this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2024
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[–] Auzy@beehaw.org 18 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

A lot of these points seem a bit wrong, and are simply talking points

  • Viruses.. Windows has UAC, its the same as Sudo. In fact, Xorg has some serious unfixable security issues apparently (Wayland fixes them). Malware like https://therecord.media/malware-found-in-npm-package-with-millions-of-weekly-downloads is the future.. Most users get malware because they install it..
  • Safer files? Tell that to the BTRFS RAID guys.. MacOS actually handles this the best these days imho due to time machine (which does incremental backups). A lot of Linux Distro's don't even ship with an easy to use backup system, or anything as nice as Time Machine. Microsoft is literally at the point it is auto-recovering the OS when a fault happens.
  • Fast and smooth? Apple beat Linux and Microsoft with accelerated desktop stuff by ages. Also, on my NUC 11 Enthusiast, I couldn't even get the ARC working.. Accellerated video is still somewhat iffy in some scenarios on Linux it seems.
  • Flexability? Yeah.. Too much flexibility. We've got so many distro's which are basically just copies of other ones. And I'm still looking for an easy, low risk alternative to Magnet in MacOS (which kills PowerToys FancyZones or the KDE Tiling stuff)

That being said, if there was GOOD android integration baked in, and Android App store baked in, it would actually make a huge difference I think. Because thats the competition..

Waydroid still has some major issues unfortunately.

This would bring in lots of high quality apps (including ones missing like Whatsapp or Messenger), and ultimately do what Steam for Linux did for Linux Gaming.

[–] ursakhiin@beehaw.org 7 points 10 months ago

One of the biggest things I'd point out for security is that unless effort is made to ensure people are upgrading, more systems on Linux is going to mean more versions of the kernel being on more machines.

It will result in a lot more machines running versions that have known exploits open against them so malware will become easier to propagate on Linux in general.

[–] Adanisi@lemmy.zip 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I mean, there's a reason there are so many distros. They're for different needs.

Some people seem to prioritise a little convenience above absolutely everything else, which leads to Ubuntu, but people like me want proprietary software to burn in hell, so we wouldn't use Ubuntu. Ubuntu is not suitable for our needs. It also wouldn't be suitable for having an easily customiseable OS, which a lot of people like.

[–] Creesch@beehaw.org 9 points 10 months ago

They’re for different needs.

Yes... but also extremely no. Superficially you are right, but a lot of the arguments of why many new distros are created is just because of human nature. This covers everything from infighting over inane issues to more pragmatic reasons. A lot of them, probably even a majority, don't provide enough actual differentiators to be able to honestly claim that it is because of different needs. In the end it all boils down to the fact that people can just create a new distro when they feel like it.

Which is a strength in one way, but not with regard to fragmentation.