What things need to happen to make you switch to Linux 100%

[HeXen]

Just curious what exactly would it be that could make you use Linux exclusively as your primary OS without need for Windows or VM of it.
For me I think it would be a distro that got the same commercial support that Windows gets. ITunes and Netflix alone would be a big help and I actually want a dumbed down OS like 8 is, something simple and responsive.

What about you guys?

 

[lxskllr]

I switched 4 years ago. Gaming was the only thing that held me back, and I stopped gaming as much. I still have Vista in a partition, but haven't booted to it for anything more than maintenance since I switched.

 

[Berryracer]

better driver support

whilst the main components such as VGA are there, but for laptops, some functions will never work on Linux like the FN Keys and what not

 

[Maximilian]

- More games i play must support it, LoL etc.

- The GUI... omfg the GUI... Theres so many options for GUI's but none match windows(not metro obviously). If i have to resort to using the terminal to do something i could do with GUI controls in windows that's a fail right there. If they put all their efforts into developing a single good GUI which can do everything windows can do instead of 15 mediocre efforts...

- Drivers must exist for my hardware and give the same functionality as they do in windows.


I would love to try and switch away from windows tbh but theres too many unknowns... too many gotchas im likely to run into.

 

[compman25]

Email client that works with Exchange

 

[lxskllr]

Email client that works with Exchange

Have you tried Evolution?

 

[KentState]

Either Windows becoming too expensive to own or software no longer being available.

 

[Imaginer]

Reimburse me for all software on the previous platform (productivity and entertainment) - that is a bit of a stretch.

Provide just as equal if not better software (functionality, interface wise) along with the infrastructure and support. (one of the things neglected with open development - you are RELYING on amateur, sporadic, and non-cohesive development disciplines [despite wikis and communities] software development schedules)

Provide just as better and just as universal hardware and peripherals support.


Despite people saying wrongs about Windows (and Mac - but they are more limiting) they are well enough oiled for functionality without much intervention from the user end.

Think of the Mac ecosystem as having to always bring in your Mercedes in for all of your tune ups to the dealer, Windows at least letting you do your own light to medium service maintenance at your discretion or bringing it in to many auto shops that are certified... Or Linux, where in the past you pretty much have to do work to get things to work for you.

 

[JEDIYoda]

I actually want a dumbed down OS like 8 is, something simple and responsive.

its actually amazing those who say win8 is dumbed down..lolol

 

[oynaz]

Cubase for Linux would make me switch.

 

[Zodiark1593]

The only thing tying me to Windows are gaming, and the VGA drivers (for Blender). All productivity stuff I use is cross-compatible with Linux. If a Linux OS delivers similar or better gaming performance across my entire library (both old and new), then I'd say "Buh Bye" to Windows for good.

 

[Kougar]

Having software "just work", not having to futz around to add in missing system libraries or support software. Or worse having to compile it just to add extra functionality such as adding codec support or a spellchecker to an installed program.

I don't use linux daily, so having to constantly look up terminal command line gets irritating as hell when all I want to do is perform some task that takes 5 seconds to do under Windows.

 

[postmortemIA]

native directx support, focus on stability instead of cutting edge.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Full support from hardware and software manufacturers. Even simple things tend to be complicated in Linux and that's usually because they're closed source. Not even asking for the devs to support Linux themselves, just make the hardware/software open source and the community can do it... but of course that will never happen.

Though right now I AM using Linux full time, but still find myself having to boot to Windows to game, and I had a long battle figuring out issues I have having which turned out to be the video card driver.

Another thing that was almost a deal breaker for me is lack of triple monitor support. Though I've read that with specific processor and Linux mint it can work... so I guess the support is partially there, but hopefully it will get better and not depend on specific hardware. I given up on triple monitor for now but I have not been coding much. Still have to figure out what to do once I get back into coding. Might use a raspberry Pi to drive the other two monitors and use synergy. I may not be able to drag windows back and forth but at least I can open stuff on each one and have it open. In a way that setup may be better as I can boot to Windows without losing what's open on the other two screens. Typically I have the actual app I'm working on opened on one screen and the compile/debug console on the other and the code in the middle.

 

[Ramses]

Gaming pretty much, and if I wasn't a fiddler that'd be about it.
I've been running Mint Mate or whatever was before it for two years I guess daily now, and I work online for a living. It's really, really good. I used to run Ubuntu, can't stand that new interface at all. Mate is a better windows than windows.

Or untill I want to move to an SSD and can't run any of the cool software like Samsung has.
And have to jerk around to enable TRIM, and possibly the 20 other things people say I need to change to keep an SSD happy in Linux.

Or I want to run some good hardware monitoring software, LM-Sensors and the Gnome panel app are OK but very limited and barebones. My Sabertooth 990FX has a crap ton of hardware monitoring options, it's one of the reasons I bought the thing, and they are wasted in Linux.

Mint just the other week managed to not be able to find windows when setting up my usual dual-boot on a new board and drive. That was an annoying waste of time to sort out. I'm a techno guy and all but I really could have lived without having to manually screw around with grub in 2013. And I'm still not sure what happened, I think Win7 installed in UEFI mode, that I hadn't noticed existed really till then, and used GPT instead of MBR even though it was only a 1TB Raptor.

I found myself seriously considering ditching linux for awhile to go to a big SSD.
While I really do favor it, Mint with Mate anyway, it doesn't do anything Windows 7 can't for me, or anything any better really. And my computing life would be a lot more simple with one OS. It used to be that Linux was faster on a given box, but with 8 4ghz cores, 16gig of ram, a 10Krpm drive that is about to be an SSD, it's just not faster anymore. It feels different, and I like it, but it's not the draw it used to be.

Oh, and netflix not working blows. I run XP on a VM with virtualbox for work also luckily so I watch in that and it works well, but it's annoying.

It's really not Linux fault I guess, but programs and drivers and such I suppose. And I realize it's free, but being honest, so it Windows 7 for all intents and purposes for a lot of us.
I have keys on laptops I've bought and desktops, I even bought a boxed copy of NT4 once years ago. I'd pay for a Linux that fixed these things somehow. Maybe one day.

 

[BrightCandle]

Its actually a really long list but the crux of the issue is games and other software that don't run there. The problem in many cases is that Linux isn't very business friendly as a platform making the drivers and commercial software harder. I like it for programming but for games and enthusiast software its kind of bad.

 

[Imaginer]

Looking it at another angle, many of those who do not want to pay for even a simple, usable OS, will probably not spend anything else for other programs to begin with - thus not much of a market for a "free" mentality environment.

 

[lxskllr]

Looking it at another angle, many of those who do not want to pay for even a simple, usable OS, will probably not spend anything else for other programs to begin with - thus not much of a market for a "free" mentality environment.

Free software isn't about money, at all. It's about having control over the software you install, and being able to examine and change it if desired. I'm not interested in a bunch of proprietary crap on my system. I'll make some allowances for trivialities like games as long as the they don't have egregious drm, but productivity software must be libre. I've given money to libre software projects I like, and I'd pay for commercial software if it were libre too, but I won't pay for proprietary software, and in most cases, I won't take it gratis.

 

[Imaginer]

Free software isn't about money, at all. It's about having control over the software you install, and being able to examine and change it if desired. I'm not interested in a bunch of proprietary crap on my system. I'll make some allowances for trivialities like games as long as the they don't have egregious drm, but productivity software must be libre. I've given money to libre software projects I like, and I'd pay for commercial software if it were libre too, but I won't pay for proprietary software, and in most cases, I won't take it gratis.

And to be honest, I do not need this level of control. I see one going there if operating any program outside of developer's boundaries and intended program usage model's boundaries.

But, even if there are expanded functionalities (macros, plugins, addons, etc) a software will have foresight to allow users to have their input in with those items if it is needed. How is it labeled in libraries - those libraries are just for that software - and those addons - it still belongs to the user that created it.

But that requires additional effort in those cases. Most cases, many users will not need to "tinker" on that level.

 

[lxskllr]

And to be honest, I do not need this level of control. I see one going there if operating any program outside of developer's boundaries and intended program usage model's boundaries.

But, even if there are expanded functionalities (macros, plugins, addons, etc) a software will have foresight to allow users to have their input in with those items if it is needed. How is it labeled in libraries - those libraries are just for that software - and those addons - it still belongs to the user that created it.

But that requires additional effort in those cases. Most cases, many users will not need to "tinker" on that level.

There should be no boundaries. Would you accept a chair if it could only be used the dining room? What if you wanted to use it in the family room? Maybe you want to use it as step stool, or even take it outside, and use it to help prop up a collapsing porch. You don't accept arbitrary limitations on physical goods you buy. Why should you accept them from digital goods?

Also, being able to examine the code helps keep devs honest. If they put in malicious features, someone will see them and remove them, so they're less likely to be put in in the first place. Not always. A stellar example is Ubuntu's shopping lens, which funnels search through Canonical's servers, and gives results from Amazon. That's a privacy issue. Since it's libre software, that function can be, and is commonly removed. That's how it's supposed to work. What the dev wants doesn't matter on my machine. Unless he's in my house running my computer, his vision doesn't concern me.

 

[notposting]

Several things:

As mentioned above by many, far more universal support. Want to just plug something in and it automagically works. Same with installing software.

Games, software, web. Whether things like DirectX or Netflix or Office.

Now as for the free ($$$) that is not a concern for me. I will pay for good products, whether software or chairs. When it comes to free (open source) I am less concerned. Now if reports come out about some software spying on me (simply watching the network link back to the wild can reveal this) they just got on my shit list. I'm not a programmer so having the source open to me doesn't help (though it will improve the ability of others to look at it for me).

As for the chair analogy, I tend to follow manufacturer directions. I don't think the chair would likely be warrantied or built to help hold up a porch. I'm not being a smart ass here, just saying I will buy something for what it professes to do for me and not necessarily expect more.

I like things being open but don't require it.

and finally, as Ramses mentioned above, "While I really do favor it, Mint with Mate anyway, it doesn't do anything Windows 7 can't for me, or anything any better really".

I don't have any compelling reasons to switch yet.

 

[Elixer]

Its actually a really long list but the crux of the issue is games and other software that don't run there. The problem in many cases is that Linux isn't very business friendly as a platform making the drivers and commercial software harder. I like it for programming but for games and enthusiast software its kind of bad.

For programming ? It is my experience that everything that linux has, is either better, or much better on windows than whatever is available on linux.

gdb vs VS debugger ? No contest. (even if you have the crappy ddd frontend)
openGL debugging ? Again, no contest. Lots of quality software on windows, but on linux ? Ugh.
Editors ? I still find the ones available on windows is better than anything on linux that I have tried.

The main issue with linux is the terrible or non-existent support for lots of hardware that have no drivers for linux. (Yeah, I know, you can blame the makers, but still, it sucks when something works fine on windows, but won't work at all on linux, or barely works, and crashes).

There should be out of the box support for mice with multiple buttons, same with keyboards that have extra keys that you could configure.

There is no "clean" way to switch resolutions in games, they all seem to do things different, and it may or may not work with the window manager you got.

The cryptic logs and or commands also don't help a n00bie out at all.

The whole binary blob vs OS for video cards just plain sucks. If you want performance and less crashes, you use the binary blob. If you want headaches, and slower drivers, you use the OS version.

It looks like they are trying to fix most of these things with SteamOS, but, we will see how far they get.

 

[Ramses]

That's another good example. I want to buy a nice sound card. But every one I look up is either crippled in Linux, or not working at all. It's like 3d acceleration ten years ago.

 

[F1shF4t]

Or untill I want to move to an SSD and can't run any of the cool software like Samsung has.
And have to jerk around to enable TRIM, and possibly the 20 other things people say I need to change to keep an SSD happy in Linux.

Not much is needed for SSD. Just have to use a tool which aligns the partitions properly (Ubuntu installer and gparted do) when you create them. As far as Trim, no need to enable it, just run "sudo fstrim -v /" + whatever other mount points you have once a week or whatever time you need.

Myself I use both Win8 and Ubuntu, no reason to limit yourself to one cause each has useful tools that the other doesn't. I've got two asus g series laptops sitting on my desk. The Win8 one is more for games, Ubuntu one is more for everything else, including video editing (using openshot).

 

[Mushkins]

Personally, I don't see myself ever moving 100% to linux. It's got the same problems as Android on phones: crazy amounts of fragmentation. There's so many major distros floating around, and even then there's how many GUIs? How many packages that may or may not come installed? How many different roads to the same destination? Throw software and hardware incompatibilities on top of that and Linux isn't catching on in the mainstream desktop space for the same exact reasons it hasn't in the past 20 years. I don't want to tinker with my OS on that level, I don't want to keep track of why XYZ feature works fine in Ubuntu but is sometimes buggy in Red Hat. I have better things to spend my time on. Its interesting to play around with in a VM or use one of my many linux based special purpose images for network or system diagnostics, but for a day to day OS it does not meet my needs and the typical linux distribution author has no interest in moving in a direction to meet those needs with their product.

There should be no boundaries. Would you accept a chair if it could only be used the dining room? What if you wanted to use it in the family room? Maybe you want to use it as step stool, or even take it outside, and use it to help prop up a collapsing porch. You don't accept arbitrary limitations on physical goods you buy. Why should you accept them from digital goods?

But we do accept these boundaries with physical goods, all the time. I can't drive my car anywhere but on the roads or on offroad land that I own, but I still bought one because I need to get to work and it makes my life easier even with those preconceived boundaries. I can't put my TV wherever I want, it has to be close enough to a power outlet to plug it in. I cant plug an Iphone into a speaker system designed for docking with a Galaxy S4, it doesnt physically fit without an adapter of some kind. All things have limitations, thats just part of the world we live in. Whether or not you value the benefit of something more than the limitations is strictly a personal decision for each individual. All the people out there buying Windows and proprietary software place the value they get from those products above whatever libre alternatives may give, and there's nothing wrong with that. The most popular example is probably MS Office. It's not perfect, but absolutely by comparison it is the most polished, stable, and widely used office productivity software in the entire world supported by probably the largest software corporation in the entire world. There's value in that right there, especially in the business world.