Comment by amenod
4 days ago
It's not that I don't have my own set of gripes about linux, but this wishlist is weird, at least to me:
- There is nothing wrong with sudo - or to be precise, it is good thing that administrative operations are explicit. And sudo is still less annoying than Windows "admin prompt" anyway.
- Why do you care? Use apt install, yum install or apk add, whatever your distro supports.
- It is not required, there are GUI managers, but again - why?
- Got me there. I don't use pen.
- Used touch on ThinkPad some years ago, it just worked, maybe depends on the laptop?
- Until 15 years ago this was true, but I haven't seen this happen since then. Debian here if it matters.
- I'm typing this on a 15 years old desktop (with NVME, admittedly) and it boots and feels faster than a new MacBook Pro I am testing. Linux accumulated much less, if any, performance losses. I agree that Windows and Mac both became bloated.
- I think doubleclick is the default way, at least in xfce? Or I might be missing what you mean. That said, I use keyboard shortcuts mostly as I try to avoid mouse for this.
With all that said, of course it will not look and feel the same as Windows. It is a different OS, with different priorities. I like it better than both Windows and MacOS, but maybe it's because I found the combination that fits me (Debian + XFCE). Maybe take a look at KDE and XFCE?
I think I can summarize this: In life and devices, I often find processes I find are high-friction, or have room for user interface or other improvements. There is a guarantee that there will be people who will tell me these concerns are invalid.
In the case of Linux usability desires, I will make the cautious conclusion that there is a group of people who consider Linux part of their identity, and any desire for improvement or shortcoming is mentally a personal challenge. I am just a human using computers as a tool, and don't have a desire to play politics on this subject.
I think the "it's fine" / "works for me" / "Actually this is a good thing" / "Why don't you just" replies like this are an obstacle to improvement, but is often overcome.
Sure. Or we could say that when someone is used to the way things work, one is reluctant to change and will find all kinds of "faults" to keep them from taking the plunge.
As I said, I have my own list of things with linux I would like to see different, it's just that they are different. And they are not big enough to keep me in MS-land. But to each their (our) own, I guess.
"In life and devices, I often find processes I find are high-friction, or have room for user interface or other improvements ..."
Agreed - and I find the same thing.
Distilling these processes to terminal commands has the highest potential for usability and efficiency gains.