Some Linux thoughts

On By daevadIn Musings, computing
  1. As of this writing I am running Ubuntu 18.10 dual-booting with macOS 10.14.3 on a 10-year-old and significantly upgraded Mac Pro.  Ubuntu is stable, fast, and reliable on this hardware platform.
  2. Ubuntu is my primary OS.  I still use macOS several times per week – mainly to run iTunes to talk to my iPod Touch, but I also have a couple paid commercial apps on the Mac side that I really like.  With the upcoming release of Wine 4 I am considering trying iTunes for Windoze on the Ubuntu side as an alternative for managing the iPod.
  3. I have come to the conclusion that one primary, practical, user’s point of view reason for the failure of Linux to capture a greater share of the desktop computer market is the insane situation for installing and updating applications.  I won’t detail it all here, but to me, an article like this should not be necessary.
  4. The huge list of various Linux distributions can leave new users bewildered as to which to choose.
  5. Another desktop adoption issue: The absence of Microsoft Office is not a problem.  LibreOffice and the other office suites out there more than cover that territory.  However, the absence of Adobe software is a huge issue for many people in creative fields.  I’m not saying there aren’t powerful and useful apps out there, but there are lots of folks that won’t even consider a move to another platform unless Adobe CC is available.
  6. If Microsoft wanted to get its feet wet in the Linux app world, OneNote would be a great place to start.

More to come…

About the U.S. government shutdown…

On By daevadIn Musings, Washington Whirlwind

Personally, I think that every federal worker not being paid should immediately stop reporting to work.  Every one of them.  They should stay away until their jobs are funded through the remainder of the fiscal year and they are assured of being paid for all their unpaid work.  This will cause chaos and hardship.  So be it.  The Trump administration has already foisted chaos upon us all for a useless vanity project.  They created this mess and can make it go away any time they choose to do so.  Force them to choose.

Here is one example of a consequence of a total walkout:  Imagine the pressure that will be brought to bear on the White House when all commercial airline traffic stops due to the lack of air traffic controllers.  The federal workers have the power to force an end, if they choose to exert it.