I've been using Linux as my desktop for more than six years now. It's only now that I've had a chance to use Windows on a daily basis.
I have only two gripes (so far) about the Linux desktop:
1. Why does Microsoft ClearType look so much nicer than Pango anti-aliasing on LCD screens? the difference is so obvious it's not funny. Although, I must point out, Windows XP does not do the pretty ClearType stuff by default; you have to download PowerToys for Windows XP to do this (one of the things I learned from the Oracle Binary Image for Windows XP, which has PowerToys configured to do this by default).
2. Why does Linux not obey when you open or close the lid of your notebook? Windows XP is so sprightly at going to sleep and waking up that it's not funny either! and this is a major usability issue, not just an aesthetic one like #1.
I've been going from Windows to Linux several times a day, because all of my server apps and development tools run on Linux; Oracle JDeveloper being available on both Windows and Linux notwithstanding, I still prefer good old javac. And each time, these little shortcomings of our favorite OS poke me in my eye.
3 comments:
1. Which Linux distribution do you use. I only started appreciating Linux rendered fonts when I upgraded to FC5 (and now i am using FC6). so maybe your distribution does not have the newer rendering engine? I use MS WinXP in my wife's laptop. I use Linux in my own laptop. So see both on a day to day basis. I still love my compiz FC6 eye candy. yohoo!
2. Lid? You need to configure it. I configured my lid to hibernate (swsusp2) instead of suspend. here are my notes. It is much easier in the newer linux. This means Linux is growing up!
Good luck!
I'm still waiting for the company-issue D620. I don't want to spend too much effort on the loaner that I'm using now.
Will try FC6 when I can ditch the notebook I'm using. Still loyally sticking with CentOS 4.4 which is FC3 based (that has some practicality too: CentOS 4.x is binary-compatible with RHEL4 so even if it is an "unsupported" configuration most of Larry's software runs perfectly fine on it).
Hmm. I can enable ClearType by going to Display Properties -> Appearance -> Effects. The Powertoy allows for fine-tuning ClearType.
I suppose it's off by default because LCDs weren't mainstream in 2001. I guess they could've turned it on by default in SP2 or something but anyway.
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