1y ago

This guy has a good take on linux companies, agree or disagree?

Kent right here talks about how Linux related companies need to focus on putting their resources towards collaborating and helping big companies port their software and THEN introduce open source software to new users instead of remaking desktop environments, pushing companies away, and overall doing the same thing over and over.

I kind of agree with him just not completely, but my question is:

Do any of you agree?

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my take is that you really cant get big compnies to port to linux in the way he describes, and a lot of linux users wont use it anyway cuz its not foss
also afaik cosmic isnt just gnome in rust? its more like a realised knome (mix of kde and gnome, april fools 202x)
big companies will move with userbase, and cosmic being developed wont hurt the userbase growth of desktop linux. jeez that last part about foss evangelists just like no
honestly this man just seems a bit fustrated by not having a latest popos release?
also : people create clones of software all the time, not just in foss projects
overall, id say i dont really agree with him. imo cosmic is fine and the big companies really arent that interested anyway, i don't think giving them money will help tbh, id much prefer foss alternatives being given funding
- Completely fair take. 👍

I don't think he has. I disagree. I think he wants Linux to be Windows and that is a huge mistake.
I didn't move to Linux because the software is so much better than on Windows. I moved to Linux because it gets out of my way, doesn't spy on me and development is focused on making it better for me as a user and not to suit the next Skynet.
Linux allows me to be more productive and gives me functional software that does what I need it to. Sometimes it's not pretty but I don't care. It does the job.
If companies start taking on developing or porting their stuff to Linux, then Linux is going to end up like Windows - a shit show of corporate greed and an OS designed and focused for hoovering up users private information.
I don't want that.
It doesn't have to be like that. Much like the turtle and the scorpion story, companies do what is in their nature: they must keep making more and more and more to satisfy the shareholders greed and that does not align with me getting a better experience. It's just how things are.
I personally couldn't care less about Adobe's software. Kdenlive is not Premiere Pro, but it does what I need it for. GIMP isn't Photoshop, but does what I need it to. Krita or Inkscape isn't Illustrator but I don't use them. What astounds me is each of these are free and are incredible pieces of software.
As somebody else pointed out. If you want to use Adobe products, either use Windows as your primary OS or dual boot. It's not hard. At all. Same for AutoCAD. Just because Windows is an either / or, for me, doesn't mean it has to be for you. Use both.

- I Dualboot as well, because the programs I want to use are not available on Linux and this keeps me from switching 100% to Linux. If I would need to use Adobe for my job, or just like it, it would keep me from switching to Linux as well. To be honest, if all programs would run in Linux as well without tinkering, the market share would go up to 10% immideately almost guaranteed.
  The thing is, Linux and most open source and free software feels like it's not quite there yet. A lot of things are a little unpolished and weirdly complicated. I am happy to pay for good software, as I did in the past. I don't need to have everything open source. Yeah, there are alternatives for almost everything but comparing them side by side shows what the free tools often lack, like freecad vs Fusion or solidworks. Or gimp Vs Photoshop. It's not the same. You can get it working if you want it to, but most people are lazy and want stuff to be working like they are used to. Or just require it to work fast without workarounds. I could not find a good alternative for Ableton, and all my project files are from Ableton. So I sometimes hesitate if I want to boot into Linux or windows, because everything I need just works in windows and is already there

Oh, just invest in adobe and get it developed for Linux - easy, why didnt anyone think of this before. And better yet, if they do invest they could make it a PopOS exclusive!!?!?!! \s
It wont work because Adobe does not care and there is not enough market share in Linux for them to bother with it. No amount of money that PopOS has will be able to convince Adobe to develop it for Linux and there is no way in hell Adobe will give them access to their source to develop it for Linux. That whole argument is just a non-starter.
- Adobe is literally using NodeJS for everything. Their apps would have "a linux version" using Electron in a few months
  
  Doesn't that mean it would be incredibly easy to reverse-engineer a Linux version?

I think a lot of people get caught up in wanting Linux to "win" be getting more market share or getting XYZ software ported to Linux but Linux is doing great. Unlike Microsoft aggressively pushing Windows and sacrificing their own users on the altar of market share, Linux can just be.
More share would be great and greater software availability would be awesome but Linux doesn't need to "beat" Windows or Mac to be useful or relevant or good. It already is. And I for one look forward to any new DE's that anyone wants to make.
It would be nice to get some kind of more usable CAD program on Linux though but it's not up to Pop_OS to do that, it's up to Autodesk or a team of extremely talented FOSS programmers or a Blender Foundation situation where the whole industry commits to a new open standard.
- couldn't agree more on a long enough timeline we win.

Meh, idk tf he says he understands. Like "make [ported adobe CC] popos-exclusive": sure, big brain, how's that supposed to work, exactly? Or "there are 3 desktops ppl GAF about": riiiight, me along with other wm users aren't ppl anymore, apparently.
The whole video pretty much boils down to "I don't need X, hence nobody [«meaning the vast majority of ppl»] needs x". By the same logic, the "vast majority" doesn't need CC either, it's mostly necessary for professional designers, etc 🤷
I mean it's probably possible to choose the windows route and go "we make one steaming pile of garbage that kinda works everyone but perfectly - for nobody", yet linux distros so far have been pro-choice and pro-customization. You want "just works"? Sure, go with X, Y, and Z distros. Wanna something specifically tailored for your workflow? You may start with the same and replace/modify stuff, but also I, J, and K are a great base to build your future setup from the ground up and avoid banging your head against the wall while figuring out what drugs their devs were on. And the same goes for DEs/WMs: gnome is, gnome also works, yet if you want to change it significantly, you'll either have to mess with extensions or maintain a fork of a huge codebase you don't fully understand and most of which you don't exactly need. So, building from scratch may just be an easier solution.
Technically, you can also PR, yet it can easily be rejected, and then you're back to forks.

- Tbh cosmic looking like knome is part of why I want to use it

Honesty at this point I don't really care about Linux becoming mainstream. I mean call me elitist, but I feel like if it became a major desktop operating system a lot of the development would turn to making sure it's safe for IT illiterate people to use.
Part of why I love Linux so much is as someone who actually has a decent idea of what I'm doing I feel like the operating system leaves me alone to do what I want with my own computer.
Do you really think if everyone started using Linux you'd still be able to delete the boot loader or wipe your whole installation with one command.
Of course not! They would have to fit 10 million safety features and limit a ton of what the user can do just like Windows and MacOS.
So as much as I love Linux I think it's best being left as an advanced power users desktop operating system.

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