RE: https://meow.social/@owashe/115599114862712977
I keep seeing this kind of take, and it's absolutely valid for some folks and some tasks, but I will also say that for my needs and my purposes as a person who writes code only as a hobby, who games on PC, and who is trying to develop a career as a writer?
Linux is on the whole *more* stable and takes *less* maintenance, subject to three caveats (see next toot).
The caveats:
• I make problems for myself by doing shit in weird ways. I'm not counting the bugs I cause by layering Nix with Flatpaks with Mint with...
• Some proprietary software like Zoom and Discord works worse on Linux. They're still perfectly usable, but it's notable all the same.
• I have a different definition of "works" than most people, such that Windows takes more maintenance for me than most people to ensure that I can use it without sacrificing my privacy entirely.
So yeah, those caveats are important, and my experience is far from universal, but I also think people wildly overestimate how difficult Linux is for ordinary day-to-day usage and also wildly underestimate how many chores you need to do on Windows that just get priced into "computers."
That may not tilt the balance to Linux for you and your needs, but also? I'll plead with people to please not do propaganda work for giant, extractive tech companies, either.
Linux has problems! I'm not denying that! It may not work for your needs! Some of those problems might hit you right in the accessibility needs, or in the "I have to work with people who use the most cursed software stacks imaginable" needs, or in any number of other ways.
But also? Linux *might* work for your needs, and writing it off entirely *may* be premature.
Perhaps more critically, encouraging other people to write it off reinforces monopolistic power structures.
I bring this up because I think it is abundantly clear at this point, in part but not entirely due to the prevalence of AI encumbrances, that we cannot withstand the continuation of tech monopolies and duopolies.
Something has to change. I don't have any answers to how that happens, but I will encourage folks to at least not oppose forward progress towards challenging those monopolies and duopolies where they exist.
I should add that, as always, I am not saying nor intending to say "just use Linux." I'm not casting shade on anyone who uses Windows or macOS. You know your needs better than I do or ever could even in principle — "just use Linux" would be shitty advice for me to give.
I'm saying "please don't write Linux off prematurely" and "especially please don't tell other people to write Linux off."
@xgranade I've def had some nonsense issues in the past, but I use Mint on desktop as my only OS these days, and it Just Works.
I feel like my most common issues in the past have been:
@saoirse Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. I feel like Linux gives me more opportunities to cause problems for myself, and something in my brain is terminally broken such that if I *can* cause problems that affect only me, I *will* do so.
And yeah, sometimes I have weird hardware issues, but then I also remember how my Yeti mic on Windows would only work if I unplugged it and plugged it back in every few days. So like... some of that is baseline?
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