I've finally gotten around to putting this post by me from Medium onto Steem, as promised. I've been stuck for some time for what to write about. I've got a few ideas, but it'll be some time before they see the light of day. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this post.

---

Yeah, linux sucks. But the alternatives are worse.

This is why community > business.

Windows is a large proportion of the world’s first choice of operating system. It’s reputable, and it’s reliable (ish), and it’s what the guy at Curry’s/PC World¹ recommends, so it must be the best, right?

Well, perhaps it used to be. But over time I’ve been slowly disenchanted by Microsoft. I was one of the many that thought that Windows is the best thing around. But, as Windows started collecting data, I started to realize that the guy at Curry’s might be wrong. Or getting commission on what they sell.

Linux is well known for not being the best operating system in the world.

Linux is a bit like punching yourself in the face. And when someone says, “why are you punching yourself in the face”, you go, “well, it’s free.” — Matt Parker

Its support for graphics card drivers is abysmal, the software you can get on it is limited, and you spend quite a lot of your time in the terminal that harks back to the days when DOS was the only thing around. But here’s the thing Linux has that neither Windows nor Macs has: Community.

It’s not some devs working in an office in sunny California being told what to do by someone who earns 6 figures. It’s people like you and me. People who want to make the operating system they want, not the operating system that the businesses want.

Linux is not designed with profits in mind, because that’s not the spirit of Linux. It’s designed with users and functionality in mind. It’s designed to be free as in beer and free as in speech. That’s why there’s a huge community behind Linux.

The only problem with Linux, the only reason it sucks, is because of the guy working at Curry’s. You see, he’s there to try and get as much money as possible out of you. Some of it is obvious: the endless extended warranties and insurance that they offer you and you never use is just one example. But some of it is not so obvious. They don’t offer Linux as a choice, because they can’t profit off something that’s free. So the non-techie people probably aren’t aware that it is an option.

And that means adoption of the platform is low, and that means that the developers are focusing on the other platforms. Meaning they’re less concerned about releasing software or graphics card drivers for Linux. Which is the sole reason it sucks.

So. A conclusion. What do we do? How can we make Linux suck less? Well, that’s simple. We make people aware it’s an option. And we tell them that it’s not as hard as they might think.

If you’re a beginner to Linux, Ubuntu might well be the best option for you, but if you want a desktop environment that feels similar to Windows, try Linux Mint. I’ve also heard Manjaro KDE is a good one. If you’re a more techie person, you should shop around for a distribution that suits you. DistroWatch is a big list of Linux distributions that you can have a look through.

Footnote: [1] Curry’s/PC World is a popular technology retailer in the UK. It is comparable to Best Buy in the US.
Originally written by me on Medium.