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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: December 24th, 2023

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  • The problem with your argument is that you are phrasing that as a problem with how the OS is not able to do what you want. But Linux is able to do whatever you ask it to. The real problem is companies.

    Most of the problems Windows users have with Linux is “Software X is not working in Linux” followed by “Alternative Software Y is too weird/quirky/broken on Linux”. This used to be a problem with Gaming. With the investment of Valve into Linux, the scene there has dramatically shifted. Yet, you have cases like that of Roblox whose software is clearly capable of running on Linux but they deliberately hobble it and only support Windows. The important thing is that free software is written and maintained by people in their free time for free. So you can’t expect the same level of polish as a dedicated company working on the software (Of course I can point to beautiful exceptions like Blender, VLC, etc.)

    So essentially the problem is two fold:

    1. Software/Game vendors don’t want to support Linux
    2. Microsoft benefits from having it this way so they bribe their way into having Windows on retail hardware.

    Nowadays you can find laptops from manufacturers like Tuxedo or Framework, or even Dell/Lenovo where if you chose to go without windows they often discount your purchase by $100 or in some cases even $200!

    So it turns out Microsoft got greedy and is charging like 10% of hardware price as the cost of having Windows pre-installed. (Citation needed, I learnt it here on the fediverse)

    You and other people who want their stuff to just work are correct about the assessment of what needs to happen in Linux for it to catch up with Mac or Windows, but are incorrectly attributing the steep gradient set by Microsoft/Apple to inadequacy on the part of Linux.














  • I often compare vibe coding to lord of the rings. Saruman blocks the fellowship’s path with difficult challenges. So too does solving hard problems in programming. So Gandalf decides they will take the mines of moria (vibe coding). He knows better but does so anyway. The rest of the fellowship naively follows him down (junior devs). Most of the path is just minor hiccups and the juniors fumbling around. But they get to a certain point and things start to get too heated. The hordes of goblins being the bugs introduced by the LLM as they keep changing the code via different prompts. Then they inevitably awaken the Balrog… the monstrous Complexity Demon that was brewing behind the vibe coding sunshine and roses.







  • Thinking you can even prevent all unkowns is a foolish endeavor. Only work on solving the problem at hand. Why would I think about some future requirement and lose sleep over it? That’s the PM and sales team headache! Or think of it another way… you haven’t yet reached the bridge yet but you’re already thinking you need rope for the imagined bridge collapse.

    All you can do with the present is make it relatively easier for your future self. Avoid complexity (thanks grug brained programmer!), don’t tie yourself into knots and back yourself in corners (keep the code readable, testable and simple. This means minimal external dependencies, lose coupling but good coherence, and avoiding reinventing solution to difficult to solve problem)

    some of these goals seem contradictory but you have to apply them to a specific problem and the objective of solving the problem (why are you solving this problem?). For instance, for crypto the advice of avoiding reinventing the solution takes precedence to minimal dependencies one because your objective is security which is important to get right without tolerance for bugs.