I went back to Linux and it was a mistake | Hacker News Reader

I went back to Linux and it was a mistake

theverge.com

9 pointstimpera7 comments

This is what happens when a long term, non-developer tries to use Linux by themselves (no technical friend telling him what to do); and the honest reality is that, the experience always ends in fustration.

Before using anecdotes or suggesting that he didn't use X / Y / Z, first, just read this to understand why he believes it was a mistake and why he felt he was wasting his time, even though he used Linux for more than a decade:

> I can make music in Bitwig or Reaper on Ubuntu, but Ableton on macOS is easier to use and supports all my VSTs. GIMP and Darktable offer solid image editing, but let’s be honest, they’re nowhere near as powerful as Lightroom and Photoshop. Linux can do all the things now — sometimes better than Windows. But for all it does, it always feels like there’s a better option.

Instead, he ended up switching to macOS.

This shows that it still means the Linux desktop experience is not good enough for just regular work, compared with macOS it seems. There is still a lot of room for improvement.

Maybe the true reason for the Verge author for switching to macOS was simply just taste.

https://archive.is/eQJnd

The Verge's Terrence O'Brien on his experience switching his laptop to Linux as a non-developer.

To be compared with his coworker Nathan Edwards who had a much better experience a few weeks ago: https://www.theverge.com/tech/858910/linux-diary-gaming-desk...

Everyone complains about one little update breaking your PC, or random things not working, but my Windows 11 laptop for work has been a nightmare, too.

I'm always terrified to let them install the latest version update as it has done everything from break all my taskbar shortcuts to make my computer blue screen on boot.

My fingerprint reader didn't work on it until I manually installed the fingerprint driver.

My friend had Outlook start deleting all of his emails on loading Outlook after a minor update for reasons that even the helpdesk couldn't parse.

I understand that Linux is rougher around the edges in some ways, but I think we are just all used to the friction Windows has (like that bizarre right-click menu behind a button on the right-click menu thing).

I've spent time on a Mac, too, and while it has way less "huh, that just doesn't work today, okay" moments, it's not perfect either. No OS is.

My hope is not that everyone in the world will switch to Linux. I don't think "the year of Linux" will ever happen. But I wish we didn't only have two poles of articles when it comes to people coming to Linux: The "I switched to Linux and it was so easy and I'm never going back and Window sux" or the "I switched to Linux and it killed my dog and ate all my food and I had to quit my job just to play Stardew Valley on it."

It's an OS. No OS is perfect. Linux is more customizable but more breakable. MacOS is less customizable, but more stable. Windows is an ad-laden AI hellscape that still works better with most software because most software is written for it.

It’s a double edged sword. The computer at this point is 7 years old and had slowed down (planned obsolescence). It’s not exactly going to be anything like a new computer. And Linux for that is perfectly fine for everyday tasks and what you can get from a 7 year old computer before the ARM chips entered the scene. On the other hand if you did buy a new computer you’d probably get to run the latest windows and macOS versions running perfectly fine in which case he’s probably complaining about how bad Microsoft and Apple have gotten over the years which is why he’s giving Linux a try in the first place.

It feels like the author entered with the bias of complaining and frustration no matter what by comparing a weakness with others strength.

> CachyOS or Bazzite would have provided a smoother Steam experience. But it’s also illustrative of the problem. Saying you use Linux is almost meaningless because there are so many different flavors.

"Saying you like PCs is meaningless because there's so many different options" is an equally stupid thing to say with about as much justification for it. This article is just the author trying to rationalize a bunch of poor choices.

This kind of article is repetitious. 15 or 20 years ago, it might be interesting or relevant, but by now we know for a fact that "Word" or Adobe Photoshop or Excel or heaven help us PowerPoint can't be replaced, the business world and the legal system can't function without exactly and precisely those apps. It's always the same.

Absolute bullshit. This should not be post in 2026, even ten years ago...

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