[Ipg-smz] What happens when Linux keeps getting better and better?

Thu Dec 20 20:46:53 UTC 2018

Within arms reach are: macOS Mojave, Windows 10, and LinuxMint. My use 
cases are not your use cases. I'm a rotten photographer (ask Corrigan), 
and I don't live in video-ville. I don't play games, save running a 
Windows XP VM to run Duke Nukem and other arcade-ish games.

I code throughout the day, and have written four books on LinuxMint, 
soon to be seven. I think Linux graphics support is wanting, but my main 
machine is a Yoga, which has reasonable, barely-passable, touch screen. 
My opinion of Lenovo has dropped a full two stars from five in a year, 
but I'm still using one.

They're all cults. I've reviewed operating systems for a living, and 
each has their special spot, and each of them stinks. I go back to the 
pre-CP/M days. I'm old. My first 'nix was Systems III, my first GUI was 
X, then Xenix, then Motif, then remedial SmallTalk, then Mac and 
Windows, but also DesqView, and other primitive multi-tasking, 
pre-emptive architectural models including NeXtStep, and a lot of other 
variations which root to X and SmallTalk. We've come a long way, babee. 
A long way.

I side with FOSS, philosophically. I like macOS for its intuitiveness. I 
tolerate Windows. If one can place trust in something, I tend to err on 
the side of the Linux crew because they have the guts to put their code 
out for all to see and laugh at, then quickly fix.

I cannot tell you how many times I've pulled Windows users out of the 
drink. They cough and sputter, and their machines were wiped. If you 
were a monkey in my circus, you had backups. Otherwise, something ate 
your lunch (again), boo hoo.

Linux on the desktop can be very useful, but not for the the things you 
do, Swap. I get that. I would like Macs more if Apple didn't lie like 
rugs, and have the smugness of a fortune in cash-- mostly in overseas 
banks. Apple is clearly brilliant, and with that brilliance has come 
great designs, and also the Newton.

Chromebooks are a different model, one where you trust the cloud. I 
snort. I understand the cloud, but it's difficult to protect today. I 
follow a lot of security folks, and the cloud is a mess, and the US Gov 
(and others) do little to keep from peeping and stealing and the US Gov 
just really don't care about your data. They pay lots of lip service.

I have ten instances of honeypots running right now. They look like 
Windows instances and Linux instances. The Windows instances are jacked 
about once every eight days, no matter their auto-patch level. I have 
two Linux instances of Ubuntu server that have been running unabated 
(auto-patched) continuously since their installation in 2015.

Apple has not engendered my trust. Microsoft is the posterchild for 
whatever makes money at the time. Pecuniary interests aside, the FOSS 
people, primitive as they can be, have gained my respect and support.

I am NOT a typical user, and I respect respect people's choices. Apple 
is the best choice for some. Windows if you must, and application-driven 
decisions are valid. I believe in FOSS platforms for my own reasons, 
which are not yours.

Tom

On 12/20/18 2:55 PM, Swapnil “Swap” Bhartiya wrote:
> Chromebook is winning because Google got it right, the did everything wrong that the desktop community did wrong. Now the desktop people will certainly try to hijack that success. The interesting thing is that even Google doesn’t use the word Linux anywhere near Chrome OS. Why the desktop community is so ‘cultist’ as Alan said. No one wants to get associated with it. That said I don’t see any point in Pixel. At the given point I don’t think Chromebook deserve any price point more than $500. I can get a MacBook for a lesser price and do much more than what Pixel can do.
>
> PS: Be warned Google is KNOWN for killing products. I have burnt my fingers way too many times. I won’t be surprised if Google kills Chrome OS 5 years from now.
>
> Swap
>
>
>> On Dec 20, 2018, at 2:50 PM, Dana Blankenhorn <danablankenhorn at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Chromebooks are grabbing big hunks of market share. I think we're being too purist here. I prefer not to call victory a defeat.
>>
>> On Thu, Dec 20, 2018 at 2:45 PM Swapnil “Swap” Bhartiya <arnieswap at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Yes. But we are talking about Desktop Linux. Linux is a dominant player in modern world, Desktop is an exception. I also don’t like when we use the term Linux for Desktop Linux. Which confuses things. At one hand Linux is the most successful technology to date at the same time the desktop is a massive failure and the reason is simple. Linus and I had a discussion recently and even he admitted that Desktop folks and fragmentation is responsible for its failure. For a long time even Linus didn’t offered packaged version of  its own SubSurface to Linux as it was PITA to support Linux. They offered fro macOS and Windows. So let me repeat Linux is dominating the world, but Desktop Linux has failed.
>>
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHFdoFKDuQA&t=23s
>>
>> Swap
>>
>>
>>
>>> On Dec 20, 2018, at 2:39 PM, Dana Blankenhorn <danablankenhorn at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Androids are based on Linux and Chromebooks are based on Linux and Amazon Fire is based on Linux.
>>>
>>> On Thu, Dec 20, 2018 at 2:38 PM Swapnil “Swap” Bhartiya <arnieswap at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> I also use Linux, but only in limited use-cases. As it can’t handle my workload, simple.
>>>
>>>> On Dec 20, 2018, at 2:34 PM, Alan Zeichick <alan at zeichick.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> IOS. It’s an iPad Mini.
>>>>
>>>> I didn’t say, by the way, that Linux is bad, or that I don’t use it. Because I do use Linux.
>>>>
>>>> However, it is cultish and overhyped, nonetheless, imho.
>>>>
>>>> -A
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> On Dec 20, 2018, at 12:03 PM, Christine Hall <christine at fossforce.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> "Tenderly tapped on a tiny tablet"
>>>>>
>>>>> I wonder what operating system that tiny tablet is using?
>>>>>
>>>>> Christine Hall
>>>>> Publisher & Editor
>>>>> FOSS Force: Keeping tech free
>>>>> http://fossforce.com
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 12/20/18 1:48 PM, Alan Zeichick wrote:
>>>>>> I’ll suggest “cultish” and “overhyped.”
>>>>>> -A
>>>>>> Tenderly tapped on a tiny tablet
>>>>>>> On Dec 20, 2018, at 11:44 AM, Phil Shapiro <pshapiro at his.com <mailto:pshapiro at his.com>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>   Folks, sjvn is in the unenviable position of having to describe Linux, which just keeps getting better and better.  Let's all chip in and
>>>>>>> buy him a Dictionary of Superlatives. My fear is that we're running out of adjectives to describe Linux. The Earth has a finite supply
>>>>>>> of adjectives. We may have to soon start mining asteroids for new adjectives -- just to describe Linux.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>       Take pity on journalists who cover the open source beat. It's not their fault that Linux keeps getting better. Toss them an adjective
>>>>>>> from time to time. They'll be so appreciative if you do.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>                  phil
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> -- 
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> Phil Shapiro, pshapiro at his.com <mailto:pshapiro at his.com>
>>>>>>> http://www.his.com/pshapiro/briefbio.html
>>>>>>> http://www.twitter.com/philshapiro
>>>>>>> http://www.his.com/pshapiro/stories.menu.html
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> "Wisdom begins with wonder." - Socrates
>>>>>>> "Learning happens thru gentleness."
>>>>>>> "We must reinvent a future free of blinders so that we can choose from real options."  David Suzuki
>>>>>>> -- 
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>
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