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Use Windows and love it

7 (63.6%)

Use Mac and love it

1 (9.1%)

Use Linux and love it

0 (0%)

Dual-Boot and love it

1 (9.1%)

Hate my life, operating systems, keyboards, the internet etc.

2 (18.2%)

Total Members Voted: 10

[Infinityforce]

Before I start my post: I am not a computer expert. I just enjoy using computers. Now, onto the thread.

EDIT:
Why Linux?
DUAL BOOT: Keep your old OS anyway! Lose nothing! Use your new one however you like!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

WORKSPACES: One Computer = 16 Desktops! Yeah baby! Now THAT'S multitasking!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

FLAVOURS: Choose a version that runs on your computer! Extremely low spec versions, workstation/education versions, fancy hitec versions!
Bells and whistles optional (and available) in countless flavours, for your specific purposes, tastes and requirements!
Tailor your OS to your machine, lifestyle and needs!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

FREE. ABSOLUTELY FREE. Get it while you can.

People buy Mac/Apple, and their reward is to be locked into a system of software and products which are vastly over-inflated in price.
Windows is the same, it just has a longer/more-established history.
The cost of those systems is that the user is locked into a cycle of using a brand of products, and cannot escape.
They are forced to live in isolationist and insular technological ecosystems that only allows compatible hardware/software from the same company.
Isn't this morally wrong? How can companies and profiteering corporations abuse their consumer bases in such a manner?
The issue is exclusivity. No one can easily change their software-hardware, because they are already heavily invested in it! Both financially and mentally.
When a user is locked into using certain (overpriced) software or hardware, they should consider their alternatives!
Haven't they ever heard of the terms SUNK COSTS or VICIOUS CYCLE?
Microsoft and Apple sure have! That's how they've come to be the leaders of the market!

When I compare them to Linux in my mind, there is no competition: Linux is the clear winner, ethically, economically, practically.
If only people knew that they didn't have to pay through the nose for expensive software licenses and exclusive hardware.
They could just go Open-Source! I downloaded an OS for FREE. And it is functionally superb and rivals Windows!
We've come a long way from the situation 10 years ago, when people used to laugh at Linux! Now Ubuntu is just-as-good-as if not better than the competition.
Open Source forever!

Imagine how much more profitable and prosperous Linux could be, if people knew there was a better choice, and supported it.
With increasing demand, there would be an increase in supply too!

Manufacturers would create tech for Linux/Unix instead of Windows/Mac.
We would have hardware tailored and optimised for Linux, for example. People would build more Linux-oriented rigs!

Software companies would move to open-source platforms. Software manufactures would output for a single platform, instead of 3 different ones.
Instead of 3 different standards/styles, there would be 1 main one, with many splinters and off-shoots.

Imagine if all computer technology was based on a single kernel (some oversimplification here, excuse me, I'm no expert)!
All of coding and computer knowledge would be based on a central, free and openly shared set of information.

Tools and guides to that information would also be free! No more paying license fees to Windows or Macintosh!
That information would be (mostly) free to access and learn: People would put up guides and teaching resources would explode! It would be an industry in it's own right.
No more expensive lessons and tutoring, when all that content is available free on the web, shared and maintained by those who care for it.
And the best thing is it would mostly be free! Sure you would have some premium resources, and nothing can really supplement human tuition and guidance, but the vast majority would be easy to access for newcomers.

People in 3rd world countries could instantly access these resources and become software engineers.
Prospects for entering the market as a developer would improve drastically with the rise of free and open-source.
Creating code and programs would be vastly simplified in many aspects.
The cost barrier would diminish, as would the hurdles to learning, creating and sharing it.
So would the many legal hiccups and problems, currently associated with the current () monopoly also disappear.

Of course there would be disadvantages too. Hackers and viruses etc. would run rampant.
It would truly be a survival of the fittest, and there would be a pressure to overcome faults with superior coding and planning.
People would still want to get paid for their work, so they would form companies and make licensable software.
People would steal software all the time. There would be copyright infringement everywhere! (just like now, actually)
Still, there would be vast progress due to the availability of information.
In a more specific sense, users would be empowered to become creators, not just consumers.
We would have more control over our technological destiny, instead of being subject to it.

How can any OS be so good? I started running Ubuntu on my machine in the last year (I've been through about 10-20 'flavours' since then) and it is honestly the single best and most liberating computing experience I've ever had. I can't wait for the future of Linux.
In another vein, how is it that so much software runs from Linux (specifically, Android) yet people are so woefully ignorant of it?
Even scientific laboratories use linux.
Video game vendors and creators also use linux.
Linux can be run on digital piano-keyboards and electronic-ovens!
Is there no end to the spread of technology?

The one downside I can see is a "rise of the machines" type situation. In which case, your oven may try to kill you, but heck, that's similar to the problem with self-driving cars and tracking/surveillance. If it really comes down to it, we could always turn off the power.

p.s. please excuse any errors or faults in this post. I am sure that most computer users would know more about this subject than me in any case.

Here is some original work I felt inspired to make. I hope you enjoy it!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Frumple]

... man, it's been a while since I've seen a linux master race spiel that wordy.

In any case, to state the obvious, linux may (but only may) be the future but it damn sure isn't the now. Won't be until someone gets around to fixing the issues with cross platform and backwards compatibility, as well as actually streamline/polish stuff to the point it's actually comparatively painless to use for the average computer user (some builds come close-ish, but they ain't there yet). Maybe another decade or three and it'll stop being the OS of people with too much time on their hands.

[Infinityforce]

I am not hopeful. I am DETERMINED that it should take over. I want it to be the case that Linux should win.
I want lil' David to slay Goliath. I want to see GNU smash the brains of those who oppose freedom, all over the world.
I want the blood of Microsoft to run green with the $$$ that it hemorrhages.
I want Apple Mac to severely rethink their strategy before saturating the market with their monopoly of products, appeal-to-base-instinct tactics, trying new and different marketing techniques until, finally, they are exhausted before the might and possibility of OPEN SOURCE, slumping to the ground, defeated and starved, for all their products and software, unable to raise a hand to snatch the last buck from the hand of the last fool ignorant enough to buy apple.
I want competitors to be deterred, frightened, shivering in their offices and ruing the day that OPEN SOURCE was born.
I want them to CRY. And more than that, I want the innocent to cry too. I want them to cry out of happiness! Out of gratitude! Salvation! FREEDOM!
I want to educate every single person who fucks over the economy and state of affairs of the world: "There is an alternative and it is called OPEN SOURCE!"
We can develop, change, we can throw off the shackles of corporate parasitism, and we can embrace, support and fund a new way. A free way. An open way.
I may not be high-tech, but I can fight with the words of my mouth, and the keyboard, and my heart, against injustice.
Truly, we wrong ourselves.

If only people knew about "purchasing power" and "voting with your money" they would no longer fund greedy pigs who run the hyper-inflated market.
What kind of world is it where mobile phones experience a markup of more than 100%, as standard, and free software is ignored?
I for one, cannot live in that world. I hate that the economy, and technological lives of so many people is ruled by currency, and not efficiency.
People work so hard, and there is so little. It's just another straw on the camel's back. But not on my back.

@Naxza : I initially wasn't sure as to the meaning of your image. I first thought you were calling me a keyboard warrior (i.e. fedora wearing is associated with internet white-knights and such) but then I realised "Oh! Fedora is also an OS!" :p
Th-that's what you meant, r-right?

@Frumple : Sorry for the rant. I don't see it as "linux master race" but as "windows/mac inferior race" (goblins and kobolds, versus dwarves, even)
I'm new to Ubuntu, but it's relatively pain free, user friendly, and internet manuals abound with a friendly userbase. and WINE also does a great job of- er- not being an emulator.
Okay, it is somewhat technical, but that promotes and encourages understanding and better users (I hope) and if it came down to it, I'm sure that something like Android could also be developed for user-friendliness. Since it's open source, that makes it all the more possible!
Just look at all the versions on tablets and smartphones in china, for instance.

I severely doubt that it will take another three decades. A decade seems more reasonable.
More importantly, if more people switched over to Linux, it would take much less time to develop than even that.

[Max™]

Linux won, just not in the places where you would be using it. It's also doing well in the embedded devices field, plus the sorta cousin-with-a-kiss that android/chrome share with linux, being far more closely related than you might think. Though that changes from time to time as the kernel pushes and pulls features from and to them.

Desktop linux was never going to be a starter without things being heavily changed to favor it, rather than disfavor it in the early days, and while gaming on it is more viable now, most people play more than just df for some reason.

[Infinityforce]

Linux won, just not in the places where you would be using it. It's also doing well in the embedded devices field, plus the sorta cousin-with-a-kiss that android/chrome share with linux, being far more closely related than you might think. Though that changes from time to time as the kernel pushes and pulls features from and to them.

Desktop linux was never going to be a starter without things being heavily changed to favor it, rather than disfavor it in the early days, and while gaming on it is more viable now, most people play more than just df for some reason.

Although I am happy to learn of this, I mostly feel deeply disquieted in my heart that Microsoft/Mac rule the world are vampires, feeding on the ignorant, distorting the market and consumer choices etc. and over-inflate their prices, all the while representing it as if the consumers don't have a choice, and are lucky that there are any products at all, when the (potential) reality is so different.

[Sergarr]

I've saw people using Linux in my university, and it looked like something out of 90s.

I'm not going to go back to a command-line interface, fucking hell no.

[Infinityforce]

I've saw people using Linux in my university, and it looked like something out of 90s.

I'm not going to go back to a command-line interface, fucking hell no.

But! But! It makes you feel like a leet hacker!
Here is what Ubuntu looks like now a year ago:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Nowadays there are countless graphical Skins, Themes, Desktop Managers, Effects etc. that make your box feel like a spaceship.
It seriously rivals the flash of any OS, and then some.

[Max™]

I've saw people using Linux in my university, and it looked like something out of 90s.

I'm not going to go back to a command-line interface, fucking hell no.

Hrm.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I use my cli stuff where it's better, like pacman, ls, nano to quick open/jot down something, cd, mv, rm, git, various others I use less often... but there's no reason it can't also have a modern styling. The right panel there is partially transparent, showing part of the desktop background on that monitor, just because why not, and that's with like 90% of the effects off from when I was testing out the wayland compositor.

[Loud Whispers]

I don't want to use Linux but Windows aggressive attempts to force me into windows 10 is much too much, forcing updates without my permission is the red line crossed

wew lads linux time

[Max™]

I'd say try out arch, and I've said this before in a joking manner, but I have no fucking clue how I installed arch at this point. It's a rolling release so I've just been updating it for years and honestly can't recall what was involved in setting it up.

If you like pretty screencandy, kubuntu is easy enough to set up and comes with KDE, my favorite for customizability.

Mint has a windows xp skin that I used to convert the computer downstairs and they were honestly confused because I had been talking about installing linux for them, and they were expecting weirdness... but it just looked normal?

[Folly]

Both Windows and Apple have relatively simple workarounds that can disable their black-list and white-list of apps allowed to run.

I agree that their costs are over-inflated, but I feel like you are greatly over-exaggerating the restrictions of those systems.

[Mephisto]

End users don't care, and why should they. A computer is an appliance to some people. As long as my parents can read email and look at pay stubs, they're happy. A cheap Windows desktop suits them just fine, requires no extra training, and already comes with solitaire, the only computer game they play.

[itisnotlogical]

I've used a handful of different flavors of Linux on a range of computers, and any non-trivial piece of software took at least two or three tries to get working if I ever got it working at all. Windows, that I've seen, only really has issues with strange printers and games that were made four or more OSes ago.

I've also never had something mysteriously break with no given reason on Windows. If something broke, it either never worked in the first place or I could hazard a guess why it stopped working. When I was using Linux, the wi-fi just stopped working and I never knew why. Same for the webcam ("What webcam?" says the OS), and MAME that didn't have any sound, and ZDOOM that refused to use anything other than the worst sound mode possible.

[miauw62]

I've saw people using Linux in my university, and it looked like something out of 90s.

I'm not going to go back to a command-line interface, fucking hell no.

To be honest, the Linux shell is actually quite nice to use while being pretty powerful. And full desktop solutions are available with Linux.

You're probably still better off with Windows as long as you're not a programmer, though. My point is just that Linux doesn't really feel dated. The UI just lacks professional polish of the MS marketing department, for obvious reasons.


But yeah, OP, you say some dumb shit in your post. With Windows you're "lucky if it works"? Lol. With Linux you usually have to google for half an hour to get anything to work.

Linux has quite some advantages, and I care about free software and privacy, but Windows comes with an implicit guarantee that all software will run on your computer with very little hassle. Some programs simply don't have a Linux version, in which case your SOL.

Sure, there exist FOSS versions of many of these programs, but again they lack professional polish. GTK+ has an almost ten year old bug where you can't type quotation marks when your keyboard is set to English International.

It's great that Linux exists and it has many applications, but those tend towards the power user side rather than the average desktop user who doesn't know how to google their problems. (and no, this isn't going away. There are 18 year olds who are just as ignorant as many sixty-somethings when it comes to computers).

[Nirur Torir]

It seems that whenever I try to get my Ubuntu install to do something it doesn't already do, it breaks something else worse. The thought of trying to help my parents with a Linux computer is quite terrifying, and I don't understand why you want to put anyone through that pain.