Musk recommends Linux education

[graduatesoon]

Elon Musk really pushes getting education / experience with Linux for anyone looking to work at SpaceX. It's an interesting article.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/spacex-wev...-internet/

[Johann]

Elon Musk really pushes getting education / experience with Linux for anyone looking to work at SpaceX. It's an interesting article.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/spacex-wev...-internet/

I'd use Linux even if Elon Musk hated it. It's that good! And free, too! I blitzed Windows 10 off my brand-new laptop the day I got it and installed Ubuntu. I was unhappy with my Windows 10 "experience" and decided not to use a "dual boot" system. I'd heard that it's possible to crash one or both systems when either receives an update. I'd been a Windows user for at least 27 years - since 3.1. But Windows 10 changed all that. I'm glad it did, actually. I'd been experimenting with Linux for a while - and now I had a good reason for making the permanent change.

Hey, even the software is free - and a lot of it's dynamite good! I do quite a bit of photo-editing and GIMP (Graphic Image Manipulation Program) easily replaces three Windows programs I relied on -- and then some. Libre Office spreadsheet has pivot table functions like Excel, a built-in application programming language (Not Microsoft VBA of course, but does the same sort of thing) and it also has pretty tight integration with Python if and when you need it. All for free.

Viruses etc. are much less of a problem. Bad guys don't write much malware for Linux because it's only on about 2% of computers. A definite advantage over Microsoft. I've got nothing to sell here - it's all free. I've even signed up for a free intro course at The Linux Institute.

[jsd]

Yeah this is kind of dumb... "Musk says learn this thing that everyone involved in the technical sciences has been learning for literally decades!"

What next? He'll reccomend learning math?

[MNomadic]

Yeah this is kind of dumb... "Musk says learn this thing that everyone involved in the technical sciences has been learning for literally decades!"

What next? He'll reccomend learning math?

Close! He recommends physics: "What advice would billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk give to young people who want to be successful? Simple: study physics."

https://www.worldgovernmentsummit.org/ob...the-future

[rachel83az]

The good thing about Linux is that it's extremely customizable. The bad thing about Linux is that it's extremely customizable. I seriously can't blame anyone who would prefer to avoid Linux. It can take a lot of work to get things just the way you want. And if you want to do any gaming, Windows is still the platform of choice, for now. Each OS has things that it excels in and things that it does poorly with. I haven't used an Apple computer since I was in school, but I understand that it's the system of choice for animators and graphic design because the Windows/Linux versions of those programs are often either missing key features or just weren't implemented as well.

[Johann]

True - every point in your excellent post. Yes, It's difficult to set up Linux exactly as you want. But it can (usually) be done. I found with Windows 10 - it was possible to set things up as MICROSOFT wanted - not as I did. Certain software I relied on under previous versions would not run under Windows 10 - AT ALL. EVER. I heard from a developer or two, regretting that there would be no new versions - and also that the then-current versions would not work under Win10. There were some long technical explanations as to why. Summary: Windows10 was a complete departure. No more access to the things they needed in Windows to make their programs work - either for their existing versions or for any new revision. And then - there are all those (shudder) Viruses -- and security holes - and patches upon patches.

The one thing I have (almost) NEVER done in my 30-odd years of PC-clicking is gaming. I'm not going to start now, at 77, so any Linux shortcomings in this area won't bother me. As far as graphics go - GIMP is fine for me. Free, does everything and works in the maximum resolution of my monitor, so it's all good for me. It might not suit a professional, though. The general opinion is as you stated - Linux graphics programs are lagging-edge in the pro world. I'm just not there - yet.

Excellent point about Apple. Their system is really good - as are their machines. I have long disliked the company - but that's personal and of no importance to anyone else. My son is a tech. teacher - and an avid Mac user. He "converted" years ago - he can run anything expertly and Apple is his choice.

I've read that the Apple system is based on BSD (Berkeley System Distribution) Unix. BSD Unix is available free, so maybe I'll try experimenting with that. Right now, Linux suits me fine but you're right, Rachel - it's not for everyone.

Cheers!