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Comment by swiley | Hacker News Reader

I really don't understand the drive to make GNU/Linux a "consumer operating system." The consumers don't care and are happy with absolutely awful software. Shiny GUI toolkits that are a huge pain to develop for, and non-free software gos against what the people who use GNU/Linux now want. That's why ubuntu's unity stuff failed, because they chased after users who don't care and alienated the only ones that might use their product.

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It's because Linux desktop users want to be able to use consumer software, and the only way they're going to get it is if Linux becomes a consumer operating system

Yes! Developers are people too..

I don't see anyone here who suggested they're not?

Linux desktop has mostly been about using free software IMO. If you don't care about your freedom, why not run macOS?

Most vendors of non-free software do support macOS (or viable alternatives are available). I strongly doubt many of them will even come to Linux. Because it requires more standard configurations. Apple had to make its main FS case insensitive before vendors like MS and Adobe were porting their software.

I like having my own choice in configuring my system. That amd freedom is why I use Linux desktop.

A small nit here: the Mac has been case insensitive since 1984 and AFAIK Adobe actually started on Mac.

But yeah, the main justification for an open-source power-user desktop OS is a backup plan in case macOS dies, which isn't a very good business case.

> Shiny GUI toolkits that are a huge pain to develop for, and non-free software gos against what the people who use GNU/Linux now want.

This is a yuuuge generalization. There are many Linux folks who want a slick consumer experience and there are many that want ratpoison and vim. :-)

This idea doesn't take away from the requirements that people have for a non-consumer desktop.

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