Linux on the Desktop
Michael Herrmann on his experience switching to desktop Linux:
There are a few issues. Some are to do with sound: The speakers are worse than on my previous MacBook Pro. Every time I plug in my headphones, there is some white noise and I have to run a command line tool
alsamixerto get rid of it. Also, when I keep my headphones plugged in and restart the computer, Ubuntu outputs sound to the speakers instead of the headphones. The final annoyance is that Ubuntu sometimes makes windows 0 pixels wide and I have to search for them by their shadow only on my desktop.
It’s hard to get an accurate picture of Linux on the desktop. Since so many Linux users are proponents of Free software, it’s difficult to separate ideology from the user experience in their accounts. Operating systems are a partisan issue. So I’m always on the lookout for accounts that sound unbiased. Michael’s account, with its precise description of the problems and solutions, has the ring of truth.
People experience issues like these completely differently. For some, they’re minor annoyances that can be put up with, for others, the computer’s busted and it’s going out the window. The more you lean towards the latter, the more likely you’ll be happier on a Mac.