"Why Linux Is Still Not Ready For The Desktop"

[phoronix]

Phoronix: "Why Linux Is Still Not Ready For The Desktop"

While there's 1000+ Steam games on Linux and the Linux desktop experience improving greatly with GNOME 3.14/3.16 and KDE Plasma 5, for Windows users not everyone feels the Linux desktop is ready...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-Desktop-Not-Ready

[Zplay]

I'm OK for some things, and that Linux isn't ready for "everyone" on a desktop.

LibreOffice isn't absolutely compatible with docx documents, at work I need to work with word inside VirtualBox because I was breaking everything when working on others people documents in docx. And we can't use ODT because our clients uses docx files !

What makes me angry is when it comes to Photoshop. It's a professional product, I don't think a lot of people could afford it. And a professional will use the right tool for its job, if he has to use Windows / MAC because its tools like Photoshop run only on its, then it should use it. I'm doing the same thing with Word. I need it, I use Windows for it. I won't complain about LibreOffice which is a nice product, but for my job, working on DOCX files, it doesn't work great. With ODT files, it's a nice tool, maybe not as good as Word, but it works great.

[sykobee]

Software package management on Linux is a long way behind the presentation and searchability of App Store ecosystems elsewhere - despite the latter being a far newer thing than the former.

I wouldn't worry about Libreoffice versus MS Office in an online world. If you need MS Office, you'll be on Windows anyway, or there's Office 365.

Gimp is a joke admittedly, that's why other tools have overtaken it - Krita for example. Gimp's been dead for a long time in terms of adapting to user needs.

[speculatrix]

very few people really need Photoshop, but if you do, the price of it overshadows the cost of the windows licence that would have come bundled with your new PC anyway.

for the majority of people it's the interoperability with MS Office that matters.

[emblemparade]

The "masses" is such an indeterminate thing. Do the "masses" need PhotoShop? Do they even need MS Office?

Remember, there are plenty of "masses" that are buying ChromeBooks like hotcakes. So they obviously need much less than even Ubuntu provides. For those people, I would say that Ubuntu could be perfect: almost as simple as ChromeOS, and still offering considerable more functionality at their fingertips, should they need it.

BTW, I run an entire organization with MS Office 2010 running on CrossOver, and it works great. Just putting it out there: choosing Linux does not mean that you cannot use MS Office. So, if that particular issue is what's keeping you from switching, it's already been pretty much solved.

[user82]

Proprietary drivers are as simple as it gets in Ubuntu. Install two packages.
On Windows you have to know where to get them and install them manually, not better in any way.

On point is correct:
People who depend on Photoshop and MS Word still need Windows (yes Wine, but that is not 100% reliable for all versions)
Does Photoshop and MS Word really represent "The Desktop"?
Personally I know exactly of one single person who really needs the features of PS.
(As pointed out above)

The "Desktop" in 2015 for most people is a Internet gateway, and Linux does it very well.
But what am I saying here, when people I know absolutely need the Windows 8.1 Bing version "to write emails and use Skype". FUD all the way

[carewolf]

Fudzilla?? Is that a flamebait blog?

[jakubo]

good thing he didnt try to print XD

[LubosD]

Seriously - MS Office is not compatible even between different versions. I see documents breaking up just because I use a newer version than other teams.

Then how is LibreOffice supposed to support that?

[alexThunder]

To me it seems, Linux is just not ready for his desktop. Most people are happy if they just have a working webbrowser. For them, Linux is totally ready for the desktop