Going through my Google Reader I came over a slashdot post, linking to a blog post, explaining why we use Linux for real. The claim is that the real reason we use Linux, is because it’s fun. That is to some extent true. For me, there were to initial reasons why I started to use Linux:

1. It’s fun.
2. You get to control your own computer.
3. I get richer by the experience of using Linux.
4. A lot of the Linux-tinkering has made me a more advanced Windows-user as well. (I do benefit from this where I work)

But, there ARE several issues with Linux. Poor commercial support (for instance, Nvidia still need to fix PureVideo support for Linux. Many hardware vendors do not want to write drivers for Linux, etc.). Sound has been an issue for a while, and is not problem free yet, although - ALSA is much better than it used to be, and the amount of applications that use OSS seems to be decreasing. But, with all these issues — why won’t I simply go back to Windows?

I feel like we should focus on why the Linux herd stays in Linux. For me - this is:

1. Support for lots of stuff out of the box (at least true for Debian).
   1. Want to burn an ISO-file? Right click -> Write to Disc (In Windows, you need 3rd party software for this)
   2. You have a bluetooth dongle? It’s plug and play basically. If you want OBEX support in Gnome, you only need to install gnome-vfs-obexftp, and you can browse your mobile devices at once.
   3. Great packaging system. APT; Tons of Software to pick from, I just tell my distro to install it - and it will. I usually don’t need to interact with the installation - it “just works”. This is _HARD_ to beat. Having all kinds of software EASILY accessable, is a huge plus.
      1. Updating the system includes everything installed through the package manager. For most users, their needs are covered by this.
2. It does not cost money. If you do not have a Windows-license, and want to use Windows you have two options:
   1. Purchasing Windows. This costs 250 USD (1300 NOK) in Norway. That is actually a signifigant amount of cash for something you don’t really need.
   2. Being a pirate.
      1. Finding a working, OK, copy of Windows - without being stabbed by the Windows Genuine crap, is quite hard.

As far as I can tell - The world don’t really need Windows. The only reason why it still has such a huge strangle-grip on it’s users is mostly because there are a lot of applications and/or games which are made to only run on Windows. The only Windows-app I run, is World of Warcraft - which happens to work fine in Wine.

posted by Trygve at 5:27 pm & filed under Windows, Debian, Linux |