The amazing power of Linux

[Anziaty]

I just study Linux, I plan to move away from Windows in the future. But so far everything seems too complicated.

 

[Metanis]

The best part of Linux is that it forced Microsoft to open up a bit and to innovate more. I keep a Mint machine around just for data recovery and I agree that it's become a very good and stable platform. It runs on dying toasters pretty well even.

However, when it breaks, I have almost no luck in figuring out how to fix it. When you Google something about Linux you've got to wade through dozens of different distributions, eras, and releases. Then you have to navigate a command-line syntax that makes MS-DOS look elegant. (Sure, I know that if you had a Unix or BSD background you could be right at home!)

Finally, I've been doing PC work since 1982 and I've never once had a paying Linux customer. I mean I even got paid to solder Timex-Sinclairs together for people.

So, I'm happy and glad that Linux is around but you'll never pry my cold dead fingers from my over-tweaked Windows 11 Professional running on a PCI4 NVMe SSD with 64Gigs of DDR5-5600 RAM.

 

[britechguy]

Then you have to navigate a command-line syntax that makes MS-DOS look elegant.

Eh, both MS-DOS and all of the various *nix shells are sylph-like ballet dancers compared to PowerShell!

And I have never, once, had a single paying Linux customer, and I chalk that up to two things:
1. Linux geeks are just that - they have little need of our services.
2. Linux has not gotten, and will never, get, a significant portion of the desktop market. They've had decades to do it, there are many perfectly wonderful distros for the end user, and there's lots more Linux ports of popular software than there ever has been. It's just not catching on. It will remain a niche market, beloved by data centers the world over, but never make inroads in the home and office.

 

[GTP]

My daily driver is a Dell laptop with Mint 21.1 "Vera." I have 3 other "Linux" PC's all doing various things and I use them quite a lot.
Updating is a cinch using the Update Manager. I've never had a problem updating.

My gaming PC is Windows, but only because I have some favorite games that don't have Linux support.

I run my most played game - Left 4 Dead 2 - on Linux but it's also on the Windows PC.

Linux is quite easy to use and understand. I don't really ever have to "repair" Linux it's just a rock solid OS that keeps on keeping on. The last time I had to fix anything was when I inadvertently removed Librewolf and Teamviewer from the "Sources" list. Took a few minutes to correct but that's it.

I have had 6 "paying Linux customers" over my time as an IT business owner. 3 of those clients still run Linux in their graphic design, web design and art studio businesses.
The other three were private individuals who have since passed on, retired and use a ipad and the other is not using a PC anymore.

 

[britechguy]

@GTP,

I think I can say, without contradiction, that you are a unicorn in the world of techs. The idea of having 6 paying Linux customers is, I'm quite sure, jaw-dropping to a great many of us.

I couldn't have Linux as a daily driver even if I wanted to simply because I have to keep up with Windows and its eccentricities to the maximum extent possible.

 

[GTP]

simply because I have to keep up with Windows and its eccentricities to the maximum extent possible.

As I do. But that doesn't mean I can't use Linux as well.
99% of my clients were (and still are afaik) Windows users.
Of course I have several Windows PC's and Laptops that I also use regularly so "keeping up with Windows and its eccentricities" was/is a non issue for me.

I support Windows, Linux and Mac (limited) as some of my clients are also MAC users. I loathe Mac (and Apple btw!) and would rather stick a fork in my eye than work on one, but the money was good so...

 

[britechguy]

I loathe Mac (and Apple btw!) and would rather stick a fork in my eye than work on one, but the money was good so...

Seconded! (But MacOS is much, much closer to *nix than Windows - frighteningly so in certain respects).

 

[GTP]

I'm not so sure about that. Have you looked at a late version of Linux lately?
I've had people use linux and comment that "It's just like windows!"

 

[britechguy]

I'm not so sure about that. Have you looked at a late version of Linux lately?

Yes, I have. The GUI is not what counts here. If you want something that looks, for all the world like Windows, but is Linux, look at the WindowsFX distros. But they have nothing whatsoever, in any meaningful sense, to do with Windows other than surface appearance.

MacOS descends directly from BSD, giving it *nix DNA, so to speak. It's a kissing cousin of all the Linux world.

 

[GTP]

@britechguy My apologies. I read your post too quickly and misinterpreted your comment.

Yes, MAC is very much a *nix based (BSD) operating system. I just wish it was as easy to use as BSD.

I remember a Distro called "Lindows" that was almost identical to Windows XP. I think they were sued out of existance...

 

[Porthos]

I remember a Distro called "Lindows" that was almost identical to Windows XP. I think they were sued out of existance...

Sorta

In 2002, Microsoft sued Lindows, Inc. claiming the name Lindows constituted an infringement of their Windows trademark. Microsoft's claims were rejected by the court, which asserted that Microsoft had used the term windows to describe graphical user interfaces before the Windows product was ever released, and that the windowing technique had already been implemented by Xerox and Apple Computer many years before.[8] Microsoft sought a retrial and after this was postponed in February 2004,[9] offered to settle the case. As part of the licensing settlement, Microsoft paid an estimated $20 million, and Lindows, Inc. transferred the Lindows trademark to Microsoft and changed its name to Linspire, Inc.[10]

Linspire - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[GTP]

"Microsoft paid an estimated $20 million, and Lindows, Inc....."
Thanks @Porthos
My memory isn't the best these days. Should have checked Wikipedia first.