RE: Linux isn't fun anymore

Original post

This problem is not unique to Linux. Pretty much any software with any amount of complexity is going to result in tweaking, either to fix deficiencies overlooked by the primary developers or to add customizations for quality of life improvements, etc. I think a lot of Windows users come to Linux and complain that "things don't work out of the box", but they are so used to Windows that they don't think about how much tweaking Windows requires too. Installing drivers, installing third party software to clean, defrag, messing with the registry, dedicated "tweaking" software, etc. And with all of the telemetry crap, almost nobody is running Windows stock configuration. Browsers are another example, where power users are not running it stock configuration either, because of the litany of privacy and user hostile features. Personally, when it comes to tweaking, I think it's much easier to do on Linux because the software empowers the user, whereas on Windows, the complexity is hidden away from the user and it's much more of a pain in the ass to accomplish anything. It also helps that due to the monolithic nature of the kernel, I don't have to waste my time scouring manufacturer websites to install drivers.

With that being said, I agree with everything you said. I think everyone goes through that phase where tweaking, customization and "non-mainstream" software is exciting and appealing, but then at a certain point, you're mentally exhausted and just want to stick with as stock of a configuration as possible. There's also the fact that you need additional software (like etckeeper to track changes in etc) to maintain all of the complexity. I think there's been an uptick in developers moving the complexity away from themselves to the user. On Linux, things *are* supposed to work out of the box on mainstream distros. Packages are thanklessly patched, built and shipped from upstream sources and designed to seamlessly work with each other, while the developer mindset is build at head (instead of releases), ad-hoc dependency management, etc. These things might be fun and exciting and not require much thinking or planning, but poses problems for the end user.

I think the problem is only going to get worse. Software just isn't written with reliability, interoperability or stability these days.