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> First, the article doesn't say that "Linux is not ready for the desktop" - or concern itself with this as an abstract question.
Well, it does, but in a sarcastic manner:
"Yeah, let's consider Linux an OS ready for the desktop :-)."
> Also, I find the "GNU/Linux is already ready for the desktop; I and others use it" argument tired. I've used GNU/Linux for the desktop in 1998, but it sure as hell wasn't ready then.
Conversely, that it doesn't work for certain people does not mean that "it is not ready", which the post does state (sarcastically) as I pointed out above.
> Many use cases aside...
I'm not sure how the browsing, docs and email is miserable, maybe you can expand on that. The video editing is indeed a bit limited from my experience too. However, I don't think "limited proprietary options" is a problem. The community largely and specifically avoids proprietary software. Proprietary incursions into the community are generally seen as a negative thing. And for the lack of codecs, software patents for the most part are to blame.
And then it just comes to my original statement; many things stated in the article are non-issues to most Linux users or just falsehoods:
- Neither Mozilla Firefox nor Google Chrome use video decoding and output acceleration in Linux.
Firefox does.
- NVIDIA Optimus technology is a pain
NVIDIA is a pain.
- You don't play games, do you?
I do.
- Linux still has very few native AAA games.
So "it's not ready" because it doesn't have AAA games? What a pitty.
- To be fair you can now run thousands of Windows games through DirectX to Vulkan/OpenGL translation (Wine, Proton, Steam for Linux) but this incurs translation costs and decreases performance sometimes significantly.
No, not 'significantly' for dxvk.
- Also, anti-cheat protection usually doesn't work in Linux.
For good reason. Blame the dev, and don't make it work on Linux.
- Microsoft Office is not available for Linux
Thankfull.
- LibreOffice often has major troubles properly opening, rendering or saving documents created in Microsoft Office.
And whose fault is this? Use ODT.
- Several crucial Windows applications are not available under Linux.
Thankfully. Also, 'crucial' is subjective.
- In 2022 there's still no alternative to Windows Network File Sharing.
It's available since 1992: https://www.samba.org/
- Linux doesn't have a reliably working hassle-free fast native (directly mountable via the kernel; FUSE doesn't cut it) MTP implementation.
I can transfer files to my phone just fine.
- Too many things in Linux require manual configuration using text files.
No.
etc.
>"! Distros' repositories do not contain all available open source software (libraries' conflicts don't even allow that luxury). The user should never be bothered with using ./configure && make && make install (besides, it's insecure, can break things in a major way, and it sometimes simply doesn't work because the user cannot install/configure dependencies properly). It should be possible to install any software by downloading a package and double clicking it (yes, like in Windows, but probably prompting for a user/administrator password).Linux distros.
! Applications development is a major PITA. Different distros can use a) different library versions, b) different compiler flags, c) different compilers. This leads to a number of problems raised to the third power."
I don't know that I can help with the other problems enumerated; but...
NixOS goes a long way toward solving the problems quoted above
Now, NixOS does come with a bit of a learning curve however -- so it's not recommended for all types users!
If a user has put in the prerequisite time and energy to learn Unix/Linux -- then with the additional time/effort to learn NixOS -- they can largely be free of the above problems!
https://nixos.org/