Why don't more people use Linux?
world.hey.com
A couple of weeks ago, I saw a tweet asking: "If Linux is so good, why aren't more people using it?" And it's a fair question! It intuitively rings true until you give it a moment's consideration. Linux is even free, so what's stopping mass adoption, if it's actually better? My response: “If exercising is so healthy, why don't more peo...

Stumbled across this quick post recently and thought it was a really good tale and worth sharing.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a tweet asking: “If Linux is so good, why aren’t more people using it?” And it’s a fair question! It intuitively rings true until you give it a moment’s consideration. Linux is even free, so what’s stopping mass adoption, if it’s actually better? My response:

  • If exercising is so healthy, why don’t more people do it?
  • If reading is so educational, why don’t more people do it?
  • If junk food is so bad for you, why do so many people eat it?

The world is full of free invitations to self-improvement that are ignored by most people most of the time. Putting it crudely, it’s easier to be fat and ignorant in a world of cheap, empty calories than it is to be fit and informed. It’s hard to resist the temptation of minimal effort.

And Linux isn’t minimal effort. It’s an operating system that demands more of you than does the commercial offerings from Microsoft and Apple. Thus, it serves as a dojo for understanding computers better. With a sensei who keeps demanding you figure problems out on your own in order to learn and level up.

Now I totally understand why most computer users aren’t interested in an intellectual workout when all they want to do is browse the web or use an app. They’re not looking to become a black belt in computing fundamentals.

But programmers are different. Or ought to be different. They’re like firefighters. Fitness isn’t the purpose of firefighting, but a prerequisite. You’re a better firefighter when you have the stamina and strength to carry people out of a burning building on your shoulders than if you do not. So most firefighters work to be fit in order to serve that mission.

That’s why I’d love to see more developers take another look at Linux. Such that they may develop better proficiency in the basic katas of the internet. Such that they aren’t scared to connect a computer to the internet without the cover of a cloud.

Besides, if you’re able to figure out how to setup a modern build pipeline for JavaScript or even correctly configure IAM for AWS, you already have all the stamina you need for the Linux journey. Think about giving it another try. Not because it is easy, but because it is worth it.

  • snroh@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    4 days ago

    dhh isn’t advocating for linux for everybody per se; instead it’s addressed at programmers and similar folk who regard linux as way too complex for everyday use. the background story being that he was an Apple fanboy for the longest time and recently made the switch and now can’t shut up about it. as a result they (basecamp) developed some insane rice setup that has to be seen to be believed, it’s beyond ridiculous.

    as an aside, I’ve met those people he’s talking at and they regularly blow my mind. like, how can you utilize a modern toolchain for practically every possible development scenario using an OS that actively fights you every step of the way, the abomination called WSL notwithstanding…

    so the idea is the brogrammers will become the early adopters and by way of trickle-down-tech linux will make its way to normies, same way e.g. Android did.

    I don’t think that’s gonna happen in the foreseeable future. the options, distros, DEs, whatevers are way too fragmented and fragile and are infested with the most deluded, rabid “fans” there are, each and everyone of them mired in truckloads of “no true scottsman” fallacies.

    Apple has a vertically integrated tech stack - there is one DE, one WM, one codebase for every product they sell and they are free to focus their sinister efforts elsewhere, backed by the deepest coffers there are.

    contrast this with the myriad of distros, package managers, DEs, WMs, etc. each pulling in a different direction, abandoned paths and duplicated efforts galore, done predominantly with no funds to speak of; and if there are any, they are squandered on… what was it, shamans?

    no math in this universe is gonna make team #2 catch up to team #1, let alone surpass it.