Don’t get me wrong. I love Linux and FOSS. I have been using and installing distros on my own since I was 12. Now that I’m working in tech-related positions, after the Reddit migration happened, etc. I recovered my interest in all the Linux environment. I use Ubuntu as my main operating system in my Desktop, but I always end up feeling very limited. There’s always software I can’t use properly (and not just Windows stuff), some stuff badly configured with weird error messages… last time I was not able to even use the apt command. Sometimes I lack time and energy for troubleshooting and sometimes I just fail at it.
I usually end up in need of redoing a fresh install until it breaks up again. Maybe Linux is not good for beginners working full time? Maybe we should do something like that Cisco course that teaches you the basic commands?
I love using WSL, and am pretty used to (and prefer) the Linux terminal experience.
However, I wasn’t able to switch from Windows. I’ve always ran into issues that I just wasn’t able to solve.
You want your work email and Teams? Too bad, Teams are no longer build for Linux, but you can use this shitty webapp or whatever it was. Want your mail? Sure, there are apps that can connect to exchange, but too bad - your domain policies don’t allow you to use them, so you’re stuck with O365 on web.
Ok, web it is. Now let’s connect to VPN so I can start working. Oh, too bad, your company uses Checkpoint mobile, which dropped client support for Linux. And while it looks like there is some obscure way how to get it working through IPSEC or whatever, I never managed to get it working - and I think it also requires the VPN server to actually enable support for it, which I’m sure our company doesn’t have. And then there’s also the fact that we just use Word and Excel for most of what we do.
Well then, I guess I’m not going to be able to switch to Linux for work. But I can at least use it for my PC at home, where I just need to be able to develop Unity games, and the rest should be all right.
After spending few hours trying to get my project to build, finding out that you just can’t use certain kind of video formats on Unity on Linux, and running into issues with both the Hub and the Editor just throwing random UI errors, I’ve just given up. Especially since there are things like multipass or WSL, and I only ever need linux for terminal anyway, where I never had any issues.
This is exactly why I switched off daily driving Linux after a few months. I didn’t find it hard to get things set up initially, but you keep running into constant issues that take hours to troubleshoot and fix.
I got to the point where if I booted up my computer to quickly do a task and I got a cryptic error message that I had to put into Google to fix one more time, I’m not wasn’t going to troubleshoot it, I was going to throw my PC out the window.
I love the ideas behind Linux, and I love having open source alternatives to windows and Mac, and I’ve donated to a couple projects… but based on my last attempt (1-2 years ago) Linux is still far from being a daily driver alternative on personal computers for the average person.