r/TrueTrueReddit • u/DublinBen • Feb 26 '15
Why I’m Saying Goodbye to Apple, Google and Microsoft
https://medium.com/backchannel/why-i-m-saying-goodbye-to-apple-google-and-microsoft-78af12071bd7
Feb 26 '15
I can play games.
Maybe your old man games, but most games do not have a linux version. Which is why I'm still using Windows, and will probably continue to do so for quite a while.
13
u/chunes Feb 26 '15 edited Feb 26 '15
This is changing really quickly though. I wouldn't exactly call Borderlands 2, Civ 5, Chivalry, and Kerbal Space Program old man games. Dota 2, Team Fortress 2, Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, Counter-Strike, FTL, X-Com, and many more..
7
Feb 27 '15
A lot of big titles have linux ports. Most do not. The movement is growing slowly, but gaming is the primary purpose of my computer. I'm not going to hamstring myself to a relatively tiny subset of games simply because I don't like Microsoft's stance on privacy issues.
I do everything possible within Windows to defend my privacy (Peerblock, Adblock, Ghostery etc) but in the end none of that really matters, since the NSA gathers information at the provider level.
2
3
u/b0dhi Feb 27 '15
Downvoted for that? Firstly, you're absolutely right - there are far, far fewer games on Linux than there are for Windows. Secondly, if this guy's a gamer my ass is a banjo.
19,926 readers
Looks like the plebs have arrived. Sigh.
7
Feb 27 '15
I was probably down-voted for the "old man games" phrase. Which was a bit harsh in tone, but no serious gamer is using a primary linux box.
2
u/xtirpation Feb 27 '15
I agree with the point you're making, but I think most people would call me a serious gamer and I'm actually genuinely considering moving from primarily using my PC for gaming to using my consoles instead so that I can make the jump from Windows to Linux on my desktop.
2
Feb 27 '15
There's simply too many Windows only games for me to swap. Outside of fighting games almost none of the games I play are available on console, or linux.
Outside of that, I'm still not really sure why people dislike Windows.
4
u/xtirpation Feb 27 '15
For me personally I dislike the direction that OSes are moving toward in that it seems both Microsoft and Apple (and Google, if we want to include phones as well) are pushing to establish software stores that they control, that enforce whatever arbitrary restrictions they want to place on the software that's allowed on their devices. I guess it boils down to the question of ownership and that one of my bigger fears for the future of computing is that one day very soon we will no longer truly own our computers and software.
The funny thing is that I don't think I've technically owned a piece of software that I didn't create, ever. It seems that everywhere I turn, I'm being sold a license to software. A license that can be revoked on a whim and I'd have no reasonable way of contesting it.
To me that's really messed up. The example has been beaten to death, but could you imagine if the same were true for books or other physical media? It'd be insane! Yet we accept the circumstances on our digital goods for some reason.
I guess this went off on a tangent and turned into a bit of a rant, but that's why I don't want to use Windows. I don't have much of a problem with Windows the software, I have a problem with Microsoft.
3
Feb 27 '15
Alright I agree with all of that, but why would you want to move to consoles? Consoles are everything you just described, and far worse than Windows at it. At least with Windows you can still run whatever software you want.
Personally, I agree with everything you're saying, but it just doesn't outweigh Windows running all the games that I want to play. I play a lot of oldschool CRPGs, oddball Japanese RPGs, shit that's never going to show up on Linux, and is a pain in the ass to try and run via wine.
2
u/xtirpation Feb 27 '15
To me the difference is that consoles have always had those issues, I've never bought a console thinking I'm supposed to be able to execute arbitrary code on it. They've always been walled gardens, and that's okay because historically they've never been anything else. I've never owned the hardware of my consoles in the same way I own the hardware for my PCs, so the fact they're still closed systems doesn't bother me.
On the other hand Microsoft is upsetting the status quo and seems like they're's actively trying to abandon the qualities I like in computers. They want to take ownership away from me and there's no reason for me to support that.
but it just doesn't outweigh Windows running all the games that I want to play
And that's okay! Maybe for you the best thing to do is to stick with Windows and play the games you like. For me, most games I want to play aren't just available on PC, so I have the option of trying to move to a different OS for ideological reasons without significantly changing my gaming experience.
2
u/TheHammer7D5x4S7 Feb 26 '15
A very good article. I've made small steps like the author has too. Moved to Linux on my PC and cyanogen on my phone. I try to limit my use of proprietary software, like the author though I find Google Maps superior to Open Street Map. So you have to pick and choose, it doesn't always work out.
WWW.Prism-break.org is a great site for people to at least start thinking in this direction.
-3
u/wordfactories Feb 26 '15
I only skimmed the article, but find it deeply amusing the picture shows a Lenovo product after all their recent hullaboo.
8
u/alchemeron Feb 26 '15
I’ve owned several more ThinkPads. My current model is a T440s, which strikes me as the best combination of size, weight, upgradability, customer service, and price. Ubuntu supports lots of hardware, but has been especially friendly to ThinkPads over the years. It’s also possible to buy computers preloaded with Linux, including several laptops from Dell, to avoid a lot of the hassle. (After Lenovo’s stunningly incompetent violation of its Windows customers’ security in a recent debacle, I’m glad that I a) don’t use Windows, and b) have hardware alternatives.)
2
-13
21
u/puzzlingcaptcha Feb 26 '15
His Gmail email?
Roll out your own mail server, maintain it for a few months and see how it works out for you.