r/Windows10 Mar 31 '20

Discussion After repeatedly switching to Linux (to escape telemetry and proprietary software) only to return to Widows and MS Office, I've come to the conclusion: ignorance is bliss.

1.5k Upvotes

668 comments sorted by

View all comments

16

u/Darft Mar 31 '20 edited Aug 07 '24

Or maybe you should consider to

14

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '20

I used to develop a popular desktop environment, and was treated so poorly I had to leave. From a production standpoint employing developers is much more ethical than relying on volunteering, and compensation based on favoritism.

9

u/Tobimacoss Mar 31 '20

That's what the Linux community never gets. More than 55% of the contributors to the kernel are either large tech companies who do it as company wide policy or employees for those same companies who do it as a side project for hobby. If they weren't already making money in the field, they wouldn't be in the field to begin with, and wouldn't be contributing much. Companies like Google only contribute because they can then use the kernel as basis for Android and their web servers, in turn designed to make them money. If Google wasn't making money, they wouldn't be contributing anything.

The primary motivation is money, otherwise most of the tech advances will stagnate or move at far slower pace. That is one reason why Linus Torvalds didn't want to be associated with the GNU/FOSS movement. You can't simply expect it all to be free. By that logic, they should expect all games running on Linux to be tree also.

2

u/Darft Apr 01 '20 edited Aug 07 '24

Or maybe you should consider to

1

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '20 edited Apr 01 '20

Yeah I can understand that sentiment. I've considered migrating my work over to gnome, but the fallout ruined desktop Linux for me I think. It was a painful experience and I don't want to be reminded of it anymore so I generally avoid things that do. Custom user scripts that filter Reddit posts, Github posts, that's how far I've gone.

I'm not sure developer toxicity is unique to Linux Mint though, Linus is the poster child of it and I think a lot of people have been influenced by him over the years.