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by Jim Reverend.
Original Post: What Linux is Lacking
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Growing ever frustrated with the technical difficulties presented by Linux and its various sound systems (OSS, ALSA) and subsystems (esound, arts, polypaudio, jack), lacking audio editing tools, limited image management utilities, buggy accounting software, and the lack of software available to interface with various websites and webservices, I find a need for Windows growing everyday.
(Before I go any further, don’t suggest the Mac. Just don’t do it. I have nothing again Mac hardware, software, the OS, or the underlying architecture. I like Macs. But they are too expensive, require that I buy all new hardware and software, and still have some areas where software is either non-existent, buggy, or lacks variety. Thanks.)
I made this exact same proclamation almost six months ago and I still haven’t made the switch so you’re probably wondering what difference there is now. Well, a few things have changed since then. I’m using windows daily at work now. I have Linux on all of my servers, of course, and I access them with Putty and it works flawlessly. I reboot every night before I go home from work, just in case, and I never have any problems. Software isn’t as easy to install and upgrade as it is with Debian’s apt-get but, since most of the software I’m installing isn’t available via apt-get, it’s a pretty moot point.
I figure that if I put a couple hundred bucks into a Linux box to act as a FileServer and local shell service and couple that with a Windows box, I’ll have the best of both worlds.
Of course I’d love to be corrected. I’d love to be shown that Linux can do what I want it to do just as good, if not better, than windows. So I’ll tell you what I’m missing in the hopes that you’ll be able to point me in the right direction:
I need all applications that use the audio device to get along without any trouble. I don’t care what audio system or subsystem I have to use to make that happen as long as it sounds right and all of the applications that need the audio device can use it all at the same time. I want to to have MP3s playing, and music from a Flash Animation in my browser, while watching a movie in Totem, and hearing the rings and clicks of Gizmo. I want to be able to use any random application that I might find that wishes to play or record sound and have it just work without me having to fiddle with anything.
I need an accounting package. I run a business and I need to keep track of my expenses. GnuCash is fantastic, when it works. But, it doesn’t let me get too far these days without crashing. And it looks so ugly I feel like I’m trapped in the world of Windows 3.1. I need something like QuickBooks.
I need good image management software. I’m a photographer, damnit. I need to be able to find images by date, by keyword, by model, by location, and by any other random factoid I choose to connect with an image. I need to keep track of multiple revisions to a particular image. Don’t suggest F-Spot. I’ve tried it and it has promise, but it’s way too buggy for me to use seriously right now. I need something like Picasa, or ACDSee.
I need an audio editor and recorder. Audacity might be decent. I can’t seem to get enough applications to play nicely with sound to give it a fair try.
Show me those four things and we’ll be off to a very good start.
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