Linux Sucks 2021 [video]

Linux might suck sometimes, but IMHO it sucks much less than Windows (MacOS I can't say because I never really used it). I'm running Kubuntu 20.04 right now on a Thinkpad T490, and everything except the fingerprint sensor (which I never use anyway) just works out of the box. I find the UI looks absolutely great and more polished than Windows 10, everything is really snappy and responsive and there are a ton of great open-source productivity apps I can choose from (Krita, Dolphin, Konsole, ...). I'm still blown away of how good an operating system can be that is being developed mostly by volunteers without any central authority. 10 years ago Windows might have been on top of desktop Linux, but the progress that window managers like Gnome and KDE have made since then is significant, while Windows seems to be stuck in 2010 design-wise.

For those that don’t understand: Brian Lunduke does a version of this speech every year. It’s supposed to be a light hearted jab at the GNU/Linux system and community. and “sucks” as a technical term means “fails to meet expectations” and does not mean “is bad”

Weak sauce. I remember enjoying his talk last year, this is pretty disappointing. All his evidence that Linux is dying seems flimsy.

• RMS has been sidelined. That was because of RMS-specific reasons, not some grand conspiracy against FOSS.

• ESR has been sidelined. That was because of ESR-specific reasons, not some grand conspiracy against FOSS.

• I'm optimistic the FSF and OSI will get by fine without them. This at least seems like a possibility worth acknowledging.

• He seems to assert that if the kernel's complexity continues to bloat out of control, the whole project will be doomed to eventually stall and implode. That doesn't seem likely. If the complexity gets unmanageable, I imagine they'd make radical changes, or perhaps we could even see major forks, rather than Linux collapsing entirely like the fall of Rome. edit Or did Rome fork? Perhaps not a great analogy.

• In-person conferences are down, on account of a global pandemic. So? He asserts there's no way they'll return after the pandemic, but this is baseless. Even if the organisations that run these events are in trouble, if the demand is there then new ones will arise. There weren't always Linux events, after all.

• No operating system lasts forever. That doesn't seem right empirically. We've had Linux and Windows dominating for a long time. He acknowledges that operating systems evolve, but I don't think that's enough.

• He doesn't seem to have any real prediction about the future, beyond the Linux kernel specifically will no longer be dominant. Why would we expect Haiku or the BSDs to overtake the Linux kernel?

I still can't quite believe he applauded people for breaking lockdown rules to hold small-scale Linux conferences.

He talks about SJWs attacking Linus Torvald and (successfully) cornering him into feeling guilty and leaving.

It seems to currently be the best way to destroy a competitor: Attack him on SJW grounds. Same technique was used against Julian Assange, the accusation was on, then off, then on, then off bow that he’s jailed. Convenient!

For our freedom, we should fight this. Crimes should be pursued penally, and proven. Not pursued by a crowd of mobsters. This is #1 danger to our freedom.

I have funding allocated for open-source in my company. My only requirement is:

- Either don’t have an ethics policy,

- Either, if one is present, it must explicitly say that Whites and men should not be discriminated against.

So far, we have allocated 0% of our pool. All of Debian, Postgresql, Apache and similar have programs specifically targeted at Black people, while no effort is made in non-discrimination.

This has to end. Linus Torvalds is white, and discriminating against Whites is the best way to end up with Windows, Amazon Aurora and license fees for every library we use.

Attacks against Whites have to stop.

Honestly the problem is windows sucks way more. I have Linux (Ubuntu) and window on my laptop and I shudder when I have to use Windows. Windows is so damn slow! I'm just shocked at how long it can take to do the most basic tasks on windows.

If Excel and Word were on Linux I would never use Windows again. The Linux alternatives (especially for Excel) are not up to scratch. Am liking Google sheets and docs more and more.

After using a Linux distro as my main desktop OS, there was no way I was ever going back to the monstrosity that is Windows. No matter how bad Linux sucks in some regards, it is the black sheep of the family that will always have that special place in my heart.

Any program that is Windows only, will be run on a VM. I like my systems clean, focused, lightweight & minimal.

Never heard of this alternative video platform before, interesting.

I think he's wrong. I think this is like when everyone predicted Web Assembly would take over the world.

There's something to be said about being able to fiddle with everything and anything on both a server, and a desktop.

Android is pretty much closed, same for mac and windows. Linux gives you a lot of freedom. I don't see desktop Linux really ever having a large market share, but I do expect that there will be a thinning of options.

His points about maintenance of large projects is valid. But it is how new solutions get built.

I'm surprised that AWS hasn't busted into the Linux space to put pressure on the other cloud competitors.

Linux probably won’t last forever, but I will wager a lot of money that a Google OS won’t be its replacement.

Also, Pop!_OS, despite the clumsy name, is the best OS I’ve used. I was Windows only for 20 years, Mac for 5, and Pop only recently, so I’m probably still in the honeymoon phase. But if you like keyboard-friendly desktops that are still easy for non power users, Pop is really quite good.

I think there’s too much corporate dependence on Linux for it to go away. There may be a tragedy of the commons where companies dependent on Linux fail to invest enough in it to keep it thriving. And corporate purposes may not align with hobbyist purposes, but I think Linux will persist as more than a zombie.

I’m somewhat more worried about the maintainability and churn of the ecosystem built up around Linux. The video mentioned OpenBSD a couple of times. OpenBSD shoulders a disproportionate share of the burden in maintaining important infrastructure. Take a look at all the spinoff projects OpenBSD is responsible for, feel queasy, and then write them a check. They make a pretty great OS too ;-)

Honestly I use Linux for the same reason people use Windows: out of familiarity. But progressively my experience is getting so bad that I am strongly considering Windows with WSL.

Example: My wifi drops occasionally. Enough to be super annoying. It used to work well, some update years ago skrewed it up.

Another example from today: Launching Steam bricks my system. No, I don't mean "Steam crashes". Not even "my DE crashes". My whole system freezes, and after hard reset it cannot load. Something something skrews config royally.

I am so tired of spending my weekends trying to find out what is wrong with my system now, instead of relaxing.

There's some weight to some of this for sure. I don't think using past history and longevity of OSes makes much sense though. There's just not enough data, and Linux also fills a very specific niche that is decidedly not filled by the other leading OSes, which gives it the market robustness it has seen so far I feel. To replace it, you would need to fill it's shoes, because it is entrenched in user land and some very big commercial industries.

Maybe that day will come, but I don't even see a competitor lurking in the waters yet, so I don't think it will be soon.

What is the plan for Fuchsia? A kernel for a mobile operating system? Or a general purpose kernel?

Will Google migrate all their server software to Fuchsia? I am not too convinced that's their idea, isn't it?

How does product management work at ubuntu? I mean, is there someone (or a group) with a coordinated plan or is it just random little steps in mostly right directions wherever someone finds the time to patch something?

I just can't get warm with linux, even though I'd love to and it's still mostly drivers, what apps are available and how badly they run holding me back.

I'm personally not that worried about Fuchsia, OS adaptation is hard work for established fields and for fushia it would ve no exceptions.

Not to mention, that linux greatest strength is random people contributing to the kernel to get linux to work.

Only in young/new fields would I be worried fuchsia will get the lead and hobbyists will follow.

But then again Google's os could fail similarly to stadia.

If this is your first time checking out Odysee and LBRY, welcome!

First 10 replies with your LBC address (with account history on hm) get some additional LBC!

Off topic, but personally I enjoy written blogs to vlogs, since you can then easily skim through and see if there is any real content.

I'd love read the tldr

Both linux and windows seem to be stagnating. Windows died when they decided to stop making new versions. How can you innovate without scrapping the old stuff? Linux was always a mishmash of poor and top notch things cobbled together. At least windows had some coherent design philosophy but that's not the case anymore. It's like they have just given up.