Perfect Storm for Linux
I don't think Linux will take over the mainstream use case any time soon. For the MANY reasons I've pointed out in the past. It is simply too much change for the average user to WANT to take on.
In fact, the one article I read most recently on someone helping their parents move over was HILARIOUS. This person's parents were fairly limited in scope in terms of what they use their PC for. And yes, that does describe the vast majority of PC users in general. But, that just makes the extent of preparation and action on behalf of this advanced Linux user all the more amusing. Especially since they were basically advocating this.
In short, since that isn't what this post is about; he hand selected a distribution to fit their need. Migrated them to Libre Office while they were still on windows and similar migrations. Performed the installation for them. Held their hands through the rest.
BUT... I think some interesting things are happening in more technical spheres and in gaming. Specifically Containerization and Proton.
While Linux was often touted as the OS for developers, truth be told, most developers earned their living on Windows and later on many transitioned to Mac. But, professional development almost never took place on Linux. VS Code has provided an IDE which the Linux community oddly seems to have embraced and Docker and Kubernetes run best on Linux. And this means a lot of developers, especially traditionally Windows friendly ones are moving to Linux rather than Mac.
As a result, more software is being released and subsequently deployed in Docker which happens most often in ... Linux! Which in turn means a lot more IT people are diving into Linux again. (Which in turn means more people with the skills to help friends and family transition as in the original story, but not really the point).
But, as I see it, the single biggest problem with Linux is still driver support. A lot of people scream about how GOOD Linux driver support is, but I think they fail to realize just how much more they know about Linux driver support and take that into consideration when buying hardware. Or, some make this claim while posting videos on how they compiled kernel modules to address their own problems.
Quite simply, driver support on Linux is SHIT. BUUUUUUT, with Steam's work on Proton, I think there will be an uptick in Linux game activity, which in turn will push 1st party developers to start either looking at Linux or putting more effort in if they already are.
If you doubt my claim about Linux driver support, here is a simple example. I installed Ubuntu 18.04. This is the latest LTS build and it has been out a while. I install and tell it to install and use proprietary drivers. It uses the Nouveau drivers instead of NVidia. The Nouveau drivers for NVidia are KNOWN to be utter garbage by comparison to the official drivers.
WHY???? I EXPLICITLY told the installer to use 3rd party, proprietary drivers.
I get it to use some NVidia drivers finally, and they are massively outdated.
I try to install from the NVidia .deb package. It fails. It can't disable Nouveau from modprobe.
I try and alternate command line approach, it works.
On my laptop on the other hand, everything technically runs. But, my WiFi runs at about 1/4 the speed and I get a random system error every single time the system boots.
My tablet won't run at all on most distros, and on the ones it does WiFi and BT won't work.
And, in 20+ years I have never had a single 100% successful out of the box Linux experience. Across dozens of devices.
This is why Docker and Proton are SOOOOOOOOO important.
Docker is expanding, and even less technical resources are diving in and running things like Plex in Docker containers on Linux. Proton means people wanting to try Steam on Linux now have a much larger catalogue of playable games.
I don't expect every game to work or work perfectly. They don't need to. The bulk of the games just have to work mostly right, most of the time. With that, a lot more people will switch to Linux. This will drive a lot more Linux first development. And all of this activity will push vendors to support Linux in a more complete fashion. In turn that may push a change in attitude in distributions approaches to proprietary software. And if not, it may shift attention to distributions which handle closed source better.
I NEED something with the stability and support of Ubuntu. But, honestly, the bar isn't all that high. And, if something else emerged with similar community backing, but, when I say use proprietary drivers, it decided to install the latest OFFICIAL drivers if possible, followed by vetted open source failing that, and falling back to other sources if that failed instead of today's approach where open source is preferred even when official drivers are available, it would automatically produce a system aimed more at the users than at the open source ethos.
And THAT really is the nature of the problem. Just because I use Ubuntu, it doesn't mean that I ascribe to the whole open source philosophy. I'm definitely NOT anti-open source. But, my machine needs to work. And work as best as it can. Device Drivers are NOT the place to be forcing your philosophy on people. If I have a GeForce 1060 attached to my computer, or really, any NVidia card... the odds that I want Nouveau drivers is virtually 0. These OSes are SOOOOO pissed off by NVidia, that they don't even show up as an option in the proprietary drivers section.
But, I think with the current set of conditions, if this continues on, we'll start to see more distributions which better accommodate the needs and expectations of non-traditional Linux users.
In fact, the one article I read most recently on someone helping their parents move over was HILARIOUS. This person's parents were fairly limited in scope in terms of what they use their PC for. And yes, that does describe the vast majority of PC users in general. But, that just makes the extent of preparation and action on behalf of this advanced Linux user all the more amusing. Especially since they were basically advocating this.
In short, since that isn't what this post is about; he hand selected a distribution to fit their need. Migrated them to Libre Office while they were still on windows and similar migrations. Performed the installation for them. Held their hands through the rest.
BUT... I think some interesting things are happening in more technical spheres and in gaming. Specifically Containerization and Proton.
While Linux was often touted as the OS for developers, truth be told, most developers earned their living on Windows and later on many transitioned to Mac. But, professional development almost never took place on Linux. VS Code has provided an IDE which the Linux community oddly seems to have embraced and Docker and Kubernetes run best on Linux. And this means a lot of developers, especially traditionally Windows friendly ones are moving to Linux rather than Mac.
As a result, more software is being released and subsequently deployed in Docker which happens most often in ... Linux! Which in turn means a lot more IT people are diving into Linux again. (Which in turn means more people with the skills to help friends and family transition as in the original story, but not really the point).
But, as I see it, the single biggest problem with Linux is still driver support. A lot of people scream about how GOOD Linux driver support is, but I think they fail to realize just how much more they know about Linux driver support and take that into consideration when buying hardware. Or, some make this claim while posting videos on how they compiled kernel modules to address their own problems.
Quite simply, driver support on Linux is SHIT. BUUUUUUT, with Steam's work on Proton, I think there will be an uptick in Linux game activity, which in turn will push 1st party developers to start either looking at Linux or putting more effort in if they already are.
If you doubt my claim about Linux driver support, here is a simple example. I installed Ubuntu 18.04. This is the latest LTS build and it has been out a while. I install and tell it to install and use proprietary drivers. It uses the Nouveau drivers instead of NVidia. The Nouveau drivers for NVidia are KNOWN to be utter garbage by comparison to the official drivers.
WHY???? I EXPLICITLY told the installer to use 3rd party, proprietary drivers.
I get it to use some NVidia drivers finally, and they are massively outdated.
I try to install from the NVidia .deb package. It fails. It can't disable Nouveau from modprobe.
I try and alternate command line approach, it works.
On my laptop on the other hand, everything technically runs. But, my WiFi runs at about 1/4 the speed and I get a random system error every single time the system boots.
My tablet won't run at all on most distros, and on the ones it does WiFi and BT won't work.
And, in 20+ years I have never had a single 100% successful out of the box Linux experience. Across dozens of devices.
This is why Docker and Proton are SOOOOOOOOO important.
Docker is expanding, and even less technical resources are diving in and running things like Plex in Docker containers on Linux. Proton means people wanting to try Steam on Linux now have a much larger catalogue of playable games.
I don't expect every game to work or work perfectly. They don't need to. The bulk of the games just have to work mostly right, most of the time. With that, a lot more people will switch to Linux. This will drive a lot more Linux first development. And all of this activity will push vendors to support Linux in a more complete fashion. In turn that may push a change in attitude in distributions approaches to proprietary software. And if not, it may shift attention to distributions which handle closed source better.
I NEED something with the stability and support of Ubuntu. But, honestly, the bar isn't all that high. And, if something else emerged with similar community backing, but, when I say use proprietary drivers, it decided to install the latest OFFICIAL drivers if possible, followed by vetted open source failing that, and falling back to other sources if that failed instead of today's approach where open source is preferred even when official drivers are available, it would automatically produce a system aimed more at the users than at the open source ethos.
And THAT really is the nature of the problem. Just because I use Ubuntu, it doesn't mean that I ascribe to the whole open source philosophy. I'm definitely NOT anti-open source. But, my machine needs to work. And work as best as it can. Device Drivers are NOT the place to be forcing your philosophy on people. If I have a GeForce 1060 attached to my computer, or really, any NVidia card... the odds that I want Nouveau drivers is virtually 0. These OSes are SOOOOO pissed off by NVidia, that they don't even show up as an option in the proprietary drivers section.
But, I think with the current set of conditions, if this continues on, we'll start to see more distributions which better accommodate the needs and expectations of non-traditional Linux users.
Comments
Post a Comment