GNU Project Founder Calls Steam on Linux "Unethical"

[Yuri Albuquerque]

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The problem with Linux is that it's only useful for absolute beginners and experts. As soon as you want to do anything more complicated than surf the internet or use a word processor (and sometimes even then), you have to start writing patches and scripts, which, as a non-expert, I totally screw up, and then suddenly my computer crashes every time I turn it on.

And for games? Forget about it. PC gaming has always been plagued with hardware incompatibilities and driver conflicts. Add Linux to the mix (where you could very well be writing your own drivers) and good luck!

And you know what? I don't want to be an expert Linux user. I don't want to be an expert Windows user or an expert Mac user. I want to be able to say, "Computer, do this," and have it do it.

So, Windows it is.

(Every couple of years since 2006 I try Linux again, and it never gets much better.)

This has not been true for a long time. You don't need to write a single script to use Ubuntu.

(But, indeed, you need lots of scripts for expert distros, as Arch Linux. I'm suffering with it).

This seems extreme.
I'm not sure what exactly you're trying to do that requires you to write your own scripts, or what distribution you're using. I've done everything from audio editing (I'm a radio producer by trade), word processing, networking, server set-ups, photo manipulation, desktop customization, and more and have never had to write a line of code, so long as I was using something like Ubuntu.

I use Slitaz Linux for servers, and that DOES require coding and command-line usage, but who the heck is using that besides nerds like me? Even so, you can use Slitaz for the mundane (Web surfing, word processing, etc) and it would STILL work perfectly with no code or command-line usage.

I'd put it to you that Windows isn't easier, you're just used to it more. Which is totally fair. If you've been using it since 3.0 like I have, you just 'get used' to the fact that certain things work certain ways, and when you're introduced to an operating system that does it differently, it just seems like a user unfriendly platform.

And Linux isn't that incompatible as you might think. ESPECIALLY with something like Ubuntu. I've installed Ubuntu (Or Xubuntu) on some old shitty machines, and had zero issues with hardware compatibility out of the proverbial box. This includes obscure wi-fi drivers and GPUs. Speaking of which: OpenGL runs naively in Linux, and there are plenty of drivers available for existing, modern GPUs.

Ubuntu was my Linux of choice. Want to play a game? To bad there aren't any. With WINE? Better modify your graphics card driver. Configure a simple LAMP web server with SMTP (which, really, is all Linux is good for)? MODIFY ALL THE CORE FILES.

And every time you go online and ask, "How do I do ___?" the Linux community is completely dismissive of you (just like you two, right now). "Oh, you just have to go into your VLR file in the etc folder (with fracking vi 'cause that's the best text editor ever, apparently) and change lines 1023 - 1154. Don't waste our time with this crap."

Most of my solutions for problems in Linux, even the ones that worked, I had no idea what I was doing; I just followed someone's instructions to modify some random files and hoped it worked. When it did, okay. When it didn't, time to reinstall Ubuntu, because nothing works anymore.

Linux has serious learning curve problems. The Linux community doesn't see those problems, because they already know how to use it, and have the attitude that Linux is better than it used to be, so kids these days have it easy (used to be total Hell, instead of just mostly Hell, huh?)

"And you're just used to Windows/Mac, if you were just used to Linux it would be fine." No. If you never want to do anything other than use the eight programs that are built for Linux, then fine, use Linux (if your current hardware is supported). If not, you have to become an expert, or use something else.

I have never had a problem with Windows where a solution was "modify this dll file" or "we don't have a driver for that sound card, but some people have taken the driver for this one and tweaked it a bit, and it kind of works; you won't even be able to tell the difference, really. Ignore the buzzing sound your speakers now make."

This isn't the mid to late 90s anymore. Linux, Ubuntu specifically, is more than capable, and very user friendly.

This is my favorite part of what you said, as if I didn't explicitly state I've been routinely trying Linux since 2006.

This is also not true for a long time. Wine is shitty, but because Windows' API is not really well documented. But there are plenty of good games for Ubuntu. Check out Desura and Humble Bundle.