First of all this website is worse than any OS environment I've ever used. So right from that standpoint I sorta gulped a bit before reading on.
Graphics driver issues in linux are nothing new, Nvidia a few years back started officially porting drivers to linux but that doesn't solve all the problems. There's also projects like Nouveau; so if you're complaining about linux desktop from a drivers standpoint....get in line.
As for the Windows issues:
>Windows boot problems are often fatal and unsolvable unless you reinstall from scratch
Someone has never used Hirens boot disk
>no system wide update mechanism
wat
>no enforced file system and registry hierarchy
wat
>Android is not Linux (besides have you seen anyone running Android on their desktop or laptop?)
Actually yes I have, I have it running on mine now. Android-x86 Project. At first I'll agree Android was not linux, there were some major differences but these have since been changed.
I'm sorry if this is nitpicking the post but my I don't understand how these make it to the top of HN
It's a single location summary of things that still have to be done / are lacking in the project. It's thus useful for contributors to see what needs work, since it's easy to get tunnel vision when working on a project.
Don't you have such yearly reviews on your long-running projects?
Critics of Linux on the desktop have frequently argued that a lack of top-selling video games on the platform holds adoption back. As of September 2015, the Steam gaming service has 1,500 games available on Linux, compared to 2,323 games for Mac and 6,500 Windows games.[14][15][16]
As a desktop operating system, Linux has been criticized on a number of fronts, including:
A confusing number of choices of distributions, and desktop environments.
Audio handling, particularly before PulseAudio became stable and widely supported.
Poor open source support for some hardware, in particular drivers for 3D graphics chips, where manufacturers were unwilling to provide full specifications.[17] As a result, many video drivers have both open and closed source versions.
Lack of widely used commercial applications (such as Adobe Photoshop[18] and Microsoft Word).[19][20]
Lack of standardization regarding GUI API.[19]
_________________________________________
Notice the things he complained about, and the things that have been edited in there for years are the exact same.
1.) "Everyone" is a very wide net to cast, considering people in THIS VERY comment thread try to prove how their personal GPU works so Linux is fine.
2.) It's a yearly review. The issues haven't gone away. That's why they're still listed, just because "everyone" knows them, they're still outstanding issues. You know, like GitHub issues - they don't go away UNTIL YOU FIX THAT.
As an actual linux developer, this webpage is fucking useless. It has no specifics on project or targets. Thats what a real development review is about. What do we have, what priorities should we set, and what should get done in the next month.
This article says "okay here are the issues" (yet again) but the author has no incite into the development teams or plans for any of the packages/projects he's talking about.
To add to what you said: Some parts are useful on its own. Don't need targets, having a list of Linux issues is helpful enough. If you're involved in a project you can pickup bits and take it from there.
But that's combined with a lot of offputting content. E.g. the need to say everything is correct because Slashdot agrees and saying/suggesting Slashdot is unbiased and representative. Swearing at the developers who actually put in work (disagree heavily all you want, but no need to swear). Same for saying/suggesting that some developers don't mean well. Initially I only read the first part and thought it quite improved from the last time I read it. But no, again the argumentative stop energy. :-(
Further, a few of his issues are just opinions. Why combine that with the others?
Someone else said here: "he's right". Unfortunately not and again I already regret reading the various drivel parts.
It's mostly trolly though. I mean, read through some of his complaints:
> No high level, stable, sane (truly forward and backward compatible) and standardized API for developing GUI applications
Really? He's calling Win32 sane and stable? The API where they're constantly having to introduce terrifying new hacks to stay bug compatible with themselves and still failing?
Most of it's the same trolls we hear every day. A lot of it is good, well-founded bitching that the Linux community can absolutely do nothing about (we don't have access to hardware specifications we don't have, that simple. Until various trouble manufacturers, nVidia first and foremost, decide to start playing ball, their hardware is always going to suck on Linux).
Thank you, that last part said it better than I ever could.
>A lot of it is good, well-founded bitching that the Linux community can absolutely do nothing about (we don't have access to hardware specifications we don't have, that simple
Tell me how one can update a Windows system (incl. all installed applications) in a straightforward manner. Windows comes with no package manager, as far as I know.
OneGet and the Appstore might be taking steps in the right direction. Still no unified (apt-get upgrade and dist-upgrade) - but currently doing an in-place upgrade win7->win10 and I actually expect settings to be retained and programs to continue working.
For (especially) FOSS software, you might want to look at http://scoop.sh/
Yes, Windows doesn't come with a walled app repository. That's one of the benefits -- I don't have to ask Ubuntu and Debian and RedHat and god knows who else, "mother may I" before I write a program. I just do it. Though I do know people who now do get most of their apps from Microsoft's package manager these days.
> I don't have to ask Ubuntu and Debian and RedHat and god knows who else, "mother may I" before I write a program.
You can just offer your own repository and have the package you distribute install it. I think you are confusing linux package managers with appstores.
You could have a system-wide update mechanism without a common repository. Linux distros have that: you can use as many different repositories from different vendors as you like, but there's still only one update command.
First of all this website is worse than any OS environment I've ever used. So right from that standpoint I sorta gulped a bit before reading on.
Graphics driver issues in linux are nothing new, Nvidia a few years back started officially porting drivers to linux but that doesn't solve all the problems. There's also projects like Nouveau; so if you're complaining about linux desktop from a drivers standpoint....get in line.
As for the Windows issues:
>Windows boot problems are often fatal and unsolvable unless you reinstall from scratch
Someone has never used Hirens boot disk
>no system wide update mechanism
wat
>no enforced file system and registry hierarchy
wat
>Android is not Linux (besides have you seen anyone running Android on their desktop or laptop?)
Actually yes I have, I have it running on mine now. Android-x86 Project. At first I'll agree Android was not linux, there were some major differences but these have since been changed.
I'm sorry if this is nitpicking the post but my I don't understand how these make it to the top of HN