[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by cortman

A lot of your perceptions about Linux (as I understand them from your post) especially regarding software are a bit dated; certainly it was the case when many FOSS applications could not compete with their nonfree Windows/Mac alternatives, but that is becoming increasingly uncommon.

Yes, so everybody tells me. It may be true for the "casual software", but certainly not for professional desktop stuff. There will never be a *true* alternative for something such as Photoshop, LightRoom, Maya, 3DMax, AutoCAD, MathLab, Chessbase (yes, this is a professional program), CuBase, Native Instruments, and more.

Of course, there are alternatives. We have GIMP, RAWTherapee/DarkTable, Blender, FreeCAD, SID Database... but each program has serious shortcomings compared to the industry standards. Yes, I use GIMP now, mainly because I detest Adobe's subscription service for Photoshop, but I am just a hobby photographer. If I was a professional, I can mention at least 5 functions that I would *NEED* that GIMP doesn't provide.

Same goes for all the others.

These programs are just too big and too expensive to develop as a community effort. They require too much research. Nobody is going to do all that for free, for the love of software only, and if they do, development will probably be slow. GIMP still doesn't have 16-bit color editing and adjustment layers. Users are asking for that for like... oh... 10 years now? Same sort of stuff can be said for other programs.

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On a server, I'd choose Linux in a jiffy. It seems that most development effort concentrated there. On the desktop, the devs are just fighting.

Display... Xorg is too old! We make Wayland! No. Wayland is crap. We at Ubuntu create Mir!

Desktops... Hey, while we're at it, lets splinter the development of the desktops too! Split MATE and Cinnamon from Gnome 2, because we hate Gnome 3. WHAT! Keep plodding along on Gnome 2 code? NO! For Ubuntu, Unity it shall be. Never mind KDE, XFCE, LXDE, LMDE, and all the others.

Audio... Shudder. OSS. Old, but needs to be supported still. ALSA, a mess. Multiple different sound servers on top of that, such as ESD and ARTS. PulseAudio, trying to replace everything under the sun.

Even booting. InitV, UpStart, systemd; maybe others. People can't even make up their minds how to friggin' boot Linux.

Believe me. I *know* Linux. I've tried to run it as my primary system for 12 years or so, sometimes switching as long as 6 months to full time Linux use (Last time was about a year ago). On the desktop, there's always something that will make it impractical, if it's only the sheer amount of time one sometimes needs to get stuff running, in case you want or need to use a certain piece of hardware, of need to set up stuff that is not in the distro's repository.

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It's not funny to support Linux as a desktop software developer. I've tried. It's not fun. It changes at the drop of a hat, and it changes often. You have to support multiple completely different setups. No two systems will be the same. No developer wants that.

While at this point, Ubuntu is just another distribution, "doing things differently" and contributing to the splintering, at some point it will be an operating system seperate from Linux. If the Linux community doesn't stop splintering and fighting amongst itself, then "Linux on the Desktop" will become "Ubuntu", and Ubuntu only. If it keeps this up, we will have Windows, OSX, Ubuntu, and Linux. Linux then be as it always was, while Ubuntu will be the "Microsoft of the open source world".

(And of course the BSD's, but they are even less suited for desktops than Linux.)

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

And what do you do when Windows won't run Windows software?

That's no problem. I run Windows software back to 1998 without any problems. Baldur's Gate from 1998 is the oldest piece of Windows software I run, and except for some compatibility settings, it doesn't make a fuss. That game was written for DirectX 6 on Windows 98, and it now runs on DirectX 9 (installed alongside 11) on Windows 7 x64.

I run many programs and games created between 1998 and 2012 on this same computer, directly in Windows 7 x64. The OS provides at least 15 years of compatibility.

If I need or want anything that's even older than 1998, such as a DOS-program or game, then I run it in DOSBox, or if I really need to in case of 16-bit Win3x program or some stuff that *REALLY* doesn't want to run, then I pull out a Virtual Machine running FreeDOS / MS-DOS and Windows 3.11 or Windows 98. That hasn't happened lately as I don't use any Windows 3.x software anymore, and everything else I have runs either directly in Windows 7 x64, or in DOSBox.

Originally Posted by cortman

...agreeing to some buried point that transfers ownership of my eternal soul to the software company.

This is meant as a joke, making a parody of EULA's:

The terms of service were updated on April Fool's Day as a gag, but the retailer did so to make a very real point: No one reads the online terms and conditions of shopping, and companies are free to insert whatever language they want into the documents.

Also, at least in Europe, NO software EULA goes above the law. They EULA can state that the company is entitled to burn down your house at any point, but it will have no meaning. If it's not allowed by law, it's not binding in the EULA, even if you sign it.