Post by @freakazoid@retro.social

I wonder if people even realize how bad it makes Linux look when people talk about distro-hopping.

Which Windows should I run? Which MacOS?

I'm firmly convinced that you've heard of Ruby today because when Python had 10 different (many of them excellent) web frameworks Ruby only had one.

Competition among open source communities is largely a bad thing. It's not fucking capitalism. People can fucking cooperate. When there's competition, that means no, the developers can't actually cooperate, because they're fucking techbros.

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Prof. Elda King

@eldaking@weirder.earth 1 hr. ago

@freakazoid I partially disagree with this part, I think people having options is good, no solution is perfect for everyone, and we don't need centralized decision-making.

Standardization is good for many things, particularly those that most people don't see or care about. But distros and desktop environments have many niches to be filled without competing. Some people want a system that never changes, some want the new novelty. Some want minimalism, some want lots of animations. Some needs access to lots of very specific software, some just want solid basics and will never install any new app.

Distros are confusing for many reasons, but I think the number isn't one of them. People are used to navigating many categories of products with lots more options. It's just that these options make sense.

Charles U. Farley

@freakazoid@retro.social 1 hr. ago

@eldaking Eh, I don't give a shit about anyone who wants "minimalism". I think you kinda proved my point here: it's all about taste and not about the ability to get the job done.

Charles U. Farley

@freakazoid@retro.social 1 hr. ago

@eldaking But also, I'm not calling for centralization. I'm calling for a change in what we value. Choice for the sake of choice is consumerist mentality. When someone starts a new project, our first question should be "why didn't you work with this other project instead?" If it's just aesthetics, the new project should die.

Prof. Elda King

@eldaking@weirder.earth 1 hr. ago

@freakazoid Ah, I see. I definitely think Linux projects need to work much harder on standardization (to stop libraries from breaking, to avoid compatibility hell, etc).

It indeed is all about taste, but people care about that. Often way more than they should, but it is a reality I don't think we can change. I think if people are supposed to use the system, a certain amount of personal preference has to be accounted for.

Not to the extent of fucking with functionality, of course... but things like competing DEs or distros with different software availability are unavoidable. We don't need a bunch of Wayland implementations, but people will have opinions too strong about DEs to have a single one.

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Charles U. Farley

@freakazoid@retro.social 1 hr. ago

@eldaking I complain about GNOME vs KDE, but GNOME actually had a good reason to start: Qt had a shitty license. Which was ironic given that had CDE and Motif not had shitty licenses we'd all be using those instead. KDE should have died. And now we have two competing projects lurching along side by side. But maybe it's good that KDE still exists given that GNOME has screwed the pooch.

Posted from XOrg with IceWM because what the fuck is a DE even for.

Charles U. Farley

@freakazoid@retro.social 1 hr. ago

Linux on the desktop doesn't matter. It's a toy. And it will remain a toy as long as we allow shitty people to lead projects and make decisions on behalf of others.

Desktop Linux is riding the coattails of corporations. The kernel continues to be developed because bigcorps use it for servers. Stop kidding yourself; without those companies, you'd probably be using Windows or MacOS, because Linux wouldn't even run on the hardware you want to use.

Until we are using some free software system as a daily driver that doesn't depend on corporations for its existence, we're just fucked.

Prof. Elda King

@eldaking@weirder.earth 1 hr. ago

@freakazoid The fact that Microsoft decided to embrace Linux is the perfect example.

It doesn't threaten their desktop OS. The benefits for their servers are huge, and they don't need to do anything to keep it irrelevant in the desktop.

Charles U. Farley

@freakazoid@retro.social 1 hr. ago

@eldaking I mean, they typically get paid even if you run Linux, given how hard it is to buy a PC that doesn't come with an OEM Windows license.

Charles U. Farley

@freakazoid@retro.social 1 hr. ago

@eldaking Though I do think this may well change if their app store becomes a big moneymaker: they'll gradually make it harder and harder to do anything else with your computer.

Charles U. Farley

@freakazoid@retro.social 1 hr. ago

Oh, right, we have Valve using it too. Yet another corporation to make decisions for us.

And let's not forget that the most popular distro is the corpo Ubuntu which exploits the free labor of Debian developers.

Charles U. Farley

@freakazoid@retro.social 1 hr. ago

You think you've opted out by using Linux but you're just as much part of the machine.

Charles U. Farley

@freakazoid@retro.social 1 hr. ago

I say this, of course, as Linux crashes and burns because of AI, after being heavily fucked by the systemd schism, the existence of two competing DEs, Wayland vs XOrg, etc etc etc etc.

Pathetic.

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