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Comment by magic_hamster | Hacker News Reader

> (Desktop) Linux, on the other hand, seems to be more of an intellectual experiment designed to please the people who are writing it rather than a consumer-focused product

Honestly can't tell if you're joking, but I guess yes. Linux is the most stable OS I've ever used. There's a reason most mission critical and online services that require constant uptime run almost exclusively on Linux.

Windows used to have a nice GUI attached to a mostly unstable system. That was 20 years ago. Now Windows feels like a predatory product that's borderline unusable.

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> There's a reason most mission critical and online services that require constant uptime run almost exclusively on Linux.

That argument only applies to servers. Places where you don't need to wrangle x11, the audio stack, gpu drivers for less common cards, conflicting gtk and qt versions for different apps you might use on a whim, hidpi support in old apps, theming issues... I've no idea how many of these are still a plague these days, but they certainly have been for long.

Servers are way more predictable linux configurations.

For desktop, win32 is as solid as it gets (too bad it's shipped within a desktop filled with increasingly many dark patterns).

Audio has come a long way, pipewire just works in my experience. And Wayland is in daily driver territory, so X11 is only needed if you have some specific requirements. Steamdeck/proton has massively improved gaming.

That’s not to say it’s not still Linux, there will be some tinkering. But compared to a decade ago there’s way less banging my head against the wall.

If you’re already competent in administration Linux you might find it’s time to revisit the desktop.

I don't need to wrangle with x11 because I use Wayland, and I don't need to wrangle with the audio stack because I use pipewire

What year is this post from?

ymmv and this evidence is anecdotal of course, but our team has used linux on framework laptops now for more than a year and we experience way, way less issues than on windows.

I can't remember the last time I had a problem with linux as a desktop, everything just works. Of course, framework makes sure it does, just like every other manufacturer of laptops does with windows.

EDIT: multi-monitor support, bluetooth headset, printing, various audio devices, etc: this is all just plug and play in my experience, feels much smoother than on windows.

> Linux is the most stable OS I've ever used. There's a reason most mission critical and online services that require constant uptime run almost exclusively on Linux.

You’re talking about servers, while the comment you’re responding to is about desktop usage.

You are thinking of BSD, which is far more stable than Linux for servers etc.

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