus Apple is moving to x86, and in time will do all the things that the Linux world won't do. I believe Linux has lost its opportunity to become relevant as a consumer desktop. It will continue to grow as a server OS, with expert administrators always in tow.
Maybe. I don't know the future.
So, I'm nukeing my Linux partition and not looking back. Good riddance.
If you hate Windows, but want consistency and a viable market of users willing to pay money (but not a huge market), get a (cheap) Mac. Saves loads of time, in my experience the last 1.5 years (and watching other people use XP (and suffer) during that time, poor suckers).
If you want the huge market, you need to invest in the stuff needed to develop for it, I guess.
-- Don't let school interfere with your education. -- Mark Twain .
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