Keir Thomas: Why People Quit Linux | Hacker News Reader

Keir Thomas: Why People Quit Linux

pcworld.com

11 pointsAnon8415 comments

Number six is the best example of what bugs me about this article. The reason given is "I just don't like it." In other words, personal preference -- a totally valid reason for choosing an operating system. And the author pays lip service to this, saying 'After all, Linux isn't for everybody.'

But then this: "What they're really saying, of course, is that Linux was unfamiliar and spooked them so much that they ran back to Windows." Those foolish little cowards, scared by the unfamiliar, running with their tails between their legs back to Microsoft!

"Again, this is reasonable. It's their choice." Well, it's reasonable in real life, not in your emotion-driven caricature.

"But they shouldn't pretend they're making an objective evaluation. It's just an opinion." They're not pretending that. They said "I just don't like it." That's as clearly subjective as a statement can get.

The whole piece (except for point one) pretends to engage with opposing arguments but in fact distorts and caricatures them and then argues with the caricature.

This guy comes across as being angry that people quit Linux, as though they owe Linux something.

Angry and unreasonable because of it. I've used nothing but Linux for the past 10 years, but I think most people are better off using Windows.

Ah, if only people knew that #2 and #7 happen all the time with Windows.

Anyway, why I wish I liked OSX so I could quit Linux: laptop support. I have a ThinkPad T60, and every now and then I google for ThinkPad T60 Linux and scan through the adventure stories. Occasionally someone declares "success" and claims to be happily using Linux on their ThinkPad (with kernel patches and lots of tweaks and configuration,) but if you read the details, there's always something that doesn't work, usually suspend. Either the feature doesn't work at all, or it requires manual intervention every time you use it, or it causes instability. After being disappointed yet again, I try to wait at least a few months before I google again.

Anyway, that's why I wish I liked OSX: because I still run Windows on all my laptops and don't see any way out except to buy a laptop with commercial Linux support from Dell (Ubuntu) or Lenovo (SUSE, gack -- I use Debian/Ubuntu everywhere else and don't feel like relearning RPM) or Emperor Linux (expensive, woof.) I don't like the idea of being dependent on support, though. Whatever Novell does to get ThinkPads working under SUSE, they must not be releasing it to the community, since people still have trouble. Same thing with Emperor Linux. I don't know if Dell is any better.

Just curious, why don't you like OS X?

Mainly there's nothing amazing about it that makes it seem worthwhile to get past my initial dislike of the interface. The minimize/maximize/close buttons aren't where I expect them to be, the applications feel strangely constrained, and I hate the menu bar being at the top of the screen. The Dock icons seem represent a whole bunch of different things (launchers, folders, open documents, running applications) and it's hard to tell the difference based on appearance. Also, the Dock takes up a lot of screen space, but I don't like hiding it. I think I'm trained to expect a whole lot of information on the screen, and the Mac aesthetic prefers the opposite, at least in the default configuration.

It might help if there were more evident ways of customizing the interface. I learned how to customize the hell out of my KDE 3 taskbar just by clicking around. To give OS X a fair shot, I would probably have to buy a book or follow some how-to articles on the web on turning OS X into a more productive environment (like Tog's "Make Your Mac a Monster Machine.") That seems to reflect poorly on the interface's explorability.

Anyway, according to the prevailing attitude, if I haven't fallen head-over-heels in love with OSX by now, I'm just not a Mac person. Therefore, my faith in a big payoff, a more pleasant and fluid way of doing things, is gone.

Number 3 is completely understandable to me and it shows how out of touch the author is. You can't expect non power users who haven't seen a command line since MS-DOS c.1993 to be comfortable typing commands even if we know it's just copy-and-pasting a single line.

The context in which normal users need to use the command line, is roughly equivalent to when Windows users would need to edit the registry or do something equally abstruse.

On my (admittedly fairly limited) experience of getting others to sue Linux, completely naive users are fine provided initial installation and configuration are done for them, but users who have learnt a lot about Windows (i.e. a lot that is specific to Windows) find the transition harder.

I first skimmed the headings and thought: "Valid reasons, about the same reasons why I stick with linux and am hesitant to try a Mac or Windows Vista."

People just don't fancy changes. To change you usually need a reason that incites you to overcome the annoyances of re-learning everything. Such as promises of increased performance, promises of belonging to a group, or being really bored.

This is why I don't use Linux for desktop: atrocious font-rendering especially w.r.t to correct kerning: http://imgur.com/2bpz8.png (pay attention to the words: source, coined, success, recognition etc.) Only the Leopard gets it complete right.

I've been using Linux in servers for more than 10 years. I had a cheap generic laptop running Gentoo for 2.5 years, which was much more stable than my current Macbook Pro (which I didn't pay for), which has been in the shop twice due to hardware problems in the past year.

But I cannot tolerate low quality font-rendering in Linux any more, as I've been spoiled by the fluid font-rendering in OS X.

Apparently, I'm not the only one, who has this issue: http://www.kilobitspersecond.com/2009/04/17/ubuntu-font-hint...

These are not insurmountable problems, I'm eagerly waiting for desktop Linux to polish up, as I look forward to dumping the crappy Macbook Pro.

I'm not sure about #6 "I just don't like it." Certainly, that's going to be the first response, but you have to dig deeper and ask why someone just "doesn't like it."

In my case, after installing and playing with various Linux distros over the past 10 or so years, I still think it's just too hard. Part of it is because I don't really take the time to get into it (of course) and part of it is that it seems like every thing I want to do is like pulling teeth.

Last time I tried was about 6 months ago with Ubuntu. I actually got pretty far and I really like Ubuntu's package management system and very helpful forums, but when I have to go to the forums for every single thing I want to configure it gets old.

Once again, I'll admit that I don't have a lot of patience and this is MY problem. I went through the same pain when I learned the ins and outs of Windows (I really got started in the Win95 days). Learning something new just takes time and people don't want to take that time. I've heard much the same from a few "switchers" (to Mac OS X).

The biggest reason is that a lot of computer users want the computer to be a toaster with a screen, and that Linux, while it can be used to make toast with only the smallest bit of rewiring and that toast will be the awesome free toast of moral superiority, is really focused on being the best damn soldering iron there is.

These are the reasons I hear from people telling me I'm stupid to run Linux, not so much people "quitting" from Linux.

The number one reasons for not using Linux on a laptop I hear are "suspend/resume doesn't work well enough" and "WTF do you mean I have to restart X to extend my desktop to an extra monitor?".

This is a retarded attempt at spreading FUD.

And I could bet it comes from redmond.

Keir Thomas wrote a great book that introduced me to Linux: Apress' Beginning Ubuntu Linux, 3rd Edition. I've read about a dozen Linux books since, but it's the best introduction I've seen. I doubt spreading FUD is his agenda.

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