See, ive had Linux problems, but my problem with windows is that I gave to actively fight the system to get anything done. It feels like PvP, and there’s fiat bullshit reverts of stuff. And the GUI is runny garbage!

Linux isn’t good enough, I agree.

But windows is far enough into enshitification that it isnt either anymore, and its getting worse. So fucking fast; its getting worse. I fucking miss usable windows; I’d still be on 7 if I could. But I can’t.

So if at this point Linux isn’t adequate, that means computers aren’t adequate. I use Linux so I don’t lose my computer, so it can do something at least.

There’s a bunch of problems with this post, but I’ll start by saying that at different times over the last decade I have certainly agreed that Linux just consumes too much of my time to use in a business environment. I’m rocking linux at work over the last few months, but just on Friday for example I booted into Windows because I couldn’t get a god damn Teams screen share to work.

Firstly, your post kind of deals with “business” as though all businesses have homogeneous use cases. Of course Linux might be more suitable for some businesses rather than others.

For power management, IDK what you’re saying really. I’m running a stock debian environment. I’ve never looked at these settings before but it took me literally 5 seconds to find the “Automatic Power Saver” options for low battery situations. Perhaps you want something specific that doesn’t exist but IDK, I don’t think this is really a deal breaker for business.

I’m not really sure what you’re getting at with Excel vs LibreOffice Calc. There’s 5 people on my team and we all use Calc all day every day. It’s fine. The features we use are “moderately complex”, as in complex functions, pivot tables, filtering, et cetera. No macros or db connections. Yes I’m sure some people use Excel in ways that Calc might struggle with, but I’m also sure the reverse is also true. Yes Calc has a more humble vibe.

if Linux truly competes with Windows, why don’t massive organizations that have the IT manpower/expertise use it for their desktops? They’d save millions in licensing alone.

This is a complex question. I think part of the answer is simply that this wasn’t always the case, a decade ago Linux was much less viable than it is today.

Orgs and individuals have built up a gargantuan amount of knowledge around and within the Windows ecosystem, and that knowledge has value. This means that moving to another platform will have huge training and support and specialist costs, even if the underlying platform is free.

Also, I’m sure you’ve seen the recent posts about whatever German state migrating 30,000 machines to Linux. You’ve probably also heard of that other German city that developed LiMux and ran it successfully for a decade and how desperate MS was to win them back.

As I started off by saying, yes there are problems, and I agree that Linux might be out of reach for many businesses for the next few years. However, the compelling issue I encounter regularly is compatibility with the microsoft ecosystem. That’s not so much the fault of Linux itself, but really a network effect problem. If everyone started using linux tomorrow microsoft would ensure teams would work without issue.

Curiously, for me it’s more or less the other way around, in a sense. I run Linux on both my Desktop and my Laptop, and feel that after setting them up the way I like, I am more productive than under Windows. In Windows, I oftentimes had the feeling that I had to work against the OS whenever I wanted to configure it in a way that wasn’t quite standard, while I tend to feel that I can work with the OS when using Linux. Especially Win11 introduced lots of things that detracted from the user experience for me, and where only changeable by editing the registry, which isn’t great.

I do recognise that parts, or even most of that probably isn’t applicable to the standard user, but as what could reasonably be called a power user, I never really had any problems working with Linux.

I’d also say that for non-power users, people who mainly work within Word processors, or their browser, a stable LTS distros can in some cases be less hassle than Windows.

Regarding Excel - gotta give that to you, I always felt that Excel in isolation was good software, and I am not aware of any replacement that’s equally as friendly to non-programmer users, while also being equally as capable.

Regarding your last point - Dunno, I don’t work there. I would however raise that inertia can be quite powerful. No one ever got fired for buying IBM, no one ever got fired for licensing Windows. Doesn’t mean that there aren’t other, possibly good, reasons.

well, when anticheat supports Linux

It certainly does in many games. Helldivers 2, Hunt: Showdown, and Warframe are rated gold on Linux, Guild Wars 2 is rated platinum. Those are the first four multiplayer games that came to mind.

As someone who genuinely loves the command line - I’d like to know more about your perspective. (Genuinely. I solemnly swear not to try to convince you of my perspective.)

What about GUIs appeals to you over a command line?

I like the CLI because it feels like a conversation with the computer. I explain what I want, combining commands as necessary, and the machine responds.

With GUIs I feel like I’m always relearning tools. Even something as straightforward as ‘find and replace’ has different keyboard shortcuts in most of the text-editing apps I use - and regex support is spotty.

Not to say that I think the terminal is best for all things. I do use an IDE and windowing environments. Just that - when there are CLI tools I tend to prefer them over an equivalent GUI tool.

Anyway, I’m interested to hear your perspective- what about GUIs works better for you? What about the CLI is failing you?

Thank you!