
Ask HN: Would you pay for a better Linux Desktop experience? - soulbadguy
Professional dev. here; I am now using linux 90 % of the time. Mostly Ubuntu on a thinkpad. 
While using Linux as a daily driver is WAY better than what it used to be, i think it still lacks some of the refinement of windows or OSx.<p>Most of the discussion of Desktop Linux get lost into a usability war between unity&#x2F;mate&#x2F;gnome etc..., but i am more concerned about battery life, graphic performance, stability, application packages (like skype,viber etc...), stable wifi etc... which in my view are much more important and have more impact on my day to day. And on those metrics they all suck equally.<p>Moreover, getting the best experience as a Desktop user still requires too much tinkering (ie .why do i have to know about powertop to optimize my battery usage pattern?)<p>I don&#x27;t see this mentioned often, but it seems clear to me that the reason Linux is still lacking (on this front) is simply that nobody is financing it. Most of the corporate backing focuses on the server&#x2F;space and i can&#x27;t think of any distribution which actually makes money from regular users (canonical ?).<p>I don&#x27;t think i am the only person who is looking for a stable&#x2F;better desktop experience and who is willing to pay for it.<p>So that got me curious, how many of us are out there ?<p>PS: i don&#x27;t think that randomly donating to one of the thousand projects i use daily is a particularly effective way to go at it.
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digi_owl
Blame the network effect. Large hardware brands are operating on razor thin
margins. So the way to get a profit is bundling. And to do that you need to
offer the biggest platform there is.

So what they do is they strike a deal with MS for Windows and Office, quite
possibly with a bunk discount.

And then turn around to companies like Symantec and make them a deal, X amount
of dollars pr device shipped with their 30 day preview package pre-installed.

Basically the reason you have to muck about with powertop is that you are
doing an aftermarket install. You would see similar problems with Windows if
it was not the big dog in the market.

I really wish Canonical all the best with that tablet of theirs, but as i have
to order it from abroad, and deal with potential taxes etc, i am not going to
buy it any time soon...

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gravypod
Make it user friendly.

You need to hide anything command line related from the user. Get UI/UX & HCI
people to make everything simple. It shouldn't take anyone more then a few
moments to see what's going on.

As programmers and software engineers: we need to make everything run out of
the box, maybe even to the extent that windows applications will run via wine
or a VM (Like Qubes OS). Even if it inflates the size of installs, we need
drivers for the most common hardware on install disks. We also need support
from manufacturers to get well-made drivers to the open-source market. (Hell,
some more hardware implementations sticking to standards couldn't hurt)

Do not expect the user can do anything or learn anything on the fly. They
aren't concerned with learning an operating system or concerned about learning
about UNIX/POSIX, they care about doing their work.

There really isn't anything holding linux from the desktop market other then
some legacy systems that don't really work well/aren't flexible enough for a
wide range of systems.

If you're interested in some newer stuff, from chonical, that I feel will make
a great difference and be a huge step forward in the right direction, look at
Mir as well as Unity 8.

The progress is astounding as well as the results.

Can't wait to hear what others think of this.

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blue_dinner
I've been using Linux for more than a decade and have tried almost every
desktop variant. I've settled on Ubuntu.

Many, many companies and individuals have tried what you are proposing, with
marginal success.

What will you be doing that hasn't already been tried?

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soulbadguy
I am really propositing any, just polling the hive to see if other people feel
as i do

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herbst
I am actually good. Gnome 3 is a beautiful desktop which helps me to focus on
productivity. And everything else is just a google search and a command away.

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soulbadguy
I am curious, what distro/laptop/kernel are you using ?

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herbst
* Ubuntu & Arch. Ubuntu only on my home Desktop. * I have a eeepc and a macbook pro. But i am mostly using my desktop. * Any recent one shipped with the distro

As someone who worked with all 3 major systems over several versions i think
there is nothing more easy and intuitive on the market than ubuntu with gnome
3.

