Why Linux Is A Sad Joke
74
Open source nerds continue to live in the mistaken belief that the average computer user spends every waking moment like PenguinHeads do poring over the innards of hardware and software. A PC is a tool. The vast majority of people want to sit in front of it, use it to do what they want, and then go on with their lives. If the programming geeks of the world were to understand this, then maybe Linux distros might have a chance at taking over more than 3% of the Operating System market.
First of all, installing virtually any hardware peripheral on Linux is next to impossible. Most network, video, audio and other interface cards just won't work. Go ahead, spend your hard earned money on a new Nvidia video card which clearly states that it is Linux compatible and install the latest driver. Call me next year when you're still trying. That is the crux of the problem with all Linux flavors. Software installation of anything on Linux, especially if it is a non-repository application, is a complete nightmare that befuddles even experts.
Jason Perlow of ZDNet's Tech Broiler blog put it very succintly:
"...you have to un-gzip-tar the software, install the linux-source and linux-headers, and install the build-essential package which contains all the necessary compiler and developer tool dependencies to build the kernel modules. Then you can run the installer script."
I'd really like to see Gramma try that when she wants to set up that "newfangled computing machine on the table over there" to send photos of her grandchildren. Good thing Grams doesn't want to listen to a song or watch a video on RealPlayer because then all she'd have to do is type in:
- chmod 770 RealPlayer11GOLD.bin
- sudo ./RealPlayer11GOLD.bin
Then install in:
- /opt/real/RealPlayer
Then she can type:
- cd /usr/lib/firefox-addons/plugins
- sudo ln -s /opt/real/RealPlayer/mozilla/nphelix.xpt nphelix.xpt
- sudo ln -s /opt/real/RealPlayer/mozilla/nphelix.so nphelix.so
- sudo mv /usr/lib/totem/gstreamer/libtotem-complex-plugin.so ~/.
Are Linux programmers insane? Have they all escaped from mental institutions?
Ah, but various Linux distros have installers for some software. The good ol' RPMs and DEBs which are highly touted as resolving all Linux installation problems but fail to tell you that the ones implemented on one distro are not necessarily compatible with the RPMs or DEBs on any other flavor. Of course, if you really want to have some fun, try installing from compressed tarballs tar.gz or tar.bz2. Then all you need to do is un-Gzip or un-Bzip2 and tar extract the program to a directory and then manually insert symbolic links to the executables as well as the relevant desktop icons. And we haven't even begun to address that scourge of Linux users everywhere: Dependencies! How many millions of man-hours have been completely wasted by tracking down dependencies that no longer depend?
Compare that to installation on Windows or OS X and tell me that Linux is easy!
Once again, the Linux Propeller Beanie crowd chimes in with the infamous RTFM! Read The F*****g Manual. Yes, anything at all can be resolved by delving into hundreds of pages of Linux instructions and memorizing them. That might be a bit of a problem for Gramma, you know, as she still can't remember where she left her dentures. So to optimize her online bandwidth in Ubuntu it might be a bit much to ask her to type in:
- sudo vim /etc/sysctl.conf
- i
- ## increase TCP max buffer size setable using setsockopt()
- net.core.rmem_max = 16777216
- net.core.wmem_max = 16777216
- ## increase Linux autotuning TCP buffer limits
- ## min, default, and max number of bytes to use
- ## set max to at least 4MB, or higher if you use very high BDP paths
- net.ipv4.tcp_rmem = 4096 87380 16777216
- net.ipv4.tcp_wmem = 4096 65536 16777216
- ## don't cache ssthresh from previous connection
- net.ipv4.tcp_no_metrics_save = 1
- net.ipv4.tcp_moderate_rcvbuf = 1
- ## recommended to increase this for 1000 BT or higher
- net.core.netdev_max_backlog = 2500
- ## for 10 GigE, use this, uncomment below
- ## net.core.netdev_max_backlog = 30000
- ## Turn off timestamps if you're on a gigabit or very busy network
- ## Having it off is one less thing the IP stack needs to work on
- ## net.ipv4.tcp_timestamps = 0
- ## disable tcp selective acknowledgements.
- net.ipv4.tcp_sack = 0
- ##enable window scaling
- net.ipv4.tcp_window_scaling = 1
- :wq
- sudo sysctl -p
Now please show Grams how to:
- Fix her video resolution
- Get support for restricted or proprietary formats
- Enable NTFS with read/write support
- Restore GRUB after a Windows install
- Resize a partition
- Setting file permissions that belong to Root
- What to enter next into the Command Line
or just try to explain to her what sudo is when even the official Ubuntu instructions state, and I quote:
sudo gobbledegook blah_blah -w -t -f aWkward/ComBinationOf/mixedCase/underscores_strokes/and.dots
Why not then go ahead and teach her pwd, ls, cd, cp, mv, rm, man, df, du, -h, -s...
Linux and Open Source will remain on the periphery of personal computing and a general footnote in computing history until the bozos who write this idiotic code are finally swept from their keyboards and replaced with people who actually understand how humans use their computers.
If you ever do get to installing and properly configuring your software you are now up for the latest disappointment. Much of the Open Source software is a mere, outdated, antiquated, and buggy shadow of their Windows and OS X equivalents, even the alleged "stars" of the Linuxverse such as the highly touted GIMP. On one of my other hubs, a commenter stated that "there is a stack of things you can do with GIMP which you cannot do with Photoshop." The only thing you can do with GIMP that you can't do with Photoshop is be justified in calling it an incompetent, useless, amateurish, buggy, impotent POS. I'm still waiting to read one legitimate reviewer who has ever ranked GIMP higher than Adobe's product and/or locate one major corporate art director who actually uses GIMP at work.
What do you expect from these Linux programmers anyhow? They're the ones that drowned when they went swimming because they were yelling "F1, F1, F1!"
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I stopped reading halfway through. Utter bullcrap, lets try having your granny install Windows Vista when it won't recognize your new sata HDD and you have to put in an old ATA HDD and then copy the partition to make the thing work.
Call me next year when she's still trying.
Awww didum... someone can't show independent thought and is unable todo anything other then what has been spoonfed to them
nvidia not working o.O you not used linux have you?
soo much hassle to install a package o.O you not used linux have you?
Some networking BS o.O you not used linux have you?
THere is this nice thing call PACKAGE MANAGEMENT that takes care of auto-updating your software and drivers (no need to hunt for drivers and stupid amounts of reboot...)
The package manager will install everything needed for an app to work ALL THROUGH THE POWER OF THE MOUSE
When you have actually tried something come back and "blog" about it, until then keep your ignorant bile to yourself, you are wasting peoples bandwidth
Real player is crap anyway :D
Dude. Seriously. Have you been downloading linux distro's from 1997? Get with the times, the latest version of Ubuntu is easier to install than Vista, and probably works on more hardware. How hard is it to use Aptitude, search, click, install. All from one centrally managed repository. Ask "Gramma" to spend a few hours searching for a application that she wants to download on Windows, and see how many spamware, adware and viruses touting porn she manages to accumulate. Linux isn't for everyone, it may not have the compatibility with certain software standards but it will get there, its come a long way already.
Have you every used a recent version of Linux? Hardware detection is a 1000x times better in Linux than in Windows! Linux 2.6.26 has every device driver I need except for my videocard, which is much easier to install in Linux than in Windows. I'd love to see Grammy installing Windows from a CD - I bet she would have that all slipstreamed up too, right?
Valid comments will be retained. The many who are using profanity will be deleted. Therefore, if you have something to say KEEP IT CLEAN!
BTW, Penguinheads, I stand by EVERY WORD in this article.
oh, good to know that you "stand by" it. Why don't you actually try backing up your arguments."Get with the times, the latest version of Ubuntu is easier to install than Vista, and probably works on more hardware. How hard is it to use Aptitude, search, click, install. All from one centrally managed repository. Ask "Gramma" to spend a few hours searching for a application that she wants to download on Windows, and see how many spamware, adware and viruses touting porn she manages to accumulate."so why don't you try actually responding to something like this? because it's all true. in your article the main point was that it's impossible to install anything, and you listed tons of these commands you "had" to do along with it, but this simply isn't true. There are LOTS of very user-friendly GUI's out there that any idiot can use, download, and install what they want without even entering the terminal.
The opinions of the writer are heavily influenced by lack of knowledge that can be compared to a journalist trying to explain why quantum mechanics do not make sense.
The article show only personal beliefs of the writer and should not be thought of anything else than what it is; a random canadian male, that posts article on the internet. He does not quote studies on OS useage or studies on reaction of the elderly to linux user interfaces.
It has been very hard, if not impossible to get the elderly to set up the simplest program in Windows environment, while they are able to easilly add and remove applications in Ubuntu 8.04, while both having the same ammount of time consumed in training. Commandline is not used in either OSes. And if the study would have been fair you would have to use command line in both OSes as they are not used by users that type slow, or do not know exactly what they are writing before they start up the command line.
My personal view of Anton Chouinard is that he is a good man that had some spare time to write about something he wanted to talk about. People normally want to talk about things they are beginning to understand or have vague idea what is. For an example: it is very hard to speak to a physiologist about physiolog, whilst it is fairly easy to talk to some one that has vague idea of that subject.This article should either have warning that the content is not reliable source of how linux today is, or it should be rewritten in cooperation with professionals.
sry, my last quote should've been: "It has been very hard, if not impossible to get the elderly to set up the simplest program in Windows environment, while they are able to easilly add and remove applications in Ubuntu 8.04, while both having the same ammount of time consumed in training. Commandline is not used in either OSes. And if the study would have been fair you would have to use command line in both OSes as they are not used by users that type slow, or do not know exactly what they are writing before they start up the command line."
lol, deleting my comments now? hm...still see no response. guess that's 'cause you have none. Yeah... and Penguinheads... Not only is your article is incorrectly baised but you cleary show you has a prejudice grude against those who use Linux. What is your mentality trying to state there? Make everybody use the same OS that you are using?
If you happened no scroll all way down, you'll notice that this page has a eBay and amazon ad that are selling linux merchandise
Please expand and give more information on specifically which distributions have been tried, including version and year of installation. From what is written, it seems that there quite an ignorance about what is spoken, which in a semi-journalist's position is not acceptable. One should personally experience before criticizing, or else one knows nothing of what they speak and is misinforming the public on a matter. Also, being incredibly biased beforehand also makes for a misinfomed rant rather than true journalistic article. Perhaps this was meant to be a rant of some sort, but if that were the case then I would highly suggest a re-evaluation of the content and an actual research, usage, and study of modern linux distributions. I might also add, for pure writer's sake, that the tone of this piece is more disuasive than persuasive, so a revision simply to portray the message in a more informative manner (and therefor more persuasive) is suggested.
I don't have a lot of linux OS experience, but with a combination of Open Office, Google Docs and Firefox, I hardly need any MS software anymore. Anyone know of an Open Source replacement for Visio (it would have to be able to open and convert visio files).
I would LOVE to use Linux, but I'm afraid I would never have the patience to learn enough computer knowledge to be able to use it. Which is a shame. I'm not a MS fan because it is a monopoly and it has made us all lemmings.
I totally agree with what you have written. I'm not a granny, but I might as well be. I give a big thumbs up to Linux for their intention of not being bullied by MS. Linux and Open Source has a place but something has gone off center when it's use is too complicated for the common non-nerd computer user.
I have to disagree. While it's true Linux won't run on every machine, but when it does it runs pretty good. I am knowledgeable, not a geek. and I have no time to waste tooling hardware and software.
I've been using Linux for over 3 years and it has been highly productive. I don't have to constantly defragment, run file cleanups, or hunt for the software that will do the job right the first time. I need not worry about anti-virus and Linux firewalls are better. I need to reboot rarely and there are no problems with the dreaded registry. They can dump all the spyware they want on my Linux desktop because it won't execute.
I find the Gnome desktop is well organized to the point where I don't need application icons scatted all over my desktop. What's the point of wallpaper if you can't seet it?
Programs out of date? Gimp can do just about everything photoshop can. It is complicated but then it can do so much. Openoffice.org can read and write more MS formats than MS Office can allowing backward compatibility. Evolution PIM or Zimbra are far more productive tools than Outlook. In fact, all the major applications on Linux are available to run on Windows and you can run many Windows applications on Linux because the antiquated software can run them.
You want to know of a large corporation that uses GIMP? Well actually they use thousands of Linux desktops. They spell it - IBM! That's a fact. And here's another on that might shock you - Microsoft! Absolutely - they use Linux servers for your email on msn. I know that because I use the antiquated software on my Linux machine.
No software or operating system is perfect. But the true "crux" of Linux is overcoming the proprietary hardware and firmware. If you know what machines your selected distro will run on, then it's a piece of cake. It only takes a little bit of investment time.
If Linux is so bad why is MS worried about it? MS just gave Novel (another corporate Linux user) over $400,000,000 to entice Novel to make Opensuse inter-operate with Windows. Seems Linux is growing around the globe and has more users than MAC.
I think that he brings out valid points that us Linux users should pay attention to. It's not that he's 100% right on everything...but if someone perceives a problem or problems, it is worth for us to NOT dismiss them and to at least take a look to see if we can improve.
Shame on anyone responding with vitrol. In doing so, you made yourself no better than him.
You should have answered and provided him with an example of a level-headed and open minded person. Instead, you all are validating his stereotypes.
I for one agree that Linux won't be more crack more than the enthusiast for desktop Linux (a few businesses) because of many of the problems he states here. That isn't to say that I don't think Linux is great...just to say that I've worked in enterprise environments with over 12 thousand employees and in those instances, Linux would have made more management work for myself and others on my team than anything else. So while I don't agree with everything on this article...I do agree to at least look at things and not dismiss them as rubbish just because I don't want to hear what he's saying.
You are overestimating how difficult it is to run one of the more "user-friendly" Linux distros. It is unnecessary to start a program from the commandline (not that anyone needs RealPlayer anymore...). I know virtually no commands off the top of my head; I am your typical "stupid" user in that I understand some basic computer terms and have some intuition about how to troubleshoot, but that's it. And I have used Linux every day for the past two years. I can only think of one time in which I had a problem.
RealPlayer is now offered on Linux as an .RPM, .DEB and as the .BIN. It's really a no brainer.
Came here from this page: http://molom.wordpress.com/2008/10/21/idiot-of-the
Sorry, dude, but that page (including its title) says the truth. Reread it a few times.
It's pretty obvious the blogger has no idea what he's talking about. I can spout off about how much any operating system is a failure without actually having used it, but most of it will be wrong, prejudiced inane babble, sort of like this article. I advise anyone who read the full article to get an MRI, check for blood clots in your head and make sure you don't get an aneurism.
Stythys: I'm only deleting the comments that use vile language. And why is pointing out failures in other operating systems showing a prejudice. Show me one factually wrong comment in the Hub!
mibbulz: The ad capsules are based on the content of the Hub. I'm surprised you don't know that.
Square: What do you think you're reading, Linux World? I'm not about to write a doctoral dissertation on a Hub. I've stated my case clearly and I have used various Linux distros for over ten years.
sherlynavia: Thank you very much.
Paraglider: I use Open Office and Firefox every day. I have no qualms against them or any other software simply due to the fact it is open source. It is the Linux OSes which are sorely lacking.
Jewels: Thank you. You have very clearly summed up the problems that I have been discussing. " Too complicated for the common non-nerd computer user" is exactly the problem. It's only the nerds that can't understand that simple point.
joer4x4: Actually, Linux is far more capable on running on slower and less capable CPUs than any other modern OS. However, you completely lost me when you stated "Gimp can do just about everything photoshop can." GIMP can't even begin to compare with Photoshop. Show me one major agency art director who agrees with your statement and I will write "joer4x4 is right and I'm a donkey" 1,000 times.
devnet: I'm very happy to note that you have a very rational mind and realize that blasting a writer with expletives diminishes the person making the comment, not the original author.
Raine: Can you tell me that you can actually use, say, Ubuntu, without typing sudo?
IridiumAlly: Same as Raine.
Vladimir: That article is strictly non factual and makes several errors. Mine is factual and error free. The author is entitled to their opinion, even though it's wrong.
Ty: I'm in perfect health. Is your DNA scrambled by penguin genes?
I think linux is hard to use sometimes, but linux is basically a program.while "windows" is a set of things glued together that everybody can use!
finally, linux is really new to video, and graphical stuff, but is powerfull great for other things!the desktop versions are quite new as well, and getting there with good speed if you ask me!
Sometimes I feel linux got stuck at some point, but is kind of funny I just can't stop using it! and now when I use windows machines am exasperated I feel I can't do anything!
FRAGMENT: "The Toolbox filosophy"
This month's column is only peripherally related to the GNU Project, inthat it describes a number of the GNU tools on your GNU/Linux systemand how they might be used. What it's really about is the "SoftwareTools" philosophy of program development and usage. The software tools philosophy was an important and integral conceptin the initial design and development of Unix (of which Linux and GNUare essentially clones). Unfortunately, in the modern day press ofInternetworking and flashy GUIs, it seems to have fallen by thewayside. This is a shame, since it provides a powerful mental modelfor solving many kinds of problems. Many people carry a Swiss Army knife around in their pants pockets(or purse). A Swiss Army knife is a handy tool to have: it has severalknife blades, a screwdriver, tweezers, toothpick, nail file, corkscrew,and perhaps a number of other things on it. For the everyday, smallmiscellaneous jobs where you need a simple, general purpose tool, it'sjust the thing. On the other hand, an experienced carpenter doesn't build a houseusing a Swiss Army knife. Instead, he has a toolbox chock full ofspecialized tools--a saw, a hammer, a screwdriver, a plane, and so on.And he knows exactly when and where to use each tool; you won't catchhim hammering nails with the handle of his screwdriver.
The Unix developers at Bell Labs were all professional programmersand trained computer scientists. They had found that while aone-size-fits-all program might appeal to a user because there's onlyone program to use, in practice such programs are a. difficult to write, b. difficult to maintain and debug, and c. difficult to extend to meet new situations. Instead, they felt that programs should be specialized tools. Inshort, each program "should do one thing well." No more and no less.Such programs are simpler to design, write, and get right--they only doone thing. Instead, they felt that programs should be specialized tools. Inshort, each program "should do one thing well." No more and no less.Such programs are simpler to design, write, and get right--they only doone thing. Furthermore, they found that with the right machinery for hookingprograms together, that the whole was greater than the sum of theparts. By combining several special purpose programs, you couldaccomplish a specific task that none of the programs was designed for,and accomplish it much more quickly and easily than if you had to writea special purpose program. We will see some (classic) examples of thisfurther on in the column. (An important additional point was that, ifnecessary, take a detour and build any software tools you may needfirst, if you don't already have something appropriate in the toolbox.)
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blah 3 years ago
Why are you so bothered by this? Surely it goes without saying: Linux is a sad joke because nothing works, Mac is a sad joke because the users are idiots, and Windows is a sad joke because nothing works and the users are idiots!
But seriously, why are you so bothered?