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Comment by AnIdiotOnTheNet | Hacker News Reader

> Why is desktop Linux bad?

There are a huge range of reasons. There's no consistency, everything changes every 2 years, the documentation is awful when it exists at all, if software is outside your distro's package repo it's a bitch to install, there are too many different distros, the community is full of pricks, fragmentation is a time-honored pastime, complexity is fetishized... fuck sound still didn't work consistently on the last Linux based media center I built. A cursory search of the internet will turn up innumerable reasons Linux Desktop is bad.

Which isn't to say that MacOS and Windows aren't bad (and getting worse), but they're still a damned sight better.

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> There's no consistency

Just a reminder there's like 7 different context menu styles in Windows 10, not to mention two control panels.

This only emphasizes how bad the Linux desktop experience can be. The devs of the Linux DE community could do better but chose to do gang turf wars.

And as you say, Windows 10 still sits there having confusing and mediocre system UIs.

It's a matter of perception and need in the end, I think. I am happy with XFCE, but then I don't do much with the desktop environment itself other than manipulating windows, having a nice panel on top and some key bindings. Occasionally, I use a file manager, but most of the time I am just in applications, so they are maximized.

With my really simple needs, macOS and Windows is just mostly memory-wasting fluff to me. I switched away from Macs when I realized that what I need and what I can get is cheaper than getting a Mac. ("Cheaper" because I am very sensitive to cost vs. utility. I am typing on thinkpad t430s I found in the trash which I spent just a little to get a better screen, having everything else already that was missing.)

That said, sometimes get frustrating, but they don't happen frequently for me.

> There's no consistency, everything changes every 2 years, the documentation is awful when it exists at all

In the days of electron and web apps, it's clear that the users either don't care or developers are shooting themselves in the foot.

In either case, consistency died a while ago.

Mmmm, I don't think this is fair when discussing Linux. If Electron didn't exist, there's a good chunk of apps that just wouldn't exist on Linux at all.

Doesn't change the fact that if people valued consistency, those apps would be flops on all supported platforms.

People value tools that do what they need to do over consistency, but that does not mean that they do not value consistency.

Not enough for them to win in the market, apparently.

> There's no consistency, everything changes every 2 years

It all depends on the distribution (hence "too many different distros" is good). Choose Debian XFCE and you will never see any change, everything is rock-solid. Tested with my relatives.

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