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Matt Asay: the Linux desktop is "utter crap"

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Linux

"Linus Torvalds woke up on Mars today (or maybe it was Oz), and had this to say:

I don't think they're [Windows Vista and Mac OS X] equally flawed. I think Leopard is a much better system. On the other hand, (I've found) OS X in some ways is actually worse than Windows to program for. Their file system is complete and utter crap, which is scary. I think OS X is nicer than Windows in many ways, but neither can hold a candle to my own (Linux). It's a race to second place.

I guess when you're famous you can say inane things and get away with it. Yes, Linux does some things better than Mac OS X and Microsoft's Windows Vista on the desktop (security, maybe), but let's be honest: the Linux desktop is "utter crap" compared to either OS X or Windows when it comes to the thing that matters most: usability.

If normal people can't use it, it just doesn't matter how beautifully architected it is. Sorry, Linus. Everyone has to be wrong sometimes. This is your turn to shine."

Full Commentary




Matt Asay: the Linux desktop is "utter crap"

What a bunch of fud. I'm so sick of this rediculous banter as to the usability and user friendliness of Linux. It's a waste of time and space.

The time for a usable Linux desktop is now. How do I know this? Because I have one and I'm using it NOW. Well, actually that's not true since right at this very moment I'm writing this while using BSD, but no one would know that by looking at my desktop, it's KDE just like I use in Linux.

Let's face it, the "normal people" referred to in this article have the PC savy of a stump. Most of them would have difficulty plugging color-coded plugs into matching ports and pressing the on button of a new PC. I know, I used to support them and all of you utopians who cringe whenever that truth is spoken, suck it up, it's still the truth.

These "normal users" should just stay where they're comfortably numb, using Windows. I don't want even one more of them trying to use Linux. All they do is whine and complain that Linux isn't like Windows, well duh, it's not Windows, but they're too ignorant, lazy and impatient to invest the one thing that even a free OS requires, time to learn it.

They come in to our community and demand that the volunteer help solve their issues, NOW, yet they can't be bothered to even search the forums or google the problem to see if it has been previously anwsered. And brother, should you point that out to them do they get hostile, why you'd think they weren't getting their money's worth.

They act just like the selfish jerks that buy the cheap real-estate near the private airstrip out in the country, then complain to the authorities that the airplanes are making too much noise and have the airport shutdown.

I for one, am sick of them. I don't care if there's not one more "normal user" who ever tries Linux. Like it or not, utopians cover your eyes, Linux is an OS written by geeks for geeks and we geeks like it that way.

re: utter crap

I agree, I've been using Linux since the turn of the century and I thought it was quite usable then or I wouldn't have switched.

I also agree with your assessment of "normal people." I was thinking: is normal people that same lowest common denominator that our education system now has to cater to and has sent this country into "Idiocracy?"

Susan, did he change the headline?

It now says: "Linus Torvalds: Mac OS X can't hold a candle to Linux"

If he actually put in "Matt Asay: the Linux desktop is "utter crap"", then I wish to know so that I can unsubscribe from his blog.

re: headline

I don't recall. I thought it had utter crap in it, but maybe not. That "Matt Asay: the Linux desktop is "utter crap"" is mine tho. It was kinda a play off his, so I think he changed his to excluded that phrase.

Thanks

Ahh.. okay. He changed the headline at least one though. it has a different headline in my feeds reader.

Well..

In the article he does say the Linux desktop is Utter Crap. It just wasn't the headline.

Linux on desktops

I find Linux to be a much better dekstop than windows especially for home users. Linux is much easier to manage, maintain and keep running for longer periods without having to reinstall a whole operating system.
Even distributions such as ArchLinux, Gentoo and Slackware are much easier to use than windows.
I have been using ArchLinux since 2006 because I couldn't handle Xp any longer. With Linux, if a problem occurs, it's either a bug in the software or something easily fixed and it's never something that can make your PC go boom. With windows, I couldn't figure out how to fix problems and Microsoft's support was terrible.

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