Linux has at max 1.4 % of the worlds desktop/laptop market. This is incredibly low since it is free, compared to Windows and Apple OS, for which you need to buy a license and have a key at all times. And if you lose that key for some reason and install a new hard drive, you have to purchase a new license. Linux is open source, so you can download and install it on as many computers that you want. There is one small catch however, there’s no call center for support. Support is basically forum driven, but you do get answers relatively quickly.
This is my personal experience of Linux on older desktops since 2004. At the end, I cannot be convinced to move over even though I am looking for more private user experience. I am not a geek. I am a business person. I allocate my time during the week making money, weekends are for hobbies and writing. I don’t like seeking solutions for problems that limit the operation of my business. That is why I currently choose the Windows platform.
Linux is made by and for geeks.
Linux is made by and for geeks. It is not designed for non-tech users. I had some fuck-knuckle telling me on a forum that its so easy to use that his grandmother uses it, so basically I’m talking shit. People like that just squeeze my tits. First of all the fuck-knuckle’s grandma is most likely 35 and works in an IT department. Secondly, anyone that is not IT orientated and needs actual work done, does not want to know the nuts and bolts how to keep a Linux pc running. I agree, there are some that claim their pc have been running, without switching of for years, but Windows can do that too, and in all probability a Mac. As a matter of fact, I know someone that uses an old, no ancient, HP desktop since 1979-2002. It is used for one single program in agriculture science. So Linux, beat that.
The biggest geeks such as Google, CERN, NASA, IBM, Cisco, ASV Roboat, Russian, Pakistani and Swiss schools use Linux in some version. Not to mention numerous Governments and city councils. Not that governments are geeks, but their systems are maintained by geeks.
In my opinion there are two Linux users. IT geeks and people with minimal hardware and software requirements. The IT geeks are people working daily with software development. That is what they like, that is why they argue and debate about which distro is best for a rainy day. And there are 600 Linux distros currently of which 500 are in active development. It’s like saying there are 600 Windows versions all doing basically the same thing. God I can just hear some Linux geeks shitting in their pants because of the previous statement. But I am going to leave it there.
Then you have people with minimal hardware and software requirements but do a shitload of work. They use a computer as a basic tool. The term MED comes to mind. Geeks like to use the latest Landover Discovery to travel Africa, an MED person will use a Landover Series III or IIa, that is all they need to explore and do their job. With the basic tools Linux offers, there is very little that can go wrong on the system, as a matter of fact, you don’t even have to update anything for as long as the PC runs. Just don’t try and run weird shit. Just the basic open source software.
Why do I like Linux.
Linux feels safe. You don’t have to worry about a virus unless you are really stupid and download weird shit. I mean, you really have to go out of your way to get infected. As a matter of fact, its more like you have to invite an virus onto your system and then give it permission to infect it. So, if you get a virus on Linux you are stupid.
It revives and old, otherwise unused PC. This is very true. Especially if you are using pre i3, i5 and i7 CPU’s. As a matter of fact, if you have a really old pc that your great grandparents used, you can install TinyCore which can run on 11MB, imagine that! You can watch ancient porn or type something. The point is that you can make an old PC, running on a slow Windows 95, XP and 7 run fast, or relatively fast. My old second generation i7 with Sandybridge CPU use to take about 2-3 minutes to boot up, with Linux it took about 20 seconds, and that is with a hard drive, imagine what it would do with a SSD card.
Since SSD cards became so cheap, I replaced my old HDD and installed Windows again, with a boot time of 10 seconds. I basically have a new PC on which to doodle (or watch porn). Whatever. So, if you want to revive an old PC, no need to use Linux, just replace the HDD with a SDD.
It is sad to think that you use Linux to revive an old PC. That is not the point of Linux is it? There must be more to it other than running 96.3% of all servers in the world. That is seriously formidable. With that much power, why on earth can they not make a dent in the desktop market. By the way, 4 out of 5 smartphones run on Linux, yes, your Android runs on a modified Linux kernel. Sorry Apple users, your phone operating software is based on a very old Unix system (1985-1997 by NeXT) and time is limited for its use, especially with the new chip sets being developed.
You can do your work in obscurity in Linux, but more about that later.
Windows suits my business because
Windows is more suitable at being a desktop operating system for a business than Linux because its easier to use and maintain and has more supporting software. Simple as that.
I don’t like seeking solutions for problems that limit the operation of my business. That is why I currently choose the Windows platform.
Lyssa
Let’s take an example, I have an old, perfectly working Cannon iP4200 inkjet printer. It prints amazing images that last forever. Some of the prints I made are just as colorful they day I printed them in 2005. I cannot say that of other prints I made in a lab, which have discolored. There is no way I can find the driver to install that printer on Linux. You can try and download the driver here, but will be greeted with the message: “Unfortunately your device is no longer supported under the selected operating system. Please feel free to view our current range of available products.” If you are using Windows, its not a big issue, just go to the Microsoft Update Catalogue, it’s one fucking big database of drivers from A to Z. That is where I found the latest and very-good-working driver for my printer for Windows.
Availability of software. Not gaming and that shit. Software for people running their business. Linux lacks basic professional support for software. The first is accounting software. In South Africa, Pastel and QuickBooks are mostly used and they are not compatible, without Wine, with Linux. I’ve had enough shit with Pastel using Windows, losing valuable time focusing on my business, imagine the time I would lose trying to marry Pastel with Linux. It’s insane just thinking of it. Since 2020 Sage Pastel went online but that is another peace of shit with its own problems and limitations. I am sure I will write something about that platform one day.
GNUCash is an accounting software for Linux. I might have shot myself in the foot here, but for serious accounting work, I would stay away, I need telephonic support. Sometimes FREE is very expensive and costly. GNUCash is not suitable for retail companies that need to generate inventory, quotes, proforma invoices, purchase orders and supplier invoices. Not even the popular Wave can do that.
I cannot name a professional CAD app that runs on Linux. I use SketchUp, so no support there. The only 2D CAD is LibreCad. I am not sure who uses that professionally.
Project management software. There is ProjectLibre, its ok. Maybe it has similar features as the very expensive MS Project, but no one comes close to SuperProject developed by Computer Associates in the late 90’s. Someone still needs to develop SuperProject in 2021 and I am sure it will only happen in 2050, long after I am dead. SuperProject was so good, I could add all the research activities from a Government research station, flip it over and generate a budget with sub cost centers and their respective codes with one click. It also included product use, or resources, with different units such as kg/ha, ml/L, L/hr etc. Try that with LibreProject, even MS Project!
Office suite. Yes there is LibreOffice and OpenOffice. They are awesome free open source apps developed and maintained by awesome people, but integration into the cloud is not there. They are limited to standalone applications on a desktop but once you have to integrate various components and customize the apps on a large scale they are left in the dust by MS Office. Sorry. By the way, both LibreOffice and OpenOffice work on Windows!
Photography. Linux has lost that market completely albeit a few hardliners using GIMP. Although GIMP is open source, it is an amazing program but I just cannot get my teeth into it. I admit in dumping Photoshop for Affinity Photo, the two are just so much easier to use than GIMP. All the top photo editors are for Windows or Apple only. I don’t think pro photographers want to go through the hassle of installing their software on top of Wine, they just don’t have the time for it. In any case, even if it works, why run the risk of adding additional software in-between, it just increases the risk of something going wrong.
The cloud support. The only click and install cloud support is Dropbox. I do not want to create my own cloud server and install NeXT Cloud thank you. I have better things to do. I have tried OneDrive. It is a nightmare to install. Once installed, you don’t know if it is working as there is no indication what it’s doing in the tray. Needles to say, mine worked for about two weeks and that was it. I didn’t even try Google Drive and as far as I know, there’s no support for that service. This is a huge limitation especially if you have already invested in OneDrive like so many people have.
Strangely enough, video editing is not a problem on Linux. Not that I tried a lot, but I have doodled on the most popular program and it seems quite sufficient.
I guess the most advanced 3D editing software (Free of course) is Blender and it works like a dream on Linux, as long as you don’t have a hassle with GeForce Graphics Drivers. The best is to have an AMD graphics card which Linux supports out of the box. My old Dell had a GeForce GT 525M 1GB and it worked. I am not sure if older GeForce cards have issues.
There is a love hate relationship between Linus Torvalds and GeForce, just watch the video below and you will understand what I mean. There will come a stage when you feel the same and show that finger to Linus or your screen.
Adobe Acrobat or PDF editing. Creating a pdf file is easy, that’s also free. Editing a PDF is a problem. Do not try and edit any pdf with the open source Office suits, it does not work, I tried LibreOffice Draw and it was useless. There are no free pdf editors as everyone has to pay Adobe a royalty. The only worth while paid versions are PDF Studio and Master PDF. But if you are paying for something, why not use Windows.
Is viruses your problem?
It is very difficult to get a virus on a Linux system, that’s true, its not impossible. There are so few viruses that I am sure the problem can be solved if you ask a few well put questions on a forum.
That said, viruses on a Windows system is usually the users fault. The only time I ever purchased anti-virus software was in the mid 90’s. I used Norton Anti-Virus and I never got a warning. False warnings yes. Blocked Firewalls, yes. But no serious virus. After that I decided to use Windows Defender and never looked back. In my opinion, and this is the only conspiracy theory I believe in, is that the anti-virus companies create 90% of the viruses. Don’t mix these up with Malware and Adware.
Kaspersky is the worst culprit, they locked my partners Outlook system so that we could not send emails after we uninstall it. Windows support could not even solve the problem. When I phoned Kaspersky for support, they said it’s impossible since Kaspersky is not installed so it could not have an effect on Outlook. The fucking fucknuckling assholes. I had to re-install Windows without Kaspersky, what a waste of two days.
Privacy. Is Linux private?
Linux is like Fort Knox. You, and what you do on the internet is not. Don’t blame Linux. Windows is not private and nobody knows and nobody can prove that they do not collect valuable data. The only thing that makes you vulnerable is the fact that you are connected to the internet and have signed in some websites.
Linux distros for beginners.
I really don’t want to write about this topic. The whole distro concept is a distraction. If you are a Windows user, use Linux Mint. If you are a new pc user use Linux Mint or Ubuntu. If you want an Apple look, use Linux Elementary OS. If you want to know the most customizable Linux Distro that you can play with and doodle on and do no work, fuckoff.
There is another Linux OS that is not Free which is called RedHat. BUT, you can get a free version with all propriety bits removed which is called CentOS. That’s all I know folks and if you are a beginner, stay away.
There are three valid well supported Linux distros, what is important is why you want to use Linux and what are your requirements i.t.o your business or hobby.
The dreaded command line or terminal
Whenever a hard core Linux geek opens the terminal they are immediately aroused. The terminal is what differentiates a Linux user from Windows and Apple users. Not that Windows does not have one. It now boasts a terminal environment called PowerShell. Fuck knows what you can do there but I am not learning any terminal commands when I can just click a button or browse the GUI.
Linux users claim they can perform miracles with the terminal, flaunting and swinging their finger tips around like the alien in Pixar’s short film Lifted.
What Linux needs
Distros are the biggest hurdle in Linux development and becoming relevant. Imagine 500 active distros, there are at least 15000 people working on them all. Reduce the number of distros to lets say max 10. Just imagine what will pop out of those offices. Create software for business people. Charge for support and addons, that’s ok. Surely there must be an Ubuntu type RedHat somewhere with specialized software?
Well, that’s of my chest, is it not!? I doubt if the desktop market is of any interest to hardcore Linux developers, they have their hands full with much more important platforms. But it would be nice to break free from the grip Windows and Apple have on us.