Did you post how did it on WineHQ? I will most certainly follow that up.
Did you post how did it on WineHQ? I will most certainly follow that up.
Google is your friend: https://www.pcworld.com/article/3126764/linux/why-you-should-try-linux-today-6-compelling-reasons.html
It's free, it's not a resource hog, it gives you back your choices, you are not signing your privacy away to the big corporates, you can do pretty much everything you can do on Windows and actually in some cases an awful lot more. And if you have a problem, there are thousands of people out there on the web ready to help you get you up and running, rather than paying for a paid support call that being fielded out of another country where they don't speak your language...
Oh - and me. I run it. Work and Home. Oh - and so do you if you have an Android phone
webcam, internet router, smart tv, etc. etc.
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Ouch! I've used Linux for 20 years now... 18 years in my job. I didn't have a Windows machine until Elite: Dangerous was announced and I had to buy a machine to play it. Wow... I've owned a Windows machine for four years now...
Linux users do exist you know, and we're a lot more numerous than you think
Couldn't have said it better!
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First, it has been just so much better work on it professionally. As I have been working for most of my working life as IT specialist, Linux is best thing out there. Yes, people use MacOS/OS X but you don't need to these days. It just is.
Second, it is always constantly improved by both companies and volunteers. And it is not because we like to feel good and join hands and sing peace songs. But because we benefit all of this. I have an issue, if I have skills, I can help developer to debug issue and even provide patch. In result thing I wanted to be fix or feature I wanted to be included is included and I don't worry about it next time. This constant flow of innovation is not only refreshing for me as knowledgeable human being, but also purely beneficial because it is result of collective knowledge. While there are some just plain bad behaviour, overall FLOSS community has made me believe people can do good and be good online and elsewhere in real life.
Third, from mercantile interests for my other lifestyles and hobbies - music, games - things have been improving a lot. There are hundreds of good games available on Linux - so much that I can't play them all, even I would like to. Both AAA and indies, it just have been awesome experience. Music listening and music making also have been upgraded, Music listening has never been big problem - with Rhythmbox, Spotify, Gstreamer pluggable codecs and installation detection, but recently I have re-discovered Ardour and friends and there are very good commercial music production apps too. Same goes with graphics and everything else. Yes, there are some corner cases, but it is mostly down to choice and familiarity.
Last, it's...free. And it is not free as beer, and it is really free as software as it feels it belongs to community. It lives and dies by volunteer and other contributor's input. And even then for years software can be used if it just does it thing as it supposed to. No commercial interests or some control freakism doesn't stop me to use old software to open old formats and extract knowledge I seek.
I use it because it is...better for me. Way better than Windows 7, which I see as best Windows version. And I won't even compare it to Windows 10.
p.s. also just for quick user friendliness comparison - I have converted few friends to Fedora with GNOME Shell and they all say it is way better than nightmares of Windows 8 and Windows 10. RedHat, Canonical, Dell...there are billion worth companies investing in Linux *desktop*.
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I use Linux where I can.
It's actually better supported on older hardware than Windows is and plenty of distros are quicker and easier to install and configure the way I want them.
I also prefer to not give MS any more business or market share than actually necessary.
I was actually considering giving SteamOS a go. Most of my gaming is done through Steam at the moment and they claim to have better graphics support in the OS. Plus, although the desktop is minimalist, it's still there and you can still add the Debian repositories and install your favourite desktop apps and utilities.
( I'm currently on Ubuntu 16.04 with the option to boot into Win10 if I need to )
( I'm currently on Ubuntu 16.04 with the option to boot into Win10 if I need to )
There are various good reasons for using Linux in preference to Windows and essentially both the PS3 and MacOS X systems are OS's that have a significant degree of commonality with the Linux OS. Even Android can be considered a comparable OS to Linux.
The main reasons for NOT using Linux tend to be down to specific hardware or software compatibility concerns. However, with some older Windows software Linux may be the only viable option without turning to Virtual Machines and out of support commercial OSs (Microsoft created some software backwards compatibility issues when they moved from the Windows XP architecture to Windows Vista/7/8/10). In the gaming environment, the SteamOS initiative(s) should help to mainstream Linux in gaming.
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SteamOS is quite good, but there are quirks. What's good though that it seems Valve SteamOS team is still going strong in background. Latest updates brought descent Vulkan and AMDGPU support. I expect that to continue there.
Also for what's worth I actually like Steam Big Screen mode.
Those of us who like free, open source (knowing there is no sneaky code), free, knowing my OS isn't data mining me, knowing my OS is far more stable and secure than Microsoft, knowing my OS isn't keeping tabs on my activities, did I mention it's free? Not being forced into buying a new version or having updates shoved down my throat, having complete control of when and how things get installed.
I like big picture mode too. And quite frankly I'd be happy with a big picture mode by default with a desktop I can drop to when I need to, just so I can install Kodi if necessary ( does Steam OS have it's own media player? ) and to watch netflix - which doesnt' work in the Steam Browser, but I suppose may work in the SteamOS browser.
Anyhoo right now my Ubuntu is installed on a 1TB hard disk (over 600gb free still ) and I am planning to get a 500gb SSD onto which SteamOS will go. Then if I don't like it I will simply Mirror my ubuntu installation onto the SSD instead. - Yep.. sounds like a plan!
Be warned that SteamOS installation process can wipe your data, so be aware. It is constructed as OEM image and behaves as one.
The way I feel about M$ W10 right now I'd love a viable OS that isn't MAC (I hate that rubbish almost as much!).
Thanks, I'm aware of that which is why it will go onto a spanky new drive and not trying to replace my current distro
As in, I should be able to mount the (physical) Ubuntu drive in SteamOS and copy personal files and savegames over without damaging my Ubuntu installation - I'll mount it read only to be sure. And yep, I know I'll need to add a file manager to SteamOS as it doesn't come with one .. but this is part of the Joy of Linux.
.. but this is part of the Joy of Linux.Sadly I don't think much of this is true anymore. Sneaky code gets into everything and our computers have basically been compromised from the silicon on up. Cryptography in particular is being deliberately subverted.
Even if the OS were pure, buggy code and bad design is everywhere (just look at yesterdays horror Intel CPU flaw, or last year's Intel Management Engine flaws). As soon as you actually want to *use* your OS and start installing applications or tools written by other people you're relying on them to be competent and honest and some of them aren't. OpenSSL is a good example of what happens when too many people contribute to an open source project in an undisciplined manner.
I just don't think there is any such thing as a secure OS or for that matter a secure computer. They are just way too complicated and way too many people are involved. I would also argue that these days Windows is quite stable.
I'll get my coat...
With free and open source projects anyone with the relevant knowledge can vet the code and confirm or refute compliance with best practices, with closed source products you are dependent on the developers doing the relevant checks (which is rarely done to anything but the bare minimum level normally IME).
Such levels of transparency and fewer commercial pressures can lead to a higher quality of code overall. It is far from a guarantee but it is a consideration. With closed source commercial software, dirty hacks and unsecure code would be invisible in the main - though runtime analysis of running code can uncover such things sometimes.
My experience with OS projects is that while the code is available the reality is that nobody will actually *look* at it unless a bug or obvious performance problem crops up.
So if someone puts something sneaky in the code - but it appears to be working normally - there is simply no reason for anyone to review it. In a large project the majority of the code may sit there for many years without anyone looking at it, even in a widely used project.
The point is that if security is a concern it is more easily vetted by an independent party - ergo any risk of malicious/unsecure code can be mitigated.
There are static code analysis tools that can analyse the relevant source and identify some of the more problematic or suspect code too.
Yea, but any source can be infaltrated. Who is making that code! >< (this is the consequence whenever you don't do something yourself) Life tends to go in a direction. It goes up then it goes down. The down takes longer than the up for some odd reason. Likely because it takes a while for things to rot. You'd be shocked what normally occurs. Literally what you must assume occurs to be responsible for certain things.(A system always fills out exactly to the form of the system.)
Yes it is better in a sense to have open code. Bad things will always develop where they have room. Hidden code is an easy place. But it is always going wherever it has room. If you don't have it open it will simply do what it can in the open. And it will always gain a means eventually on matter the environement. Assuming it doesn't have a plathora of means already. And something as simple as appethy means they can do things in a hidden way in the open. ;p
Yes it is better in a sense to have open code. Bad things will always develop where they have room. Hidden code is an easy place. But it is always going wherever it has room. If you don't have it open it will simply do what it can in the open. And it will always gain a means eventually on matter the environement. Assuming it doesn't have a plathora of means already. And something as simple as appethy means they can do things in a hidden way in the open. ;p
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