And use what? Windows spies on you and they call it a feature. Linux is a great server OS but a really terrible choice on the desktop. I'm not convinced that free software documentation is any better, either.
macOS is the best desktop OS going, for the moment.
This is a very subjective claim. Maybe a long long time ago you could say this, but not the case today.
> "not convinced that free software documentation is any better"
That's beside the point. If that were true, that is an argument for focusing a community effort at improving documentation for a free desktop. And actually with linux the problem is not as much a lack of documentation, but rather that the documentation is a little overwhelming, because it is just too specific or technical. (ever typed "man" something in a terminal?)
I shouldn't have to go to terminal to edit a conf file to make audio or video work. I have every single time I have tried Linux on the desktop. It does not work out of the box. You must know how to use terminal and edit Byzantine configurations, and read Linux forum posts from 2005 to make basic functionality work. It's my "subjective" opinion, but after 5+ hours troubleshooting and configuring as a power user who does know how to edit conf files I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
> I shouldn't have to go to terminal to edit a conf file to make audio or video work.
I never needed to.
> It does not work out of the box.
It does.
> You must know how to use terminal and edit Byzantine configurations, and read Linux forum posts from 2005 to make basic functionality work.
What was your problem?
> It's my "subjective" opinion, but after 5+ hours troubleshooting and configuring as a power user who does know how to edit conf files I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
You're lying, if you'd be a "power-user" then you wouldn't complain about manual text-based configuration.
Without vendor support and with barely any investment from manufacturers, the Linux community is still pushing on to get things to a point where your dog could install it.
Your experience is an anomaly they're trying hard to eradicate.
Audio has "just worked" for years now, thanks to PulseAudio. Video was a mess for a while, but now it will generally work great out of the box if you've got Intel or AMD graphics. Nvidia is still a mess, but Nouveau will work fine for non-gaming stuff.
> "Audio has "just worked" for years now, thanks to PulseAudio."
For your use cases perhaps, but it's not suitable for all use cases in the same way CoreAudio on OSX is. Music production is a key weak point, which is why JACK and PulseAudio are both required to have what CoreAudio offers out of the box.
There is a reason why there is both Jack and Pulse...they meet different needs (pro-audio vs desktop), and it is not necessarily a bad thing to have separate tools to handle separate needs.
> "and it is not necessarily a bad thing to have separate tools to handle separate needs."
It's not a bad thing to have different high-level tools for different needs, but in the case of lower level frameworks it's suboptimal unless interoperability is seamless. In the case of PulseAudio and JACK that interoperability is not seamless, and is fraught with problems, so in this regard Linux audio is worse than CoreAudio.
I'm going to strongly disagree with you. Audio still has a lot of problems experienced by a lot of people. These naive statements are why people get frustrated with Linux. I strongly support FOSS software and use it all day, everyday, but we need to stop saying that our shit doesn't stink.
For example, there was an article recently, how Nvidia isn't going to support OpenGL acceleration in XWayland.
The keyholder to solve the problems with NV cards in Linux is Nvidia itself. They have all the info, all the sources, and whatever roadmap they planned.
Linux community can solve only Intel and AMD problems, and that's because Intel and AMD are cooperating. Nvidia isn't (Linus' middle finger says hello).
Meanwhile, it is up to you as an consumer, to vote with your wallet and use that to show the vendors your preferences.
All the games (which are of course binary-only, often 32-bit only) released for Linux are linked against SDL 1.2/SDL 2 and X11. It means, that if you are Nvidia owner, you cannot switch to Wayland, unless you are willing to give up gaming (in the current session, at least).
On the other hand, who is buying Nvidia cards? Gamers.
So by not having OpenGL support in XWayland, they have to choose what kind of session they want to run. Many are of course going to choose X11, thus slowing down the adoption of Wayland, delaying the retirement of X11 and of course losing some benefits of Flatpaks (namely isolation at GUI server).
Because I spent 4 hours today trying to figure out how to prevent something from starting on boot (which boot system is Ubuntu using this version? Why do the systemctl and service commands disagree with each other?). I spent two weeks trying to make my ctrl/capslock swap stick and not reset every time the computer slept/resumed. When I plug my headphones into the computer, I have to manually switch the output source every time. If I plug in my external monitor while the monitor is off and then turn it on, linux refuses to recognize it. I have to unplug it, turn the monitor on and plug it back in. Sometimes, when I plug the external monitor in, it won't retain the settings from the last time I used it. It could do the same thing 9 times out of 10, but that 10th time it will decide to mirror the display instead of extend it or something equally silly. Now I have to spend time to fix something that should have just worked.
Is that enough for now? I could go on. I'm using Ubuntu 17.04. Linux on the desktop is still not as easy to use or predictable as Windows or OS X. It's the predictable part that's a deal breaker for me. I want my OS to respond the same way every time I do something, even if that way is wrong or annoying. Every time I sit down to do some work, it's a toss of the dice whether I'll be able to just get into it or if I have to spend some amount of time fixing or resetting or otherwise dealing with nonsense.
A lot of those issues result with non-uniform hardware. If you want predictability with that then buy from a manufacturer who has designed for and preinstalled Linux, like one of those Dells.
It's a Lenovo W530 Thinkpad. It uses standard hardware that Ubuntu officially supports. Been there. Done that. Also keep in mind I've been using Linux off and on since 1999. I'm not a stranger to hardware compatibility issues and none of these problems result from that.
You're using linux from 1999 and you've problems like this: "I spent two weeks trying to make my ctrl/capslock swap stick and not reset every time the computer slept/resumed."? It's unbelievable.
> Because I spent 4 hours today trying to figure out how to prevent something from starting on boot
Learn systemd then? Or use the "Startup" app?
> I spent two weeks trying to make my ctrl/capslock swap stick and not reset every time the computer slept/resumed.
xmodmap or gnome-tweak-tools?
> When I plug my headphones into the computer, I have to manually switch the output source every time.
I never needed to. See your settings.
> If I plug in my external monitor while the monitor is off and then turn it on, linux refuses to recognize it.
That's your window manager.
> Is that enough for now? I could go on.
Going on with what? With pure laziness from your side to look up tutorials? Or that you use one of the worst window manager/desktop on linux in its almost-beta version and complain about it?
> I'm using Ubuntu 17.04.
That's your problem. 16.04 or switch distros. Don't use unity either. Don't expect things to work when you use (practically) unstable stuff and you don't even know what you're doing.
> Linux on the desktop is still not as easy to use or predictable as Windows or OS X.
None of your claims are true. Just because you misconfigure something somewhere or because you use a crappy window manager it doesn't make the "linux desktop" worse. Windows is not predictable either - I'm forced to use it at work and it's a pretty bad experience overall.
macOS is the best desktop OS going, for the moment.