SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the if-some-is-good-then-too-much-is-not-enough? dept.
Bruce Byfield's Blog on Linux Magazine explores the upgrade treadmill.
Byfield relates an old comic by Christiann MacAuley that depicts how Linux, Windows, and Mac users relates to a pop-up announcement saying: "An Update is Available for Your Computer".
The Linux user is enthusiastic, the Windows user groans, and the Mac user is glad it will only cost him $99.
One reason for switching to Linux used to be to get off the forced upgrades path common to proprietary software. Yet Linux users seem to have kept the urge to upgrade, even when the necessity was removed. Even when security fixes are back ported, to Long Term Support releases, we just can't seem to resist an upgrade.
Byfield explores the issue of upgrades, and why we Linux users feel compelled to perform major upgrades. Not only the minor patches to fix bugs that happen ever week. We routinely seem to rush in and put our entire systems at risk by installing complete system upgrades to new kernels, whole new desktops, sometimes new file systems, and even the dread systemd.
It's an interesting read, and set me wondering why so many Linux users chase upgrades for little or no new features.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by jmorris on Wednesday October 28 2015, @02:58AM
We have used GNOME since at least 1.0 and I think before. I have one user that just has to be different and use KDE. :)
The problem is I'm at a public library. Staff might could be eventually moved, add a second desktop option and one by one coax em over. The general public on the other hand is an entirely different kettle of fish. GNOME 2/Mate looks enough like what they expect a desktop to look like that they can walk in from the street and use it. We can give em accounts where they can have persistence and it is cool. Been doing it since the 20th Century and it just works. We did use to rely on VMWare and then Crossover Office to make Internet Exploiter available for the cases where only it would do but haven't had to need that for years. That Apple for that gift to humanity.
No way they adapt to GNOME3 without keeping staff out in the lab to handhold open to close. I even brought that up on LWN once with a GNOME devel and had him admit that for random walk in traffic GNOME3 was not a good fit. Of course with the usual 'but once you learn it...' nonsense. So they told everyone it was newb friendly but when you confront them with the idea of actual newbs they admit it ain't fit for purpose.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 28 2015, @04:14AM
XFCE can be set up to look almost exactly like Gnome 2.x, and this is the path we took after we migrated our workstations from CentOS 6. Two bars, top and bottom; Applications and Places menu; taskbar at the bottom; default 4.12 theme that looks well with Adwaita and makes GTK2/GTK3 apps look similar. We chose XFCE over MATE because the development is methodical and conservative, but continuous, and there is a long-term process (already begun) to migrate to GTK3 (which XFCE has migrated multiple times in its lifetime to another toolkit) instead of being EOL. Backend is Debian, with a custom repository for the newer XFCE. Supporting 200+ clients; no complaints thus far (except no more wobbly windows option), the desktop stays out of the way of their work.
Servers run WindowMaker because I can get away with it ;)
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday October 28 2015, @05:41AM
XFCE can be set up to look almost exactly like Gnome 2.x,
Agreed, its the more sensible choice for Joe or Jane Random user walking in off the street, as the menu at the bottom seems more common to the windows users of the world.
Otherwise I would have said use the Mate UI on Salix to get the closest to Gnome 2.x
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by DECbot on Wednesday October 28 2015, @03:03PM
I agree with XFCE. When Ubuntu jumped the shark and went to Unity, my migration path was Ubuntu 10.04 + Gnome 2 --> Ubuntu 12.04 + XFCE as I didn't like either Unity or Gnome 3. I did lose the feeling of 'this is awesome,' but I get that back by running fluxbox now and again.
As for when 12.04 support falls off the face of the earth, I'm still debating between Slackware (or Slack derivative) and BSD. I'm mostly thinking BSD as I don't want to suffer another pulse/gnome/systemd moment.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base