The rational behind my recent decision to (mostly) abandon windows

Started by Ryex, January 16, 2013, 11:25:50 pm

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Ryex

I recently decided that I was no longer going to use windows as my main operating system. why? well let me list the reasons

1)   As a developer and advanced computer user, windows makes things some what complicated. Now it's nowhere near as bad as OS X but things like command lines tools either don't exist or just arn't intuitive. I've been using windows all my life and for most of that time It's been my operating system of choose it has better game support, most major applications and products are made for it almost exclusivity. yet when I use it I feel like I'm making Windows work for me not the other way around.


2)   Windows feels... broken, now that's the wrong word. put it this way, if I were to be made lead developer of windows my first major task for the team before we could start work on the next release would be to re factor the entire operating system to makes it much more modular. when I compare windows to a *nix system the first thin I note is that *nix runs on literally 100's of packages that some how aren't interdependent. the result is a highly modular system with a unified language and system of operation and everything seems to integrate seamlessly.

Whats more when you get down into the advanced layers of the system when your using the terminal, running commands it doesn't feel like the system is impairing you. *nix was build to be run and used entirely form the terminal and the result even today it is the operating system of choice for servers where simple easy yet robust remote access is key for this reason. to day as I move more and more towards work with these technologies I find windows severely lacking in good tools in this department. When I work with the command prompt on windows I feel like I'm trying to use a extremely limited set of tools to do complex tasks, I have to actively find and add tools to the system path to do what I want


3)    I can do most everything on Ubuntu that I normally do on windows exceptions being high end games (which; do to recent developments like Valve Software's activism and things that Canonical, Ubuntu's corporate sponsor; is doing is likely going to change soon)  be it Photo editing, programming ect. the open source community around linux and Ubuntu provides often great software for just about any task imaginable.

4)    Scripting languages like ruby and python have native support in Linux, the Unity dashboard in Ubuntu is powered by python, so customization of my computer is easy and I can build tools that quickly and eaisaly integrate into the OS

5)    Obtaining new software is incredibly easy. thanks to the Debian package distribution system you almost never have to download and install software yourself. the software center ties into your sources and can find and install anything. it not like an apple appstore or the newly fangled windows store where only approved apps can live as long as you have added the software repository to your tracked software sources the center can find it. and if not you can always open the package manager and do the search in a slightly less nice way. oh, and it will automatically inform you of all updates too

6)    Opensource software is high quality stuff, most of the time. lets face it Opensource software on Lynix has a reputation for being crap ware while windows and OS X have a reputation of always having clean nice looking software. when in fact the opposite is true more often than not.

I recently had an experience where Apple's own Appstore reveal just how crappy (and or lazy) it's developer are when my internet connection broke in the middle of downloading XCode, the result is that 1 hash check failed and while the thing was clearly using a block hash check download system as you could pause and resume the download that 1 hash check fail cause the Appstore to scrap the entire download when by all reason it should of just started from the last sccessful chunk like bit torrent and other download managers do. after it did this a second time I scrapped that, got the "Download them all" plugin for firefox and found another source for the download. when I willingly scrap the native system and do something in a roundabout way you know there's a problem.

I've had similar experiences in windows when it was clear that the developers of the product were incredibly lazy and the end result is a very quirky program that doesn't work well with others.

On the Opensource side I've never had this happen. contrary to popular belief I find that developers of opensource software who are willingly donating their tie more often than not take the time to do it right with though towards how others who will have to work with their code. where as windows developers who code will likely never see the light of day is anything but clean and workable


thanks for reading this little rant, if you would like to comment or expand on any of the point I made here feel free to reply, I'd like to hear your thoughts

I no longer keep up with posts in the forum very well. If you have a question or comment, about my work, or in general I welcome PM's. if you make a post in one of my threads and I don't reply with in a day or two feel free to PM me and point it out to me.<br /><br />DropBox, the best free file syncing service there is.<br />

Blizzard

All I can say is that it's true that Windows dev can be somewhat limited, but a huge downside of Unix is that you basically have to configure every single small piece of shit to get it running the way you want to. While you can install Windows and reinstall all software in a matter of hours, Unix requires days, for some people even weeks. Open Source IS mostly crap. I've worked with it and even though Windows and Mac software can sometimes be unstable and/or cause problems, at least it has WORKING features while most Open Source software doesn't. There are more projects with a 0.x version than not and most of that stuff isn't stable or meant for production but only for development. Since about everybody can start an Open Source project, you get a similar problem of lots of stuff being crappy, just like in RMXP most games are crappy and never finished. Even the good stuff is often limited. e.g. Ogre and PyOgre. These are pretty good engines, but they lack good Unicode/UTF-8 support which is such a basic thing to do. It's ridiculous. Unity beats Ogre at any level (regardless of the fact that Ogre is only an engine and Unity a whole system for game development including engine, editor and other tools). There is good Open Source software out there, but most of it can't measure up with commercial software. Installing god-knows-what Open Source software on a Unix OS has a similar effect like installing every possible crap on Windows: It runs slower, it breaks stuff and you end up either having to remove it or fix the problems yourself because the developer hasn't visited his fucking page for half a year. And you have to fix stuff you don't know shit about (e.g. like I had to get vs-android running on VS2012 all by myself).
Check out Daygames and our games:

King of Booze 2      King of Booze: Never Ever
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Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

Ryex

out of curiosity have you looked at the apps in ubuntu's software center by default?

it includes stuff like:
OpenShot
Inkscape
Blender
Pitivi
Audacity
Mixxx
GImp
fileZilla
ect.

and things like Libre office and FireFox are also open source and are great

Now I'm not saying all Opensource is awesome. far form it. but the ones with decent communities are great and there is quite a number of them.
I personalty much prefer libre office to MS office just because it seems to work better, has better spell checking, and the interface is nicer.

i'm currently using a program called jupiter that cam manage my power settings on and off battery, and control how my laptop screen is displayed rotate it if I want ect. I had to be informed of it's existence but it works great never had a problem of any kind.  perhaps I a bit bias at this point but I really do love ubuntu as an OS
seriously, it has a TABBED file browser. TABBED! no longer do I have a stack of 6 explore windows cluttering my screen! and the unity dash system is much better than windows's start menu in terms of finding what you want and you can customize it with view written in python

and you right about having to customize every little thing I guess, but at the same time I LIKE that part.

In any case my main rig is now set up to dual boot with Ubuntu as the default (windows is living isolated all by itself on my SSD)
I got my PCIe wireless card today as well as 8 more gigs of ram so I'm feeling pretty good
I no longer keep up with posts in the forum very well. If you have a question or comment, about my work, or in general I welcome PM's. if you make a post in one of my threads and I don't reply with in a day or two feel free to PM me and point it out to me.<br /><br />DropBox, the best free file syncing service there is.<br />

Blizzard

I like customization to an extent, but it annoys me if I have to set up every little thing. xD

I haven't used any Linux in ages so I don't really know how the newer versions are/work/look like (especially Ubuntu which is supposedly made for non-power users which I seriously doubt as it still has only a laughable market share among average users).
Check out Daygames and our games:

King of Booze 2      King of Booze: Never Ever
Drinking Game for Android      Never have I ever for Android
Drinking Game for iOS      Never have I ever for iOS


Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

Ryex

That's the beauty of Ubuntu, you don't have to be a power user to use it. as far as ease of use goes it's just as good as windows. provided of course it's all be set up before hand you good to go you wont ever need to touch the terminal or search through menus and your not going to accidentally break something.

Dell and other manufactures are going to start shipping Ubuntu systems with Ubuntu pre installed as the only OS  starting late this year or early 2014 if the Ubuntu website is to be believed. right around the time they will be releasing the first Ubuntu phones. that's how good it is now. I'm predicting the market share will significantly increase over the next few years.
I no longer keep up with posts in the forum very well. If you have a question or comment, about my work, or in general I welcome PM's. if you make a post in one of my threads and I don't reply with in a day or two feel free to PM me and point it out to me.<br /><br />DropBox, the best free file syncing service there is.<br />

Blizzard

Apparently they are also working on an Ubuntu mobile OS for smartphones. I'm not sure how well they will be able to get into the market since there is already a classic big-3 concurrence present.
Check out Daygames and our games:

King of Booze 2      King of Booze: Never Ever
Drinking Game for Android      Never have I ever for Android
Drinking Game for iOS      Never have I ever for iOS


Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

winkio

I think Win8 is also pushing a lot more people towards Linux, so the userbase might finally see some growth.  That said, I still use Windows because it is more productive for how I use my computer.

Blizzard

I agree on both points there. I might have migrated to Unix if I wasn't used to Windows and know how to work it.
Check out Daygames and our games:

King of Booze 2      King of Booze: Never Ever
Drinking Game for Android      Never have I ever for Android
Drinking Game for iOS      Never have I ever for iOS


Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.