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0 pointsGTP2mo ago0 comments

> Linux frequently demands that I spend hours chasing down issues

This is one of the points where people have vastly different experiences. I'm one of those that has fewer issues with Linux, and I definitely don't spend hours fixing problems. And this despite the fact that I use Arch, which is supposed to be an unstable distro. Why is that different users report so different experiences I don't know. I think that this might be partly due to perception: we tend to forgive more the OS we like. But your case doesn't seem to be just about perception. So I wonder how much the hardware could play a role here. I think Linux has quite good hardware support nowadays, but maybe I was just lucky so far.

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ux2664782mo ago

No, it has to do with how your system is set up. Without fail, someone who has his opinion about Linux is using some ungodly bloated corpse of a distro because they genuinely do not know better. Hence why they blame their system's problems on the kernel, despite ostensibly never having any actual problems with the kernel itself. It's not like Linux is particularly perfect, but how many complaints about using it as the basis of a desktop system include the mistake that is the devtree? Or the fact that nice values are complete placebo? Or the million quirks with it's specific implementation of SIGALRM?

You don't have problems with Arch presumably because you've avoided building your system into a neutron star of corporate shitware, while that's the default state for most distributions.

applfanboysbgon2mo ago

> Hence why they blame their system's problems on the kernel

I'm not blaming anything on the kernel (other than memory management). The userland ecosystem is part of what makes an OS, a perfect kernel with no userland is of no value to the general populace. You don't really get to discount everyone's complaints about the Linux experience because they aren't complaints about the kernel, or at least you won't convince anyone by doing so. It is clearly possible to solve many of the issues I have on top of the Linux kernel, because Android used to be decent, but it seems the desktop ecosystem is just locked in to too many bad choices at this point.

The vast majority of complaints about Windows have nothing to do with the NT kernel, either, which by most accounts is actually quite good.

ux2664782mo ago

I mean, I literally opened my post talking about how it's the structure of your system, as in the components you choose to make up your desktop. The kernel is ultimately irrelevant, that's the point, I'm not sure how you managed to miss that. Linux does not have a canonical userland beyond the GNU Coreutils*, no matter how much Redhat and its sycophants would like it to be the case. Windows does, however. When you're complaining about Linux, you're complaining about your specific choices in how you structured the system, usually boiling down to your choice of distribution (but not essentially.) You can certainly at any point pack up your bags and leave the dogshit behind, your pain is a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Such is not the case on Windows, where you are proffered absolutely no choice, because there is a canonical desktop experience. Nobody made you use Gnome or other such crap. But there are certainly plenty of people who will lie to you and try to get you to stay within Redhat's kingdom of sewage.

hunterpayne2mo ago

You forgot the part where they edited a bunch of config files (that they didn't understand) for no reason or are running some experimental UI extension that makes their mouse pointer have a trail of stars or something.

Rohansi2mo ago

All of these points apply to every OS. Windows bricking itself after updates is far more likely to be caused by all the bullshit software installed by manufacturers and the user.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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ux2664782mo ago

You don't have problems with Arch presumably because you've avoided building your system into a neutron star of corporate shitware, while that's the default state for most distributions.

applfanboysbgon2mo ago

> Hence why they blame their system's problems on the kernel

The vast majority of complaints about Windows have nothing to do with the NT kernel, either, which by most accounts is actually quite good.

ux2664782mo ago

hunterpayne2mo ago

Rohansi2mo ago

All of these points apply to every OS. Windows bricking itself after updates is far more likely to be caused by all the bullshit software installed by manufacturers and the user.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse