(Title Edit)

So yeah, I am going to start this off saying I use Linux. I love Linux, but the community and others will not let it improve. It’s time to change.

Here’s all the reasons I think Linux will never take off, don’t forget that you can also add input and that I am a human being, so please don’t be angry if you can help it. Just tell me your perspective. I know I will get lots of flack for this, but here we go:

  • Idealism, if Linux was going to take over innately it already would have

  • History (let’s be honest it’s like a discord server if it doesn’t take off all at once it never will)

  • It’s inaccessible (terminals cannot replace everything. I’m talking to you if you say “bloat”)

  • There’s only corporate funding, so they will appropriate it

  • We tolerate people who don’t tolerate others (including the less tech-savvy)

  • Microsoft has way too much power (money)

  • Few people remember RMS started copyleft as a political goal (too many people are uncomfortable challenging their beliefs, so they want Linux to be “apolitical”)

  • No one is doing the political organizing

  • Copyleft is flawed and needs to be improved (here’s a template example https://thufie.lain.haus/NPL.html) [also mind you that there’s a need to prevent corporate appropriation]

  • People worship RMS instead of realizing he alienates women, people with down syndrome, etc.

  • @Yujiri@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    32 years ago

    Idealism, if Linux was going to take over innately it already would have

    I don’t understand, you could use this argment against anything, just pick something that took off and imagine someone saying this before it did, why is Linux different?

    History (let’s be honest it’s like a discord server if it doesn’t take off all at once it never will)

    Why? Lots of things take off only after a long time. Why is Linux like a discord server? You don’t explain how you’re arriving at these conclusions

    It’s inaccessible (terminals cannot replace everything. I’m talking to you if you say “bloat”)

    No, terminals can’t replace everything, nor are we trying to make them do that. Linux has GUI applications and conventional desktop environments. I’m one of the ppl who’s constantly raging against bloat and I use apps like eog. Terminals are great but they are meant for a certain set of uses, not for everything

    There’s only corporate funding, so they will appropriate it

    I’m not sure what this statement even means, are you saying only corporate things get funded or Linux only gets funding from corporations? And what is ‘appropriation’ mean here? Corporations using Linux is not a problem

    We tolerate people who don’t tolerate others (including the less tech-savvy)

    Sure, there are bigots and toxic ppl in many Linux communites… just like there are in non-Linux communities. I’m not convinced that Linux communities have an especially high concentration of toxic ppl, especially since you specify “the less tech-savvy”. I don’t think there’s a widespread problem with how Linux ppl treat the less tech-savvy. I think a lot of ppl have this opinion because they do things like ask questions that are answered in the documentation, or send bug reports without any information, or act too demanding of maintainers or free software.

    Useful link: http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

    Microsoft has way too much power (money)

    Yeah, I hate Microsoft too and I wish they had less power and money than they do. But this is just a despair argument. There’s no reason free software can’t win people over, especially with Microsoft going ham on anti-features in recent versions of Windows and more people becoming more critical of capitalism. Money lets them make products and software effectievly, but it can’t let them replicate the things that make free software special.

    Few people remember RMS started copyleft as a political goal (too many people are uncomfortable challenging their beliefs, so they want Linux to be “apolitical”)

    I don’t see what this has to do with the Linux desktop taking off. Yeah, copyleft is a great idea and to me it is a deeply ideological thing that I support, not just a praxis. But, as someone else said, letting people enjoy Linux apolitically is good because it expands the user base.

    No one is doing the political organizing

    What political organizing?

    Copyleft is flawed and needs to be improved (here’s a template example https://thufie.lain.haus/NPL.html) [also mind you that there’s a need to prevent corporate appropriation]

    Copyleft isn’t a magic solution to all problems, and maybe we could do better with different licenses… but that NPL seems like a terrible idea. First, I don’t think you can define terms like “tracking individuals” or “discriminate”/“hate speech” in a legally sound way (the given definition of Discriminate is absurdly over-broad, and the given definition of Hate Speech is both too open to interpretation, since it hinges on the word “hatred”, and too narrow, because of the word “solely”). But even if you could get around the definition issues, you shouldn’t just load a license with your entire ideology. The more stuff you add to the license, the fewer people will agree, and the harder it will be for your software to take off.

    People worship RMS instead of realizing he alienates women, people with down syndrome, etc.

    Do they? You can be in a lot of Linux communities for a long time without hearing about RMS, and lots of Linux users don’t even like him.