still contemplating switching to Linux (don't want to invest in way too expensive Apple hardware)
-Ath
This whole #Endof10 palaver on social media has been annoying me for months. Since I haven't written anything on DonationCoder for a long time, I'm taking this opportunity to elaborate on it:
Anyone who has been following my posts for a while knows that I don't think much of Linux. (There are significantly more options than Windows, macOS or Linux! Haiku and FreeBSD are pretty good alternatives for the end-user, I myself also think highly of OpenBSD, illumos and - in some respects - 9front.) In fact, despite all the activist drumming, you can't simply replace Windows with just any free systems. Sure: good office suites (I recommend SoftMaker Office) are also available for operating systems other than Windows, and if you only need email and a web browser anyway, the system doesn't matter, but when it comes to graphic editing, it gets tricky. What's the Linux alternative to Adobe and Affinity tools? GIMP? Inkscape? Seen it, laughed, deleted it.
It's incomprehensible to me why the Free Software scene, after almost thirty years of development and countless developers, hasn't managed to develop GIMP even remotely into something that would be a serious competitor to Affinity Photo and/or Photoshop. And vector editing? That's not rocket science. Sure, I get it: not everyone needs graphic tools in everyday life. I don't really either, but I like to design funny T-shirts myself. With Inkscape, I'd only manage that with a wagonload of schnapps to calm my nerves.
Linux, the BSDs and other free systems are simply unsuitable for many people as an alternative to Windows and macOS. Sure: there's Wine. So people install Linux to "get away from Microsoft", and then need a Windows simulator for most of the software tools they want to use in everyday life. That would be too daft for me.
But to each their own, right?
By the way: Third-party file management tools on Windows exist, including (but not limited to) KDE Dolphin, praised by some as a "Linux killer application", ironically. Just saying.
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