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Linus Torvalds on why desktop Linux sucks

gentooman · talk · Watch on YouTube

Linux & open-source ecosystemsTech pioneers & interviews

What it is

Excerpts from Linus Torvalds's DebConf 14 talk on why desktop Linux struggles. He covers application distribution, distros breaking backwards compatibility, wasted package management effort and how Windows does app distribution better.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Cited constantly in Flatpak, packaging and ABI-compatibility debates as Linus's blunt, insightful take on shipping software for Linux.

  • 5 people recommended it
  • 5 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2021, last 2026

What HN commenters said

  1. “I think Linus really hits the nail on the head here.”

    Linus on shipping binaries across Linux versions.

    cogman10, 2021-05 · Recommendation · in “Rust Is a Wave of the Future”

  2. “Linux on the desktop has much deeper problems that need to be addressed”

    Linus on deeper problems with desktop Linux.

    mumblemumble, 2021-07 · Recommendation · in “Are we GUI Yet? The state of building user interfaces in Rust”

  3. “I found it both blunt at insightful”

    Blunt, insightful Linus talk on desktop Linux problems.

    KiranRao0, 2021-08 · Recommendation · in “AMD and Valve Working on New Linux CPU Performance Scaling Design”

  4. “I watched a great rant by Linus T himself on how distributing code for Linux is a”

    Linus rants about how painful it is to distribute code for Linux.

    jiggawatts, 2021-11 · Recommendation · in “Flatpak Is Not the Future”

  5. “Linus Torvalds explains it perfectly”

    Linus explains why the Linux desktop falls short.

    Gareth321, 2023-07 · Recommendation · in “After 30 Years, Linux Finally Hits 3% Market Share”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: linus torvalds, application distribution, backwards compatibility, flatpak, distros

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