Opinion on Linux

Kritin, my friend has been using linux for 3 years now and here's what he has concluded:

#PROS

1. It is free, 'free' as in 'free speech'.
2. It can be customized.
3. It gives greater control of your hardware (e.g. I can use my wifi card to hack other's wifi with linux but no software can do that on Windows or Mac).
4. Uses less resources (300-400 MB RAM when idle compared to 1.1 GB in windows).
5. It's file system is made to be used with multiple hard drives (hence it does not designate drive letters like c:/ or D:/
6. Since it is not a popular desktop OS, Linux malware is uncommon.
7. IT JUST WORKS out of the box: no need to hunt for device specific drivers: drivers come in-built (more on this in the cons section).
8. It has a software manager (like Android Playstore). Usually a software uses many libraries (aka dependencies). Sometimes there exist common dependencies. In windows, every software you download will contain required libraries with it in the .exe file. So there is redundancy and thus larger .exe files. In contrast, a software manager on linux keeps track of these libraries and will install only required missing libraries thus smaller download size. Ex: VLC uses 'ffmpeg' library to decode audio and video. Audacity also uses ffmpeg. If I have VLC player installed in linux then if i install audacity, ffmpeg will not be downloaded again because it's already present with VLC. In contrast to this, in windows, .exe of vlc and audacity both will contain ffmpeg, thus the redundancy and larger size downloads.
9. No forced upgrades.
10. No active spying (we know Microsoft began spying us since windows 8). In Linux, you can view and compile the source code yourself if you are that skeptical.
11. Frequent updates and upgrades which are optional, never forced: Ubuntu and Linux mint release one upgrade every 6 months. Compare this with Microsoft's upgrade cycles. XP is of 2002 and win 10 is 2015. They released only 4 OS in between.
12. More innovation: things that were implemented in linux since many years (like multiple workspaces) were implemented in windows, finally in win10.
13. Linux has a very active and dedicated online community that will help you.
14. Linux is good when you want to use a computer as an embedded system (like we did in our B.tech final year project*).
15. Security: A user is not given administrative privileges. So installation of viruses is difficult.
16. OS of choice for servers.

#CONS (spoiler: the cons outweigh the pros)

1. Because of it's low market share, Linux (usually) does not have device specific drivers. We get general purpose open source drivers that 'just work' (i.e. they somehow make your device work, but not at 100% efficiency). Although in Linux, we have no need to hunt for device specific drivers, the open source drivers do not use the hardware completely. This affects the gaming community. Although this is slowly improving.
2. Power management on desktop Linux OS (like Ubuntu or Linux mint) is poor out of the box (this is just a consequence of point 1). So, laptop's battery drains in 1.5 hours even when watching Youtube at 50% brightness.
3. Small things like formatting USB is a 'process' because there is no 'right click and format' option available. In Ubuntu, I had to use command line instruction to do the work and once made a good USB non functional. Linux mint (which is a flavour of Linux, just like Ubuntu but better) now has a separate GUI software for the purpose. But here's the thing: you can't simply right click and format. there are many other similar examples .
4. Lack of adobe flash: Adobe ended it's support of flash for Linux (i.e. no new versions are available but security updates are still available). This means there is no DRM viewing in Linux. The workaround to this problem is to use Google Chrome for Linux because it has its own flashplayer in-built as a plug-in.
5. Workarounds: You will find yourself stuck on simple tasks and finding help online frequently. You will find yourself troubleshooting, changing configuration files manually because there is no GUI for certain applications, using command line and typing "sudo --some --unknown command | found_online" just to get something trivial get done.
6. LACK OF PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE: I agree that softwares available for linux are free and hence very primitive but even if I am willing to pay 20,000 rs, there are no vendors making productivity software for Linux. Example: there does not exist Photoshop, Adobe Reader, Lightroom, Adobe Premier, etc on Linux.
7. (Extension of above point) Video editing on linux sucks. Until recently, The OS was unable to make use of multi cores for a long time (but now the OS can use multi core). Due to lack of dedicated drivers, even video cards are not used at 100% while editing videos. There are only free video editing software available and no professional grade ones. 
8. LINUX IS NOT FREE AS IN 'FREE TIME'  whereas Windows and Macs are: Configuring systems in linux is hectic task. Things may not be compatible. Support for linux may not be available from the original equipment manufacturer(OEM) (although someone may have an equivalent software workaround that may, he is not OEM). You may spend hours to setup something (like connecting 4 cameras to a video capture card which then connects to your PC which streams the capture to Youtube will take hours to just get it working. In contrast, a Windows user can setup all this in 10 min because of all the support available from OEMs involved).
9. Windows and macs, though not free as in 'free beer' and 'free speech', are certainly free as in 'free time'.
10. NO VIRUS ON LINUX IS A MYTH: In theory, viruses for Linux do exist. Of course, no hacker will write any virus for Linux because of its low popularity. This is like no terrorist will try to hijack auto on Chennai street but will aim higher and may want to hijack some Airbus A380 going to USA, because of the impact. This doesn't mean that autos are immune to terror attacks. The day Linux will become popular as a desktop OS, viruses for Linux will come into existence. Yet there have been virus attacks on Linux in the past (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_malware#Threats). Even if I want to install anti virus, there are none available. 
11. Network installation for office environment is way easy to install and manage on windows.

*************side note**************

Since IoT devices use Linux and are poorly configured, they are tempting targets and encouragement for hackers to develop Linux based malware.

##########CONCLUSION##########

Linux as a desktop OS is good enough for people who just want to surf web and type simple documents but in professional and semi professional setting, Linux bites the dust. Even for gamers, Linux still lacks behind.

In servers, of course, linux is the best.

Linux will improve as more and more people will start using it and software companies and OEMs start getting profits by supporting Linux as desktop OS.

+++++++++WHY AM I STILL USING LINUX ON MY LAPTOP?+++++++++

My mouse pointer freezes frequently on windows. This is super irritating. So, I use Linux. In this particular case, the general purpose open source driver included in linux kernel turned out to be better than the driver provided by OEM for windows.

"WOW, I wanted to write this since a long time. Finally got a chance. Include it in your blog or somewhere" Kritin mailed me attaching this piece of his wise mind. 

* = Our B.tech final year project will be posted here soon

South Indian Winter Olympics

The Winter Olympics at Pyeongchang concluded and I staying in southern India (where snowfall is impossible) thought about logo of these games if they were to be held here. The logo will be based on this picture I guess.

Idly Chutney: Winter Olympics

Snow is white, Idlies are white and so is Chutney.
Goutham