The indoctrination of windows is extreme. Windows is just as hard as linux, harder even with all the layers of obscurity.
And yet… linux is hard, and users decry RTFM as “not growing the userbase”
The indoctrination of windows is extreme. Windows is just as hard as linux, harder even with all the layers of obscurity.
And yet… linux is hard, and users decry RTFM as “not growing the userbase”
Windows users and Linux users are not seeking the same thing from their machines. The common mistake I often see from Linux advocates.
From personal experience, when I was a Windows user, I didn’t care (or even know) about privacy, open-source software, nor owning my machine. I didn’t care if I had to sign up for a Microsoft account, and I never changed defaults ever (except for my wallpaper). I just wanted the machine to turn-on, work, and play some games.
Why am I bringing this up? Because Linux requires the user care about their machine and defaults. You need to know your architecture, graphics card, and threat-model. You need to know what your apps are called and where they come from. You need to know what tools you need to troubleshoot (and devs will not help you). This is the biggest the pain-point of Linux. Do not succumb to the survivorship bias of RTFM or command-line.
This issue cannot be fixed from simplifying Linux interfaces (though we should do this anyway!). The soul of Linux is adventure, collaboration, and tinkering. To get the most from your machine, you’re going to have to interact with several communities. This is what makes Linux great, and frankly I do not think we should kill this for the general public - this is how you get enshittification.
The general public needs to understand that incompetence (being brain-dead) will lead to misery. It is simply the rule of the land. You need to care and you need to collaborate. We should not welcome nor accommodate users that refuse to do this.
I switched to Linux mint because I don’t want to think about those things. I barely know how to use the terminal, and probably won’t anytime soon. I just pulled the apps I needed off the software manager. I’m as happy as a clam in shit.
An OS that just works, without the constant bullshit that capitalism breeds always encroaching. It does what I want when I want it, no more no less.
Linux Mint is a great distro, and I’m happy it works for you.
In terms of mass-adoption though, the fatal point is probably putting a Linux ISO on a thumb drive. Like I said prior, we must be aware of survivorship bias. You don’t care much for the terminal - but you made it through.
The people that didn’t make it through probably failed from the thumb drive step. I only say this from personal experience, because when I first installed Linux, I was very determined and came extremely close to giving up at this step. And I only got through because I happened to find an obscure forum about how Rufus needed a special setting for my machine.
P.S. I also was not tech savvy, but I wasn’t completely lost either - and I still struggled really hard here.
I give people prepared USBs…
I just imagined a shady looking dude in a dark alley saying in a gruff voice “I got all the distros you need man, check these out” while opening his trench coat and revealing hundreds of flash drives.
😂🙏🏻👌🏻
I remember back when I was a kid, the only way I was even able to try Ubuntu was through “WUBI” which was pretty cool - it allowed you to “install” Ubuntu via Windows, by leveraging the VHD support in the Windows 7 bootloader. It could also be uninstalled via the Windows control panel as it was registered just like any other program.
As far as I understand, it was discontinued because of inherent technical issues with that system - but I always thought if it could be done again, then it’d help bridge the gap a bit. All you had to do was download the installer, and double click it like any other program.
I had no clue how to write an image to a flash drive, hell I doubt I even had a flash drive to use at the time. 😅
@russjr08 @green previously it used grub4dos that was lauched from windows xp bootloader. this is still useful on mbr-efi multi-os boot usb drives
Ubuntu used to mail out free install CDs for a while. Nowadays many people don’t have optical drives anymore though.
I did get one of those at one point! Definitely no longer have it anymore, but it was really cool that Canonical provided those for quite a while (from what I know).
You can also order USB flash drives with a linux iso already on it for ten bucks or so.
If laptops started coming pre-installed with Linux Mint…
Ya the thumb drive was a tripping point for me. Took me a minute to understand I had to reformat the drive itself. I also didn’t try to partition anything.
This means that there’s plenty of room for companies to sell curated lists of apps that just magically work. I would buy the shit out of that for a work machine that just needs to work, no matter what. I’d also pay for something like that for my mom or my fiancé neither of them are particularly tech interested but will happily use something if it works.
This is actually a really deep rabbit-hole. To avoid typing a novel, I’m going to cut out a lot of nuance.
Windows is installed by default on machines. Since people do not change defaults (many studies have been done on this), this is checkmate. As long as this is true, Linux will not have a major (20%+) market share.
So this has to start from the OEM. Several Linux OEMs exist (i.e Tuxedo Computers, System76, Framework) but they cannot compete with the Microsoft network. Those who are interested in Linux, but are not tech savvy, really really really should buy their device from a Linux OEM.
Driver issues are near non-existent on Linux OEM hardware. So software is the next step; and let me tell you, developing for Linux is rough. There are 2 window servers, 2 graphic stacks, 2 desktop environments, 2 coding standards, 2 C libraries,… you get the point. A lot of this can be abstracted, but it takes genuine work to do - and may be obsoleted in a month; meaning no company will do this.
All to say, creating “magically working” apps - even with a lot of monetary support - is a herculean task. Even Valve (who is FLUSHED with cash) gave up and just decided to make their own distro (SteamOS).
A lot of issues also just require personal tweaks due to open-source software being extraordinarily bad at setting sane defaults. With something like Windows, you can hire people to make this better. Who do you hire to fix the defaults for 300 independent projects? And will the devs even listen to them?
I could keep going, but you get the point, the buck is going to have to stop at the user for a lot of things.
The best solution (in my opinion) is to have specialized distros and have people choose from them. Want to game? SteamOS. Want to dev? Fedora. Want to surf the web? Linux Mint. Creating, and more importantly accurately listing, specialized distros will make lives easier. Leave the defaults to the devs, just download the “vibe” you want.
That is exactly what Linux distributions are, not?
Like, if you buy e.g. Tuxedo you have Linux and essential apps preinstalled, because it comes with your distro of choice out of box.
And that was before the SteamDeck too.
My wife is on NixOS, because she wanted a system that would be exactly the same if it died. She doesn’t know Linux from Mac or Windows; She doesn’t care about privacy or where apps come from, only that it operates the exact same everyday. (And Windows could not satisfy this requirement)
A pain point I’ve seen with NixOS for new users is the focus on editing files — how easy is it for her to install applications that way?
IIRC, flatpaks do work with NixOS so long as it’s enabled (and you’ve installed GNOME Software / Discover / etc - since I assume they’re not using the terminal to install programs, and that’s assuming that they don’t need more than a web browser).
So, if OP already set that up, then if Flathub has all you need, then it would make sense.
Though the Nix philosophy would disagree because that’s imperatively installing software rather than declaratively. You could probably wire up something to dump
flatpak listto a file every so often and then load that in fromconfiguration.nixor a Flake, but I’m not well versed in Nix at all hahaShe doesn’t install apps, Her config is what she needs. But nixOS install is pretty simple if you can copy paste text.
You go here https://search.nixos.org/packages
Search for a package, and click if you want permanent or ephemeral app and paste the code into the shell or into your config file.
Run a rebuild
Pretty easy
Yeah, I’m used to NixOS — however, having to edit the config (instead of e.g. a package manager) is a common pain point I see when others use NixOS, and it often leads to them switching distros.
Yeah, I find it simple, but I’m used to text edits driving batch files etc. Daily driver I use Tumbleweed, the Yast zypper GUI gives you select and apply for pqckages, no command line needed.
I agree with you in general, but there are people out there making specific distros with that sort of stuff in mind too. Ublue’s OSs is pretty much that: “just use it and leave the tinkering to us”. And I would argue if you’re not a developer doing advanced stuff, those work just as smoothly as windows does.
Agreed. There are many facets to this problem, so it’s difficult to get in one post, so I’ll try to reconcile the main points.
The core of what I’m trying to say, is don’t kill Linux trying to become Windows. Linux is great because it diverse, but it also has difficulties because of this. We should not change (nor destroy) the ecosystem for people who do not care to understand it.
That being said, we can also make it easier for people who do care and cooperate to make it over. But if we do this we, as Linux users, have to look at this from the right lens. The question is not “Linux users, what do you find difficult?”; this is survivorship bias. The question is “Windows users, why can’t you get Linux on your machine?”. From this framing, the real issues become a lot more apparent:
The first two points can be solved by purchasing a machine from a Linux OEM (i.e System76). If this is not possible, then you are going to have to do research; if this burden is too heavy, Linux is not for you.
AI has a good and valid use-case here, as it can significantly ease this process (even if it’s only right 60% of the time).
Linux may not have an alternative for your preferred programs; if this burden is too heavy, Linux is not for you.
Developers should follow open guidelines (i.e POSIX). If they refuse to, there is nothing Linux can (nor should) do about it.
The last point can be solved by distro choice, we completely agree here. The problem is finding said distro, which is difficult. For example, I’ve never heard of Ublue until your post. I appreciate distros that handle defaults and don’t push breaking changes. The community can make this better by having a dedicated website (with a decision tree) for choosing a distro, but this has its own set of issues.
No matter, the responsibility falls on the user to pick the right distro; if this burden is too heavy, Linux is not for you.
Torvalds should create a standards/stewardship for a my-first-linux introduction to linux. Super minimalist and specifically puts limits on its complexity. Make it good enough for the average person who has installed windows machines to be able to install
And every one of you linux people need to support all distros including the ones youve never heard of, or wouldnt touch it with the appropriate substitute of 10ft pole
The amount of bickering ive seen about “best distros” is insane. You people sound like rabid sports fans, or idiotic ford vs chevy luddites.
Linux as a brand needs a massive overhaul of its public image.
And that happens by making it dumb stupid easy for people to get started.
What does your computer need to do? Identify a set up, including a version of all the tools 40% of all users will need or rely on, and make it simple to plug a peripheral in and make it work seemlessly.
IIIRC im told Mint is most of the way to this.
If gamers are who made windows what it is today, i think its going to be content creators who will push the next era of pc users
Indeed, we should not. Thank you for saying this
Kinda insightful, as someone who loves UX