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00:00 Intro
00:26 Sponsor: this extension makes your web browsing prvate
01:33 Linux OFFERS choice
03:15 Developers have choices too
05:42 Choice is a byproduct, not a core value
07:57 The cost of choices
09:39 Parting Thoughts
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11:07 Support the channel

Linux desktops have traditionally offered a lot of choice. On the one hand, it means that virtually anyone can end up with the exact system they love, that works exactly how they want it, down to the smallest detail.

On the other hand, it also means that beginners don't know where to start when trying to move to Linux.

Finally, that huge amount of choice also means that maintaining our desktops is an increasingly complex task: as you add features and options for everything, your number of test cases increases, and the possibility of breakage and bugs skyrockets.

Which leads us to developer choice.

Let's get this out of the way: developers can do whatever they want. They're the ones creating the software we use. Whether they work on an application, on a desktop environment, on a small subsystem, or on the Linux kernel, they're the ones that make our experience with Linux possible.

Which also gives them a lot more power over all of this than us, regular users.

In any case, the time they spent is allocated however they please. If they don't want to fix a specific bug, or implement a feature they don't like, they don't HAVE to. They don't owe us, the users, anything. 

Developers also have choices: the choice to work on a new option, that has to work with every other option there is, and that will have to be maintained with each refactoring of the code, each update, each library change. They have the choice to support themes or not. To support dark mode or not, to fix a very annoying bug, or not.

Linux desktops offer tons of choices. But these choices are byproducts of the free and open source nature of our programs, kernels, and apps. They're not an inherent part of the Linux experience.

We have choices because everyone can contribute some code, fork a project, create their own version of an application, or a desktop environment, and with each new project or fork, the number of possible combinations increase.

We don't have all these choices because there is an ethical obligation for them to exist., or because Linux mandates that people have every choice available to them. Nowhere has it ever been written, or agreed, that if a developer makes something based on Linux, they HAVE to implement each option that everyone wants, or thinks they need.

Projects that refuse to implement certain features are not "going against the Linux philosophy". They're not "ignoring their users", they don't "disrespect Linux" or whatever else. They just make choices, as developers, as UX designers, as project leaders. They make the choices they want, to reach the goal they have.

When a developer team decides to add a preference or a feature, it's not just a "set it and forget it" act. As everyone who has ever worked on software will tell you, each preference has a cost.

Adding more preferences make testing and QA more complicated. Each option multiplies the number of cases you have to test for. Certain option combos can result in bugs, and each time you fix something on another preference, or change how something behaves, that's one more potential point of failure.