this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2023
83 points (79.4% liked)

Linux

47557 readers
503 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I'm curious to hear thoughts on this. I agree for the most part, I just wish people would see the benefit of choice and be brave enough to try it out.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] ursakhiin@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is one that we can't just solve by putting computers on the shelf.

Some people have tools that don't work on Linux natively. If somebody is using and is familiar with Microsoft Excel, there isn't a straightforward way to install it and FOSS options aren't the same. The same can be said of Adobe.

Linux as a desktop environment will have to be for enthusiasts for a while longer. Hopefully, somebody gets more feature parity with the existing suites and the transition can just work out of the box.

But Linux when compared to Windows and Mac is a case study of capitalism vs FOSS. We (Linux users) generally think Linux is better and maybe it is, but Microsoft and Apple spent tons of money to make theirs what they are today and we didn't.

[–] QuazarOmega@lemy.lol 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Microsoft and Apple spent tons of money to make theirs what they are today and we didn't

Not personally, but there's loads of companies that work and contribute to the kernel and all the surrounding software, they give funds, obviously not as huge as Microsoft's paycheck, but with less I'd say we have achieved way way more in several aspects, application support is entirely on the devs, be it Microsoft (again) or Adobe or what have you, yet we're able to run alternative suites that are at least an 80% of what those proprietary options offer, for the office suite in particular I think we're pretty well off with Onlyoffice.

Money, though important, is clearly not a measure of quality in software

[–] ursakhiin@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

My point wasn't that they spend money on quality. Much of what they spend on is perception and awareness.