What I understand under "is supported" is: companies make stuff to be compatible with Windows. Everything works. All of functions, all of software.
Your example is a computer that's been SuSE certified, as per the wiki page. That means SuSE is going to work very well with it — at least, that's what SuSE claims. But SuSE isn't Arch Linux, nor is it Ubuntu. That's like expecting perfection from Windows 7 with your computer that came with Windows Vista.
The argument that goes around Windows being 100% compatible is both unreceivable and inaccurate. First off, it's an extrinsic parameter: Windows is not better per se. Instead, it happens to benefit from external factors, and I trust that most people in these forums know how Microsoft became so successful (hint: they're not really into fair play).
Secondly, let me tell you the story of my Bluetooth adapter that didn't work perfectly under Windows. (Yes, I have lots of stories to share. I happen to have a really good memory.) Basically, I couldn't use my Bluetooth earpiece because one of the bluetooth feature was unsupported. Thanks, Broadcomm! Therefore, I had to buy a pair of headphones instead of being able to use the Bluetooth earpiece. I was a poor student back then, mind you. Fast forward to 2010, the driver was updated and finally had all the bells and whistles. Except I had upgraded to Windows 7 by then, and their Windows 7 driver was still the old one, lacking that one feature I needed. Meanwhile, everything worked perfectly under Linux (plus, max bandwidth was 220 kB/s instead of 160 kB/s under Windows).
By the way, I visited an old friend over the weekend who told me that upgrading Windows 10 (back when it was still free) on his laptop caused his SSD not to be detected anymore. All stock hardware. Yeaah, everything works perfectly all the time. Sure.
Oh, and I could also tell you how a WHQL certified driver corrupted my hard disk, but then you'll fall asleep for reading for so long.
On Linux it's more like "You can scan and print, don't you? It's community-made and free - what do you expect?!".
Well... How would
you feel if you had done someone else's job and the client was still pissed at you for not having hardware/software that meets their expectations? Tell me, how would you feel if someone has a heart failure due to someone else's neglect, and said person is mad at you after your saved them because they've got a broken rib? Rudeness, that's what people get for being ungrateful.
At any rate, you can always pick hardware that works with Linux. I've used several Brother printers at work, and they worked really well. In fact, I could even print before my colleague running — Windows — because I had a 3.5 MB file to download, while his file was hundreds of megabytes big. Besides, my colleague thought you couldn't scan using Ethernet because there was no INYOURFACE app à la HP, and Windows 7 won't list scanners in the config panel. Removing it from there was a really dumb thing, yep.
Think about it: the price of each peripheral you buy includes a premium for software and functions that are not available to Linux user. Does it change anything about our impression of Linux being free compared to Windows?
More like: "Let's make half the features software, so that the client will lose them if they install a different OS (be it a newer version of Windows or something entirely different)! We're holding you by the balls, guys! HAHAHAHA, MUAHAHAHAHA!"
1) the battery life was lacking (yes, yes - I know you're all sure that Linux has better energy efficiency, but it really wasn't true in my case - despite doing everything I could "research"),
2) few touch-actuated keys didn't work properly,
3) suspending/hibernation didn't work (a known issue, so I found some solutions online),
4) ... but WiFi didn't wake up after hibernation,
5) fn-key combination weren't working (I had to map them - there goes the "30 min" setup...),
6) the right edge of the touchpad had a scrolling function, which wasn't supported on Linux
and possibly some more I don't remember.
Some issues were solved by future kernels/drivers.
Wow, that sucks. Did you give a newer distro a spin to check back whether or not things have gotten better? Not trying to steal your time or anything, just being curious. Also, did you update whatever firmware could be updated (the main BIOS and anything that's got a firmware update).
I have to add: everything works beautifully on W10 - even though this is a 10-year-old notebook and the official support ended with W7.
Aaand I have a 10-year-old laptop that works like crap under Windows 7. Under Linux, though... Everything's supported. I can even two-finger scroll! Maybe I could try Windows 10 just for kicks, huh. Hey, maybe I'll do it this weekend.
But, if I understand correctly, this is your work (or part of it) - supporting clients. Right?
It all started when I realized I would have to wait forever whenever the computer broke down, either due to laziness or incompetence from the local "technicians." Things got to the point where my relatives and friends would tell me I could get paid for it, since I was always able to fix their issues, as minute as they were. (Or, at least, I could always tell them what was wrong, in case I couldn't fix it myself, like when a repair requires soldering.) So yeah, computer maintenance is a self taught thing in my case.
But anyway, if I'm getting paid for it, go ahead: by all means, have all the issues in the world on your computer. That means more money for me. When I'm helping a close friend or relative for free, however... It's a different story.
I'm not an admin nor anything similar.
As mentioned earlier: at some point I valued that highly career-wise. But even when I think about my studies (Physics, so Linux is ubiquitous), the handicap of being Linux-fluent was actually really tiny: I got a max score for the computer science course without any studying, I landed a date for helping with LaTeX and... that's possibly all.
If it was not worth pursuing to get a better income, you did the right thing (as in, if computers start getting boring to you whenever things like "CLI" or "screwdriver" get thrown about). Actually, these certifications in IT have been easy for my generation (I was born in the 80's) because, anyway, older people don't know squat and/or don't want to learn.
Even if Linux jumps on the touch-era train (a few distros tried - Ubuntu for example), the occasional need to write a command in a terminal will be just a horror story.
It already has: it's called Android. But yeah, most users don't want to hear about the internals, and that's normal.
OT:
But the Americans are just so right! Automatic transmission is much easier to use, also being less stressing physically. Sure, from the European point of view (mine in particular) - driving a car is not as pleasant as with manual (as an experience).
Think about the consequences. We're at the edge of autonomous car revolution and the Americans are like "oh yeah!", but Europeans are skeptical. We were against someone/something deciding what gear we're in, so accepting that now it will also choose anything else (including the path) is very difficult to accept. But this is the future and Americans (thanks to years of living with sh.tty ATs) are much better prepared for it.
And similarly, Windows and Mac communities are better prepared for the future of consumer computing, which is not about opening terminals, but rather about telling (in the actual sense) your PC what you want.
Well, I wouldn't be advocating Linux so much if Microsoft hadn't started deciding what things are better for me. I mean,
Brave New World and
1984 are nice to read, but I don't wanna live those stories. It starts with deciding when to reboot or update your computer but you don't know where it'll stop.
Let's not forget the ads either. Why, just why would I get ads when I'm a paying customer? It goes against logic itself. You wanna ensure revenue because you're giving away a product, fine. But when I've paid for it, I don't want ads.
Of course it's Linux fault (the community to be precise).
Peripherals' manufacturers don't support Linux, because they have no business in it. They're not making money on this user group.
Linux is not trying to gain market share (to compete with Windows) nor attract the "pay and demand" user group, that often chooses Apple.
IMO this won't change, ever.
Funny how manufacturers have no problem using Linux in their routers, servers, smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, smart TV and so on. When it comes to the desktop, Microsoft still have the lion's share, which means everyone is familiar with. Never, ever underestimate familiarity. People will say the worst things about Linux, while not reacting the same to Windows's flaws. Example time: one kid at school said that Ubuntu is shit (yep, he literally said that) for not having Solidworks. The very same student was fine with Windows not having Python installed by default. When I pointed out that it wouldn't have been a problem if the school computers were running Ubuntu, he replied that it was the IT guy's fault for not having installed a Python IDE (a recent request made by their teacher).
Linux suffers from the "newcomer in our village" syndrome. Strangers have just arrived in the village, so they going to be blamed for all our issues. While Linux isn't new, that's how people perceive it, since they've likely never heard of it before.
But all things consider, if I was asked to point
just one thing that's stopping Linux from becoming a mainstream OS, the answer is obvious and hasn't changed for 2 decades: it's the
lack of MS Office support - IMO something that Linux community isn't really trying to achieve (wine simply doesn't work properly).
But that's the thing... I'm not sure if Linux community is interested in becoming "mainstream" in any way.
The lack of a closed format? Do you even know how MS's XML format was ISO certified? I urge you to read up on that. You'll see what kind of company MS is... The "I'm going to sabotage your car before the next race" to ensure victory. Not because they got a great car or driver, but because they made you fail.
Three E's, three E's all the time. People keep buying 'cause they don't know. Or, if they know, they want things to change, but they themselves don't wanna change. "LibreOffice still doesn't do X or Y. Of course, I've been buying MS Office for 20 years straight. Why are you asking?"
Financially supporting competitor X while asking improvements on competitor Y's part really is hypocrisy at its finest.
Exactly! And it works! Isn't that great?
I didn't have to care about Linux support, I didn't have to research and so on.
I could concentrate on more important things: quality, efficiency, speed, looks. I was not limited by my own choice of using a niche system.
Perhaps I'm too demanding. I just like knowing that what I bought, I actually got. If the box says "ASIO supported," it had better actually work. Sometimes advertised features don't work, and I've had too many things like this happen to me to care about those promises anymore. Maybe I'm too curious, too.
And it's not like Canon is lazy on OS support or software: the printer supports every Windows since XP (both 32 and 64-bit), all macOS since 2011, Android and iOS. It can also connect directly with cloud services (I like this a lot). And the bundled software looks pretty great (as expected: Canon is good at software).
You mean, they're supporting Linux (Android has got a Linux kernel)
and BSD, but not Linux distros like Ubuntu or Fedora? Sounds lazy to me.
Now you're just looking for a problem to your solution.
Windows users don't have to rely on community. They can ask Microsoft or the PC vendor (if it's not a custom home-built model, this is a big win especially for laptops). This is the great thing about a product having a manufacturer (that is responsible for the quality).
But the precise answer is: I try the official MS documentation/forums (e.g. MSDN is excellent) and if that doesn't help, I usually find the answer on superuser.com.
I've found answers way more often on superuser and the likes, compared to the times I found them on MS's official websites. Also, MS's error codes are often vague. What's the point of having a code if it's useless? I'll agree that, at times, you'll find answers right away, in the offline help. Only at times, though. It's really inconsistent.
And BTW: the last time I had a piece of hardware incompatible with Windows was 17 years ago: Windows 2000 didn't support my old scanner. Since then it's all just "plug and play".
That's really nice, but, like I said before: I've had machines (laptops, so not custom builds) that I couldn't upgrade because no drivers were available for newer versions of Windows (and I was certainly not going to keep using XP in 2010).
).
