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by atondwal 3127 days ago
I don't think the "browser-only strawman" is condescending elitists dismissing users --- I'm a self-described GNU zealot on most days the only software I use on are apps like firefox, ssh, and vim and a few other bits like gnome/xmonad, liquid haskell, latex, and rustc.

I have no clue how the "average person" uses a computer, but for me it really is all web. Hell, if I had consistent LTE on my laptop, I could very just spend the whole day in a full-screen firefox with a web-ssh connection to my work server for development.
2 comments
bunderbunder 3127 days ago
Average home user non-Internet use case # 0: Printing.

If for no other reason, I will never suggest Linux as a desktop option to any of my non-IT-professional friends & family for this one reason.

Use case # -1 would be "owning a laptop." Linux continues to be finicky on laptops - even when all the hardware works, you still end up with rando issues like poor battery life and fans that never turn off due to imperfect laptop power management.

(That said, there is one version of Linux that has cracked both of these nuts for the case of people who really do just want to use the Web: Chrome OS. And I do recommend that to anyone I think it'll work for.)

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AnIdiotOnTheNet 3127 days ago
If you really were all-web, you would just use Chrome OS. As you said, though, you're actually a user of liquid haskell, latex, and rustc. In other words, either a computing hobbyist and/or developer.
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atondwal 3127 days ago
There are actually pretty decent webIDEs for all of those things (shareLaTeX's vim mode is pretty nice, too), and I did consider switching to a chromebook. I was actually about to buy one before I decided that the max 8GB of RAM was way too little for my usual browsing habits. That, and I'm dependent on some firefox addons that just don't have good chrome equivalents, so chromeOS is sort of a no-go.

Edit: apparently there's a sizable segment of the market that agrees with both of us!

> In the third quarter of 2016, Chromebooks made up 54% of computer shipments to K-12 classrooms in the United States, says IDC analyst Linn Huang. That market share figure even factors in iPads, which themselves have been successful in education.

https://www.fastcompany.com/3067267/how-chromebooks-aim-to-f...

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AnIdiotOnTheNet 3126 days ago
If your argument is "most people don't need a desktop", then we're in agreement. So we should stop designing desktop OSs around them, right?
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