10 years of linux, or how you can waste time slowly

gog · 2009-10-26 08:21:18

I'm glad developers don't stunt current progress for predictions that become relevant 10+ years from now... the net is not set up for cloud and won't be in a long time. Try streaming HD video on an average connection.

For me, desktop means being productive, and linux has everything required... flash is outside the kernel believe it or not...

Last edited by gog (2009-10-26 08:21:50)

rab · 2009-10-26 12:49:31

I'm actually sick and tired of just configuring and tinkering around on my desktop anymore, (ooo! better xdefault colors, coolor conky, etc). I feel as if I do not accomplish anything anymore but aestheticlly pleasing desktop. So I know where your coming from.

madalu · 2009-10-26 14:49:53

Lich wrote:

madalu, I think I'm saying this for the third time: I consider a waste of time only the useless stuff I did like UI setups, not the time spent on learning linux stuff

Sorry. My comment wasn't directed at you so much as it was a general comment on the theme of Linux as a hobby. I wholeheartedly agree with your general point that fussing around with WMs/DEs is a waste of time. I would categorize WM hopping is an addiction.

There is, however, an intangible benefit to learning Linux, which is a sense of self-reliance and self-confidence. In an age in which more and more social interactions are mediated through digital technologies, there is a huge benefit to gaining some DIY know-how, especially if it frees you from meekly following whatever the big tech companies say you have to be doing. For most people digital technology is a complete mystery. "If people say I should put all my data on the cloud, well then 'they' must be right." To be a hacker, even a neophyte, is to resist this, to seize back some measure of freedom and power in a connected world.

Last edited by madalu (2009-10-26 14:51:37)

madalu · 2009-10-26 15:04:21

app4des wrote:

After years of using linux (btw I was an archlinux user at one time, I am not ever coming back though), I think the real uses of linux are only for servers. Serious non-server use can only be utilized by large companies (in mobile phones and very specific workstations and most times on non-x86 architectures).

Using any form of Linux as a desktop in my opinion "is" a waste of time. Except from some really rare occasions (I hope most people using linux belong there), Using Windows or maybe Mac is more productive. They serve more desktop needs, and get the job done faster and actually in the long term, come out cheaper (if time has relation to money).

Perhaps for the average computer user... But this argument holds true only if the individual computer was raised on the GUI interfaces of Windows or MacOS. If a user is more used to the Unix world and the command line, then Linux, IMO, is much easier and more productive. Yours is the standard argument against Linux -- it assumes that Windows is the default way to use a desktop and that anything else is "difficult" and will require a huge investment of time and energy to learn.

To be sure, the Linux desktop can be counter-productive if you are in a Windows dominated workplace and need to exchange Office files daily. But for everyday desktop use, I find Linux much more efficient. But that's likely because I am much more adept at using vim and emacs and LaTeX than at using MS Word or Open Office. And at least for me the command line is much more efficient for basic computer tasks.

monolith · 2009-10-26 18:41:16

thanks for sharing your "load".

I have been using linux for just less than 2 years. Also, many dists have been installed on my poor harddrives.
sometimes I do think too much time has been spent configuring compiz or some other WMs. What is more ridiculous, once a nicer configure comes by, I will use such configure no more than 1 week.

*NIX is great, but not for it can be configured more splendid and tedious than windows (though it can).

I am using awesome and w3m now. And I somehow began to find it was myself that misleads and constraints myself.

Arch Linux

#76 2009-10-26 08:21:18

Re: 10 years of linux, or how you can waste time slowly

#77 2009-10-26 12:49:31

Re: 10 years of linux, or how you can waste time slowly

#78 2009-10-26 14:49:53

Re: 10 years of linux, or how you can waste time slowly

#79 2009-10-26 15:04:21

Re: 10 years of linux, or how you can waste time slowly

#80 2009-10-26 18:41:16

Re: 10 years of linux, or how you can waste time slowly

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