I run Linux servers, and prefer to use the operating system on servers where possible - it saves a huge amount of cost and is very reliable.
Almost every single time I have tried introducing Linux on desktops, I have encountered resistance, and the move was reversed. IMO, the biggest hindrance to a more general uptake of Linux on the desktop is: no Microsoft Office. There are so many cases in businesses where you could move a whole fleet of desktops to Linux and everything would be fine, if you could only run MS Office on them. Sure, LibreOffice is excellent - it is really stable, and full featured. I’ve used it before, it is very comparable to MS Office. But - and this is the crucial thing - conversion between LibreOffice and Microsoft Office is never 100% perfect. Even if you convince some CEO to move to LibreOffice to save costs, they are going to want to keep a Windows or Mac system with MS Office for themselves. Then they are going to start work on some PowerPoint presentation, send it to someone else in the company to make some revisions, and get it back and certain random things are screwed up because of the conversion. Pretty soon they are going to want MS Office back for everybody, because when running a mixed environment there is too much risk of someone opening a file that didn’t convert properly and not even realizing that there is stuff missing that should be showing up.
That is my own experience anyway, and while that by itself has little to do with notation software, I think it has a lot to do with the tepid acceptance of Linux desktops in general, which spills over into all sorts of other areas, including notation and other music software.
The thing about servers (and high performance computing systems, which are also pretty much 100% Linux) is that they are controlled by somebody.
Desktop environments are not, especially when everybody has root access and can install (and/or screw up) anything they like. That’s not a big deal for non-commercial users (and in fact it is a big part of the attraction, if you like tinkering with software as a hobby) but it’s instant death in a corporate environment.
IMO, that’s not really an appreciable difference between Windows and Linux. On Windows, you are a regular user, and you get a UAC prompt if you have to accept something that requires privileges. On Linux (at least Debian/Ubuntu), you are a regular user, and you sudo if you have to gain privileges (or a GUI equivalent prompt). There are many other arguments for why Linux is not suited to many users on the desktop in the present day (and I certainly don’t generally recommend musicians to choose Linux as the first choice for a desktop), but I don’t see how root access or control is an argument.
Yes, but where do you get your Windows OS updates from, except Microsoft? (unless you are very brave or very foolish, of course). Application software doesn’t crash Windows any more, unless it is unbelievably badly behaved - it only crashes the application.
But if “some guy on the interwebs” says installing a couple of low-level features of distro X on top of distro Y will solve all your problems, and you believe him, that’s a different scenario altogether.
I’ve worked in a Windows environment where no end-users have any admin access, and in fact most of the apps (including Office) don’t even run on your local machine but on a central server. And so long as the IT staff were reasonably intelligent, that didn’t stop anyone doing what they need to do.
Convincing a Linux desktop user to work that way might be an interesting experience.
Re the Office compatibility issue, it’s not just incompatibilities with a CEO who knows better than everyone else what software he needs to use. It’s also compatibility with all you external customers and suppliers who using Office, and not interested in explanations why you are not.
The package management systems in Linux I think are a positive aspect of the OS. I think if you go with a more reputable distribution (ex. Ubuntu or CentOS) you won’t find packages submitted by just anybody. Doing a base install and running “yum update” on CentOS is pretty much as safe as doing a Windows Update. If, on the other hand you decide to add some random external repository and install packages from that, then it is certainly at your own risk.
However, Microsoft is adding a package manager to Windows to allow just that - so very soon, Windows will be just as vulnerable to that type of mistake as Linux.
In the cases where I have used Linux at the desktop, the end users do not have root access (same as on Windows where the end users have no admin access).
Oh absolutely I agree there. As I said, I feel lack of native MS Office is the main issue blocking more widespread adoption of Linux desktops. In terms of the scenario, I was simply presenting one possible scenario (and a fairly common one) for how something else like LibreOffice can be adopted and then rejected, not the only one…
And MS not being a bunch of fools, they’re not going to make Office run on Linux ever.
Although I’m not using any special hardware at all, that’s actually one of the biggest issues I have. I just recently bought a pretty powerful ThinkPad where Lenovo had pre-installed Ubuntu. A couple of the fancier gadgets (fingerprint reader etc.) are totally unsupported and they somehow forgot to mention that. Fine, never mind. But what I’m really unhappy about is the fact that Ubuntu’s power management is just bad. Initially I had maybe an hour and a half before I had to plug it in. That’s just a bad joke. Then I found out that the dedicated GPU was running all the time. I installed a Linux utility to manage that, and the usual power management utilies, and now I have about four hours. I’m dual booting Windows for Dorico and other stuff, and pretty much everything I do there is more expensive, but the thing runs happily for eight hours with no tweaking required. I had this problem with every machine I’ve ever installed Linux on.
I wonder if that’s true. I’m sure they’re observing the market closely; and Steinberg is a German company. I don’t think there’s a place on earth where people are more likely to fight wars for their “privacy” than Germany, and MS is losing their image of being the good guy compared to the smartphone giants. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were building the new system in such a way that it’s at least possible to make it run on Linux at some point in the future. But of course that’s just wishful speculation.
That’s understandable, but I’m by no means implying that everyone should switch to Linux. If MS Office is fundamental in the life of a someone, that person is probably not a musician .
Do you even have the time to tinker with a piece of software in a corporate environment? And if you’re in a corporate environment, probably using the company’s computer, it’s very unlikely that you have root privileges.
You certainly don’t know how a distro works. Ubuntu’s updates and upgrades are not made by random people in the “interwebs”. They’re made available by Canonical. That’s the case of virtually every other distro with their respective mantainers.
That’s a problem of your hardware vendor for not making sure you have long battery life or making sure the fingerprint is supported. A serious vendor should optimize their machines/drivers/configuration to the OS that the machines use. It’s sad Lenovo didn’t make a good job with that model. Now that they want to sell every model with Ubuntu pre-installed, they’ll have to be more aware of that.
Agreed, but for me as the end user it doesn’t make a difference whose fault it is. I don’t doubt it’s possible to have excellent hardware support in Linux, theoretically.
Yes, but you’re by no means limited to official packages. You’re basically one sudo away from seriously messing things up if you don’t know what you’re doing. I don’t think it’s as easy to break Windows.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Linux and if I could I would leave Windows for good and not look back… But there’s advantages and disadvantages to both.
Fun fact: I set up an old laptop with Linux for my mother. During the two years she was using it, I’ve had almost no “support calls” at all. The few things she needed just worked. Eventually the battery died and now she’s back on a Windows machine. We’re talking more often these days…
I agree. However, if the user doesn’t really know what’s wrong, I suppose the first step is to call the shop where you bought your machine. From there it’s likely that you’re re-directed to something else, Lenovo or Ubuntu. They’ll probably know whose fault is whose .
Oh, yeah, messing up a machine can certainly happen in all platforms if you don’t know what you’re doing. “More secure” is something that needs caution anyhow.
Lol, I’ve also heard about grandparents who are happy with their Linux computer. That enjoyment is, like I said, certainly not limited to Linux. Content grandpas using Windows surely exist as well .
Haha, yes, that’s Mac! The limited hardware options from a single vendor severely limits competition, though. I’m surprised that such a monopoly is actually allowed. Like I said, I was pretty happy using my Mac until Apple decided it was time to change my machine. Even though the change would’ve probably happened anyways, I would’ve liked to have the freedom to make that decision myself, how and when. But forcing users through deliberately making their software run slower (it was obvious that the computer became notoriously slower after that particular upgrade, to El Capitan, if I remember correctly), is just wrong.
Never attribute to malice what you can attribute to incompetence. Some OSes are dogs, some run really well across the range of supported hardware. Apple usually prefers to drop support for that OS on a model altogether, if they can’t guarantee decent performance.
Some years’ models seem to have worse luck than others in terms of length of support: 2011 was ‘a very bad year’. Major production faults and recalls, USB 2 only, lacking some newer standards, etc.
By contrast, My six year old 2014 MBP is still running the latest OS very sweetly.
Well, there’s always the possibility of a combination of both things .
Yes, that seems to be what happened to me. I bought that computer indeed in mid-2011. I’m starting to see “everywhere” that I can get a 25$ refund from Apple nowadays. I’m not interested in that. My confidence in Apple is certainly very diminished after that. Anyways, I’ll have to continue being a Lilyponder for now . Lilypond is at least a notationally very complete piece of software. I just saw a promotional video of Sibelius 2020 featuring its new “stylized ties”. The options they show and some other have been a part of Lilypond for many years already. The 2.18. manual (year 2013) shows a more complete set of that feature, which is also customizable, and I couldn’t find it in the new changes from version 2.16. Who knows how old is that .
TBH, if I were running Linux, I’d be happily using MuseScore. (Regardless of T… He who must not be named.)
I’ve seen some faultless engraving produced on it, and the feature set is impressive.
I have two quibbles with Lilypond: one being the whole typing-stuff-in bit; and the second is that output from Lilypond always looks like output from Lilypond. A bit like LaTeX. You can’t fault it, but it tends to look a bit characterless, unless you take time to add more code.
I’ve never used Lilypond with any seriousness, but I have friends who do all their engraving there. From what I’ve seen, honestly, it’s less extra code and more just a slightly more beautiful font/character set that makes all the difference. Like… Bravura in Lilypond, despite my real familiarity with only one of them, would imo produce fantastic results.
I have been using XeLaTeX for ten years now, and I would never go back to any WYSIWYG time-consuming apps. My libretti really look very good and it’s like twenty seconds to take a perfectly looking document in A4 (for printing) to a perfect version for an iPhone (I mean, not one mistake in the way the libretto is laid out). But the coded documents are easily readable, which I don’t find to be the case for Lilypond documents… But I never tried any GUI, only hard code.
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. Lilypond is at least a notationally very complete piece of software. I just saw a promotional video of Sibelius 2020 featuring its new “stylized ties”. The options they show and some other have been a part of Lilypond for many years already. The 2.18. manual (year 2013) shows a more complete set of that feature, which is also customizable, and I couldn’t find it in the new changes from version 2.16. Who knows how old is that 
.