Steve Litt via talk wrote on 2024-10-27 12:42:
Or are we admitting that Linux is just a niche toy for geeks?
Boy, don't I wish Linux would still be just a niche toy for geeks, rather than an increasingly entangled mess aimed at those who refuse to learn.
I think you have that backwards. Linux has grown out of a "niche toy for geeks" into a powerful and dominant platform, and the chorus of complaining is from "those who refuse to learn". They won't learn about why things changed, they won't learn the new ways of doing things, they just want things to stay like they were in nineteen-dippity-doo. Like digital Amish, thinking "technology should've stopped progress at $arbitrary_date" (unspoken: "when I was in my prime and these things excited me. I'm scared of change now").
However, rather than "just a niche toy for geeks", I'd phrase it as "a powerful tool for those willing and able to use that power intelligently."
That's what it's grown into, yes.
Systemd, Gnome, dbus, networkmanager, pulseaudio, and a whole lot more complexifications have been added to Linux in the name of those without the desire or ability to boss their computer instead of having their computer boss them.
None of those technologies cause me any problems, and some make life much better. i.e. I like having multiple audio sources playing at once (video conference and notification, for example). And Wifi connecting seamlessly everywhere.
This complixification has made it hard for people needing to configure/program/script their computer to do things their way.
"Their way" has been deprecated and they are "those who refuse to learn".
The sad thing is this: We added all these ubercomplexifications to attract windows desktop users
Nonsense. Utter nonsense. These "complexifications" were added to solve real world problems. Just because someone with a few static pages on a web site doesn't encounter them does not mean they're entitled to freeze progress. Also, it's odd that complexities are such a frequent complaint topic in forums dedicated to ... *COMPUTERS*. If the complainants were ~10 years older, they'd be railing against computers, "Slide rules are perfectly cromulent and keep working when the power goes out. Don't need to buy a computer, an OS, learn a bunch of apps, plug it in,..."
that goal failed, but now we've weakened Linux for those who need simple POSIX access.
That was *not* the goal. Linux is stronger than it's ever been. Only dogmatism requires POSIX compliance as an end goal. How's BSD, they're POSIX compliant, no? They're at single digits in usage, maybe? Also, Windows now has WSL, supporting many Linux distros inside Windows. That's how thoroughly Linux-with-complexities has won.
Fortunately for me, Void Linux still exists, as does OpenBSD, and if worst comes to worst, Slackware. Sure, use what you prefer, but don't expect anyone who's got real computer problems to solve to care about near religious fervour about some obscure talking points about init systems or something.