mauvebic
November 30th, 2011, 11:32 AM
DISCLAIMER: Let's dispense with the obvious Gnome3/Unity examples, its been discussed ad nauseam
It seems to me over the years developers have been taking an harder line over what they think is best for users, even though the line between developer and user is a lot more blurry in linux than it is in microsoft/mac.
I can cite a few examples:
ATI proprietary drivers
My graphics used to work wonderfully until my card ceased to be supported and i had to resort to the open source drivers. In the years since, ive found many threads complaining about substandard graphics (usually tearing, distortions, and blockyness) yet these bugs never get fixed and rather than finding a way to re-integrate the proprietary drivers for cards that aren't really that old, were told to upgrade our graphics card even though when i reboot into XP to play games i have no problems there.
Being forced to upgrade your system for latest version of your favorite software
i detest having to upgrade a system i am perfectly content with just to get the latest VLC player. Not to mention the hours (if not days) of tinkering to restore all my settings (and finding that some of those settings have disappeared, because someone else decided for me what's best. (to draw comparison you can still get the latest VLC version in windows XP)
how they keep changing the default applications and ramming it through distribution upgrades
Again, anyone whos been around long enough already made up their mind which software is best for what. Having rhythmbox, banshee, shotwell, etc.. rammed down my throat through upgrades when im perfectly content with VLC + audacious + chromium just means ill be spending an hour or two doing apt-get purge <insert unwanted app>
When i think about all the frustrations ive had over the years, linux isn't that much different from apple's walled garden or microsoft ramming DRM down our throats. The only diference is in what linux chooses to ram down our throats. Its not just an Ubuntu thing, considering the derivative nature of three quarters of all the distributions. The frustrations are quite similar across spectrum.
And let me also dispense with some common retorts
No one's forcing you to use linux
Quite right, thats why i never completely switched. I keep XP for certain tasks just like linux excells at others. Both with their own frustrations.
Get involved
Not all developers are OS developers. Speaking for myself, ill stick to php/ajax/SQL. My problem isn't really with the code but with the policies enacted by major distributions.
I've noticed lots of similarities between linux and organized religion. Devs and OS pushers are a lot nicer to people they're trying to convert than they are to their longtime users, perhaps because they think they already own us and we wont leave.
That being said, flame away 8-)
It seems to me over the years developers have been taking an harder line over what they think is best for users, even though the line between developer and user is a lot more blurry in linux than it is in microsoft/mac.
I can cite a few examples:
ATI proprietary drivers
My graphics used to work wonderfully until my card ceased to be supported and i had to resort to the open source drivers. In the years since, ive found many threads complaining about substandard graphics (usually tearing, distortions, and blockyness) yet these bugs never get fixed and rather than finding a way to re-integrate the proprietary drivers for cards that aren't really that old, were told to upgrade our graphics card even though when i reboot into XP to play games i have no problems there.
Being forced to upgrade your system for latest version of your favorite software
i detest having to upgrade a system i am perfectly content with just to get the latest VLC player. Not to mention the hours (if not days) of tinkering to restore all my settings (and finding that some of those settings have disappeared, because someone else decided for me what's best. (to draw comparison you can still get the latest VLC version in windows XP)
how they keep changing the default applications and ramming it through distribution upgrades
Again, anyone whos been around long enough already made up their mind which software is best for what. Having rhythmbox, banshee, shotwell, etc.. rammed down my throat through upgrades when im perfectly content with VLC + audacious + chromium just means ill be spending an hour or two doing apt-get purge <insert unwanted app>
When i think about all the frustrations ive had over the years, linux isn't that much different from apple's walled garden or microsoft ramming DRM down our throats. The only diference is in what linux chooses to ram down our throats. Its not just an Ubuntu thing, considering the derivative nature of three quarters of all the distributions. The frustrations are quite similar across spectrum.
And let me also dispense with some common retorts
No one's forcing you to use linux
Quite right, thats why i never completely switched. I keep XP for certain tasks just like linux excells at others. Both with their own frustrations.
Get involved
Not all developers are OS developers. Speaking for myself, ill stick to php/ajax/SQL. My problem isn't really with the code but with the policies enacted by major distributions.
I've noticed lots of similarities between linux and organized religion. Devs and OS pushers are a lot nicer to people they're trying to convert than they are to their longtime users, perhaps because they think they already own us and we wont leave.
That being said, flame away 8-)