People online complain that Linux is hard to install for new users. But who are these people and why do they levy these complaints? The biggest barrier for the new Linux user isn't the installer; i...
And you know what? A lot of people don’t give a shit; they just want it to work. They have no interest, desire, or - frankly - need to know how L2 caches work. Or devices drivers. Or the difference between Wayland and X11.
Just as I have no interest or need to be able to take my car’s engine apart. I don’t want to have you stop on my way to the grocery store and fiddle under the hood so that I can make a right turn that my car, for some reason, is refusing to do.
The problem with your argument is that you are phrasing that as a problem with how the OS is not able to do what you want. But Linux is able to do whatever you ask it to. The real problem is companies.
Most of the problems Windows users have with Linux is “Software X is not working in Linux” followed by “Alternative Software Y is too weird/quirky/broken on Linux”. This used to be a problem with Gaming. With the investment of Valve into Linux, the scene there has dramatically shifted. Yet, you have cases like that of Roblox whose software is clearly capable of running on Linux but they deliberately hobble it and only support Windows. The important thing is that free software is written and maintained by people in their free time for free. So you can’t expect the same level of polish as a dedicated company working on the software (Of course I can point to beautiful exceptions like Blender, VLC, etc.)
So essentially the problem is two fold:
Software/Game vendors don’t want to support Linux
Microsoft benefits from having it this way so they bribe their way into having Windows on retail hardware.
Nowadays you can find laptops from manufacturers like Tuxedo or Framework, or even Dell/Lenovo where if you chose to go without windows they often discount your purchase by $100 or in some cases even $200!
So it turns out Microsoft got greedy and is charging like 10% of hardware price as the cost of having Windows pre-installed. (Citation needed, I learnt it here on the fediverse)
You and other people who want their stuff to just work are correct about the assessment of what needs to happen in Linux for it to catch up with Mac or Windows, but are incorrectly attributing the steep gradient set by Microsoft/Apple to inadequacy on the part of Linux.
And you know what? A lot of people don’t give a shit; they just want it to work. They have no interest, desire, or - frankly - need to know how L2 caches work. Or devices drivers. Or the difference between Wayland and X11.
Just as I have no interest or need to be able to take my car’s engine apart. I don’t want to have you stop on my way to the grocery store and fiddle under the hood so that I can make a right turn that my car, for some reason, is refusing to do.
Elitism is not a good attitude.
The problem with your argument is that you are phrasing that as a problem with how the OS is not able to do what you want. But Linux is able to do whatever you ask it to. The real problem is companies.
Most of the problems Windows users have with Linux is “Software X is not working in Linux” followed by “Alternative Software Y is too weird/quirky/broken on Linux”. This used to be a problem with Gaming. With the investment of Valve into Linux, the scene there has dramatically shifted. Yet, you have cases like that of Roblox whose software is clearly capable of running on Linux but they deliberately hobble it and only support Windows. The important thing is that free software is written and maintained by people in their free time for free. So you can’t expect the same level of polish as a dedicated company working on the software (Of course I can point to beautiful exceptions like Blender, VLC, etc.)
So essentially the problem is two fold:
Nowadays you can find laptops from manufacturers like Tuxedo or Framework, or even Dell/Lenovo where if you chose to go without windows they often discount your purchase by $100 or in some cases even $200!
So it turns out Microsoft got greedy and is charging like 10% of hardware price as the cost of having Windows pre-installed. (Citation needed, I learnt it here on the fediverse)
You and other people who want their stuff to just work are correct about the assessment of what needs to happen in Linux for it to catch up with Mac or Windows, but are incorrectly attributing the steep gradient set by Microsoft/Apple to inadequacy on the part of Linux.