These Linux myths need to die

Kevin Lancaster

Kevin Lancaster

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These Linux myths need to die

A Reddit user recently started a thread in which they asked which myths and misconceptions about Linux annoy users the most.

The post spawned a lively discussion with points being raised for and against Linux.
 
Linux is difficult to use
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This one is not entirely unfounded.
Without causing a debate here, I can state I have been in a situation twice where something broke when I upgraded the system. In the end it was due to the fact that some headers became deprecated. At the time, with my knowledge of C being sketchy, I didn't realize what the problem was. Nowadays I am well aware of the need to sometimes ensure and check that certain system and C header files are actually there. You cannot expect that of most computer users. This is the one reason why Windows remains popular with the not-so-technically-savvy.
 
Randy_The_Squirrel said:
This one is not entirely unfounded.
Without causing a debate here, I can state I have been in a situation twice where something broke when I upgraded the system. In the end it was due to the fact that some headers became deprecated. At the time, with my knowledge of C being sketchy, I didn't realize what the problem was. Nowadays I am well aware of the need to sometimes ensure and check that certain system and C header files are actually there. You cannot expect that of most computer users. This is the one reason why Windows remains popular with the not-so-technically-savvy.
Click to expand...

Not really, the latest releases of Ubuntu are easy to use, most people can get apps off the store, software updates are able to be done via GUI, etc.
 
Johnatan56 said:
Not really, the latest releases of Ubuntu are easy to use, most people can get apps off the store, software updates are able to be done via GUI, etc.
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As of this writing... Raspberry Pi's Debian Wheezy does not include several files I need to execute calls to the OS via drivers I write myself, or daemons I write myself. It is an extra step I have to perform, and if the headers are not there, its going to be extremely difficult for the average user to know why the thing doesn't work. Even for me it took a bit of reading up. Windows doesn't have this kind of problem even though Windows sucks as far as I am concerned. Despite Microsoft being idiots they somehow got it right with this... DLL hell is something I haven't experienced in a long time, but it was kind of awkward to still experience dependency hell as recently as 2016.

Also, the quality of some code remains questionable.. you can go look for yourself, I am not going to mention packages here, because it will just lead to flaming/debate
 
I cannot imagine my life (private and work) without linux !

Yes linux *can* be difficult depending on what you want todo.. but for everyday computing ! It's way easier than windows.. after you have taken into account the amount of spyware,anti-virus,updates and general suckiness into account...
 
rawoke said:
I cannot imagine my life (private and work) without linux !

Yes linux *can* be difficult depending on what you want todo.. but for everyday computing ! It's way easier than windows.. after you have taken into account the amount of spyware,anti-virus,updates and general suckiness into account...
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I agree. Linux is my primary system. I in fact only use Windows 7 for Steam and a few other odds and sods that won't run on Linux due to vendor-lock-in. However that will change when my games become ported to Linux.
 
While I wont call linux easy to use unless its a dedicated for for doing a very specific task, like Openelec, Pfsense/IPCop, Android, etc... Linux desktop environments are still very difficult to grasp to the average user, the file structure takes time to learn, the fact that just about every tutorial or teaching aid forces users to use the terminal is both Linuxes biggest strength and weakness, new users dont want to use the terminal, and there isnt enough resources out there that shows them how to do the same thing in GUI.

The only myth that needs to die is "your not a Linux user unless you use the terminal for everything" and I mean that both in the professional realm and for end users.

That being said I am very happy with Linux , Mint is on my primary laptop, and I have linux devices scattered around at home, they work great , their robust and I cant see myself without them, and gaming works just fine on the laptop thanks to Wine and Steam <3
 
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Yawn ...

Must be a slow news day if Kevin has to dust off this hoary debate, guess Windows 10 hasn't ruffled too many feathers lately :D
 
I use linux on my home pc. I do find it challenging to make use of certain apps. E.g. last night i wanted to load an emulator to play an old arcade game. Installed the emulator from the software centre. Its not working, spent a long time mucking about, and still not working. Go to windows partition, install and ran the emulator first shot.

You cant beat linux for stability though - havent have to reboot the machine for a long long time.
 
Installed the emulator from the software centre
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I should also maybe mention I have had several cases of this, where the package the installer gets from the repos, is totally broken, and remains so for a considerable time, causing me to download the tarball manually, decompress to my home directory and install there from the command line. Usually that works. Of course some applications are a pain, you have to install them in specific locations and be mindful of ownership and permissions (chown / chmod)
 
Linux is only free if your time has no value.
Why is that a myth?
That holds true for absolutely anything.

That said, I get the gist of the point. It's no longer as much a chore to install and use as it was 15 years ago.
 
Heavyonthemagick said:
Linux is only free if your time has no value.
Why is that a myth?
That holds true for absolutely anything.
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Its a bit of a misnomer. Installing Windows takes time doesn't it? So does installing Linux? Its a bit of a non-sequitur if you ask me. Of course if you know not one iota about Windows you will also have a learning curve.
 
Randy_The_Squirrel said:
Its a bit of a misnomer. Installing Windows takes time doesn't it? So does installing Linux? Its a bit of a non-sequitur if you ask me. Of course if you know not one iota about Windows you will also have a learning curve.
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On the contrary, it's accurate for absolutely everything worthwhile in life. Windows, Linux, Mac OSX, Android, iOS, etc. etc.
In other words, it's irrelevant really.
But if you want to talk cost of software, yes, Linux can absolutely be cheaper and does a great job.
I do think, however, that the bigger battles are not so much on the desktop these days.
 
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Randy_The_Squirrel said:
As of this writing... Raspberry Pi's Debian Wheezy...
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Let me stop you right there, most people don't even know what a Raspberry Pi is, so we're talking a different things here.

Anyway, it really depends on if the person's brothers son, that's "into computers" knows how to fix Linux.
I've had to rebuild many many (MANY MANY) Windows machines because they were so borked it wasn't worth the effort figuring out what went wrong.

I like all the OS's for different uses.
 
flippakitten said:
Let me stop you right there, most people don't even know what a Raspberry Pi is, so we're talking a different things here.

Anyway, it really depends on if the person's brothers son, that's "into computers" knows how to fix Linux.
I've had to rebuild many many (MANY MANY) Windows machines because they were so borked it wasn't worth the effort figuring out what went wrong.

I like all the OS's for different uses.
Click to expand...

I am with you on this... but even with Ubuntu I have had issues on occasion. That does NOT mean Linux is bad in any way, it just sort of hints where the myth comes from.
 
Heavyonthemagick said:
Linux is only free if your time has no value.
Why is that a myth?
That holds true for absolutely anything.

That said, I get the gist of the point. It's no longer as much a chore to install and use as it was 15 years ago.
Click to expand...

The time wasted by a fist time Linux installer and user is easily offset by the saving on installation of anti-virus and all sorts of protection on windows and then the killing off of craapware after installation.

Linux installation:
1. Pop in DVD and start installation
2. Pick a few options
3. Make coffee
4. Return to usable system with Office package, proper browser, etc. all installed and start working.
 
OK so seeing that we are all *nix people here, let me share this with you.
I have Windows 10 on the work laptop. That was an absolute cluster***** from the day the machine arrived. Its slow, takes ages to boot, and is generally crap to use. Its a memory hog, and hates multiple screens. Its also trying hard to copy Linux and does so badly, can't even write to some directories as one would expect, because "computer says no".

Unfortunately this corporate is very Pro-Windows so I have no choice but to suck it up...
 
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