Linux compared to the rest

Inconvenient freedom, or an unlivable cage
2025/10/17
The Cursory Journal

Linux comes with several initial learning hiccups, and a few more after and during the many years you will continue to use it. Things you have to get past which once you inevitably do, unlock the digital equivalent of golden pastures, as far as the eye can see. The eye of course, can only see as far as the screen so this reality doesn't strike until maybe you return to any of the other OS, and are hit with the corporate equivalent of a jackhammer. While you are stunned the customer service team dislodges the hammer from your head, hands you an incident report detailing in very vivid detail, how a jackhammer was thrown rather unfortunately when their customer experience team aimed it at you. Before you can process it of course, the marketing team takes a seat beside you and starts describing the wonderful and exciting new features created just for you, and how you can use them to avoid getting hit in the head with any jackhammers that may, suspiciously come up. All the while, the executive team stands outside your window, looking carefully at your screen with a magnifying glass, which in turn happened to be missing the key feature of sunlight resistance, so you now find a hole burned in your creative productivity enhancer device. Following this, the customer service team hands you an incident report outlining how they have made significant improvements towards system stability by introducing sunlight resistant magnifying glasses.

There is a particular joy in being offline, listening to music on a sunday afternoon, in a desktop environment you customised, using your machine as a safe, reliable second home and realising, perhaps for the first time that this machine, this OS is yours, and you can come to it, find peace, and joy.