Linux and Productivity
March 21, 2024
Over the last few months, I went into a rabbit hole of open-source software. I went from prioritizing beautiful software such as Todoist to software that was made out of the goodness of people's hearts. Sometimes it can be both, such as GNOME.
My biggest interest by far has been Linux and GNU. The idea of making a free version of a proprietary product, like UNIX, with the purpose of making a free version of it is an idea that I really like. I believe that free software is a great thing and has the potential to move communities forward. I had been using Fedora Linux for the last few months, and I loved it. There's a few things about it that I think can be improved, but Fedora and GNOME is just fantastic.
Free Software
Linux, GNU, Fedora, and GNOME all come together to create a fantastic operating system with great tools. All of these tools are free, making a completely free and open operating system. All of this software is also open-source.
Open-source software is just software that gives you the ability to see the source code. This is great because it gives you, the user, the ability to check what the program is actually doing... assuming you understand the code itself. Another great benefit of open-source software is that other people can check to see if there's any security vulnerabilities, and even submit a fix for it. More eyes on the software, and (ideally) more security.
I've spent a lot of time at my university studying the design of software, specifically with Human-Computer Interaction. One of my biggest concerns about free software was the design aspects of it, since years ago when I first tried free software, it all felt ugly. However, there's a lot of OSS that does has fantastic design and accessibility features, especially the ones delivered by GNOME. GNOME Circle has a fantastic set of apps that are beautiful and easy to use, and in my opinion, is eye candy. Many apps available on Flathub, a Linux app store, also contains many well-designed apps. This is a great improvement from the state of how things were years ago.
This doesn't mean that free software is all beautiful, though. Personally, I don't quite enjoy the KDE set of tools. It feels so clunky and aged. There's people that will die on the hill of KDE, saying that it's unlimited customization is worth it, but... I just can't see it.
Free software has the opportunity to really move people forward and help underprivileged communities thrive, but if it doesn't look good, people will be less likely to even try it. Though... there's another aspect to OSS, and more specifically, Linux, that may be more of a hassle.
Productivity
Linux is used a lot for servers, and I don't quite blame them. It's very easy to use it from the command line with tools that are familiar to many who know macOS or Unix. However, desktop Linux is clearly not there yet. Even Linus Torvalds acknowledged it.
There are some enterprise Linux desktops, such as RHEL. However, even then, for private desktop usage, it's a bit of a mess.
Installing apps on Linux is, as Torvalds mentioned, a pain. Linux does not have a universal app store or binary like Windows or macOS. In a way, the beauty of Linux is also being its downfall. Linux gives anybody the ability to make their own version of desktop Linux, and therefore, various different binaries are needed. There's only one current version of Windows. There's only one current version of macOS. There's hundreds of versions of Linux.
There are some projects that are trying to combat this issue, such as Flatpak and Snapcraft. I'm a bit concerned that this will end up like that one xkcd comic, but who knows. I prefer Flatpak because I don't like or trust Canonical.
Installing apps on Linux, and building apps for Linux, can be a pain. As we saw with the Windows Phone, this is critical. However, since the majority of people who use Linux are tech-savvy enough to figure this out on their own by maybe compiling their own binaries, it isn't quite a big issue right now. However, for the average Joe, it is not great in the long run.
For me, as a software developer, I love Linux for its ease of use in the terminal. As a FOSS endorser, I love the philosophy Linux users carry with them. As a computer nerd, I love to be able to build the binaries and fix the problems that arise with Linux. However, as a student, I want to get things done quickly. Before anything else, I am a student. Linux is, to me, a very time consuming hobby. I need to prioritize productivity, and unless I'm getting paid for it, I can't spend all day trying to fix Linux when I have an assignment due at 11:59 PM.
There's so much on Linux that I love, but for now, I can't justify being able to use it for casual desktop use. I'll continue to use it with WSL2 though.
Until we meet again, my beloved penguin friend.