At least we don't have to see ads.
By the way, try using a pen or touch as a meaningfully usable interface on Linux (or Mac)... I'll never buy another computer that doesn't support both rich pen and touch - THAT'S a UI improvement that has changed my life, and made me swear off ALL keyboard-and-mouse-only desktops and laptops forever. (I still use KB/mouse when docked or using type cover, of course, but why would I ever want to limit myself to those?)
BTW - I'll probably also never own another computer that's not dockable - the ability to pull the computer out and have your entire working state just go with you in less than a second is incredibly valuable, as is the ability to dock again when you arrive at one of your desks. My only real complaint about the Surface is that battery replacement is really only practical as a device swap - and Li batteries don't last long enough to use the PC until its technically obsolete. (I'll upgrade to the new SP8, but I'm still running an SP4, which is my third due to two previous battery bloatings since 2014.)
Have you tried doing that on windows? No a pen is not supposed to be used for scrolling on a pc, it's not a smartphone: https://github.com/TheJoeFin/Windows10-Community/issues/17
I have seen windows ads on pro/enterprise on the lock screen even.
Maybe Microsoft dialed back the ads on the Surface, but on other platforms Windows is full of dark patterns to advertise Microsoft's own software. Just recently I've had to give admin permission to my computer to dismiss a warning from Windows Defender that I'm not signed into OneDrive.
I can't say I see the same value in the strong points of the Surface you see, but I have to admit that it's a shame how little good competition there is to the Surface line in terms of convertibles. Apple could easily outcompete Microsoft by providing a professional version of the iPad Pro that runs normal applications, but their desire for simplifying and locking down general purpose computers seems to prevent them from doing so. Other manufacturers like Dell and Lenovo simply don't seem to put out the same quality of hardware.
https://jayfax.neocities.org/mediocrity/gnome-has-no-thumbna...
> One may say, "quit complaining, the GNOME developers are doing for free!" Okay. Well, how much money should I pay for someone to fix this then? I’m legit offering a bounty here. Conditions are that this fix makes it into the master branch.
I think there are a few GNOME developers that have patreons or some other crowdfunding/bounty thing but it's not a major source of income for most. Getting $2 a month from a handful of people is not enough to fund a developer for any serious work. If you want to fund someone for real then you should probably pay a real developer salary which would be at least $75k-$100k a year in the US, and more if you want them to have competitive benefits. The price could be different in other countries. You might be able to hire one of the Linux consultancies to do it for the equivalent hourly rate. This is of course if you work for a company that can afford that. If you're a normal non-rich person then you're probably out of luck here, sorry. Software is expensive.
I also would be wary of anyone who guarantees they can get something into the master branch. To me that's scammer talk. Getting patches merged is an ongoing conversation between the developers and maintainers, you don't want someone who's just pushing code through without any checks. And if they're saying they can get something through before any code is even written and before anyone even knows if the solution is viable or not, then I would view that with extreme skepticism. If it's a major feature then it may end up taking months or years for it to get reviewed and merged, or it may just sit around for years and not get merged at all because it causes issues in some other part of the code, or it could end up being obsoleted by something else before then, or it could just end up being low priority and nobody gets around to it... or any number of other things really.
Hopefully that clears up some of those bizarre statements that are in that article.
How on Earth is it "trolling"? Seriously, I want you to explain to me how that article is bad-faith in any way. Yes, it's written in a absurd, ironic way -- that's because the situation it's describing is absurd. When such a massive, obvious usability flaw has gone unfixed for so long, people have the perfect right to joke about it and make fun of GNOME. Sorry if you think that's unfair trolling -- it isn't.
And lol at the goalpost moving
>gnome is underfunded
>okay, how much money to fix the file chooser
>oh well uhh that's now how it works and you couldn't afford it anyway
I'll go a step further and say: I don't think your assessment is correct. There isn't anything absurd about an open source project missing a popular feature, it's a completely normal situation. Most open source projects are underfunded and understaffed and seem to have a giant "wishlist" of unimplemented features. Also, please avoid making hostile jokes or mocking people, that's more of that cruelty-focused 4chan-style discourse that is against the rules here. It's not an interesting discussion. When you drift into that unproductive stuff that's just being cruel to other people, I would say that absolutely is unfair trolling, so please don't do that. A more productive discussion might be something like: we discuss ways to fund the project, we discuss ways to get bugs fixed, we discuss technical advancements that could help speed things along. Does that make sense? I'm happy to discuss that stuff with you further.
>And lol at the goalpost moving
This again is what I mean, please don't dismiss my comments like this, it's really hostile. I gave you an answer for what it costs, and I also explained why that's not really a good question to ask. If you want me to clarify something then just ask, I could also suggest some better questions to ask if you really do want to help open source developers.
I would also much rather consume software made by people that spend 99% of their time waiting for the weekend, than from people that write software out of self-motivation and enjoyment.