I just read a great article on the current state of desktop Linux over at dedoimedo.com called "Screw this, I'm going back to Windows!" I really think it's worth the time to read for anyone who's involved in the Linux community, whether you're a developer, or just a casual user like me.
The author doesn't have comments enabled on his site, so I sent him an email. Here's a copy.
Igor,
Thanks for writing your piece, "Screw this, I'm going back to
Windows!" It echo's many of the same sentiments I've had recently, but
I haven't had the time or energy to write a piece such as yours. I've
recently been going through a new computer build with an Intel Sandy
Bridge processor and have yet to find a distro that fully meets my
needs.I was happy with Ubuntu Lucid on my old 32 bit machine, but I've found
the 64 bit version to be buggy and not take full advantage of my new
processor. I tried Ubuntu 11.10, but can't get used to Unity; not so
good on a 22 inch monitor. Using Gnome fallback is OK, but it's
obvious that there's been little or no work to integrate the system to
be used in this mode.I'm now on Kubuntu 11.10 and it's been a rocky start. I've run into
issues with my hardware that I didn't have with Ubuntu 11.10. WTF? I
don't know, maybe I'll give Xubuntu or Open SUSE a try, but I'm really
just getting tired of screwing around and just want something that
works. This is the first time in years that I've seriously considered
buying a copy of Windows.Thanks again for saying what needed to be said.
Sincerely,
Linerd
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I had the same problem with my i3 but using linux Mint 12 but it works well after upgrading the kernel to the 3.0 series. You have a variety of Gnome type desktops to choose from as well even though I have been using XFCE lately for it's speed.
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Oh and amusingly his Gnome2 desktop isn't that far away from my Gnome Classic desktop setup!
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Oh yeah Windows "just works" that's if you use the garbage-bundled version that came with your PC, otherwise you still have to let it install drivers (or find them yourself), then find all your apps to install, then do all this again in around 6 months time when it's slowed to a major crawl!
I have far less trouble with Ubuntu than I used to have with Windows and have been able to keep machines for longer and reuse others cast-offs, that either had no Windows license or an old Windows 2000, XP, or Vista License, and they wanted Win7.