
Ask HN: How many of you use GNU/Linux? - ffggvv
Why? If not, why not?
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akellermann
I use GNU/Linux when I'm not using my Macbook. I love both platforms, but I
also find myself wanting OpenBSD and FreeBSD to grow in popularity. All 4 OS's
are great in their own right, but I personally feel that the GNU/Linux based
operating systems are missing a thing or two that's holding them back from
becoming popular. One of the biggest reasons is simply Developer Support. On
my Mac, I can get everything I need to work, Photoshop, Dropbox, Google
services. Everything just works.

Meanwhile, using Linux (I use Fedora Personally) I'm always having to search
for Propiertary software, and sometimes the install process isn't so easy.
Back when I used to use IDE's made by Jetbrains, the font rendering was bad,
and the install process only half worked on Linux, but on my Mac it worked
flawlessly.

OpenBSD and FreeBSD have much the same problem, however, the only reason I
don't use them more often is because their repos tend to be more out of date
than those on Fedora. Although their support for ZFS is a major selling point.

I think that, at the end of the day, if GNU/Linux focused more on gaining
developer support, and stopped their incessant need to have _everything_ be
FOSS on their systems, I would rather use their OS's over MacOS.

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enkiv2
I've been using Linux on most of my machines since around 1999, because of
perceived stability issues in Windows. I continued using it because the
development toolchain on other platforms seemed crippled in comparison.

I have an OSX machine for creating mac packages & a windows machine for
playing video games, but those machines are limited to those particular uses;
my general-purpose machines run linux.

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craniumslows
I use GNU/Linux and OS X soon to be rebranded MacOS. I started off using
RedHat 3 dot something ages and ages ago then moved on to FreeBSD for about 6
or 7 years before I did lots of distro hopping in my 20s. I remember the fun
and annoyance at having to recompile your kernel for sound driver support, or
to add or remove a feature.

So the why? I think that it gives me the blend of power and convenience that I
am personally looking for. In my early days the open source, free compilers
were a godsend as I had to get a ride out of town to get to a book store that
sold a book or manual with a distribution CD. As the internet access got
better I started using the GUI and noticed that my use case was slowly
evolving. Now-a-days I find that I am on whatever is handy Chromebook, iPad,
MacBook, Desktop PC running Fedora.

Many computer users merely want something that works, and you can't blame them
for that either.

This seems like it could be a fun question.

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azeirah
I use it for development stuff, mainly because Linux is a better overall
environment for developers compared to windows.

I use windows for games or if I'm not doing dev stuff

