It’s kind of sad that getting things to work on Linux almost invariably ends up requiring taking magical incantations from a dozen different sources in the hopes that it will fix your problem.
"Run this command and tell me the output"
"Run this script as admin/root"
"Go into these folders and delete these files"
"Add these lines to these files (Linux)/Registry (Windows)"
and of course the famous:
"Reset/Refresh/Reinstall" catch-all.
The problem is exponential complexity of interactions of various systems, hardware and software, and almost nobody really seems to know the exact workings and interactions of the system. At least no one on web forums.
I expect Bluetooth to work out of the box on a Lenovo laptop in 2018, while I don't expect Linux to work well at all. I've been using linux since 1996, and things haven't changed : unless hardware makers start supporting it natively, we'll always have problems.
Now, I may be very wrong on the windows side of things : I expect it to work, but maybe it doesn't!
But when Windows does break, the troubleshooting is, in my experience, even more obtuse than with Linux.
The only solution is to buy native Linux devices such as from Dell, system76 or tuxedo. Any other device which only supports Windows toddler OS will be a terrible experience. I'm writing this from a $2k razer blade stealth which has been a horrific experience with ubuntu (NEVER gonna buy a razer again).
In fact, I have no issues at all on my x270. Everything – including Bluetooth – Just Works™ out of the box.
I also had a lot of problems with the audio; I don't recall what the issue was there exactly (it's been 3/4 years).
I also had a XPS 15 at my current employer (not with Linux pre-installed), and that was even worse. The screen kept flickering (but only in Linux). I returned it to my employer and just got the x270. Been happy ever since :-)
Its feasible in 2018 to give your aunt a laptop running Linux (just so long as its not Hannah Montana Linux or Gentoo) and expect her to be able to go about her normal Facebook browsing, document editing routine without much issue.
At least they try.
The big difference is that the chance that ALL devices on a brand new laptop will work out of the box (including all the bells and whistles like sleep modes, audio routing when adding/removing Bluetooth gear, multiple external displays with different DPIs, etc) is nearly 100% on Windows and in my experience nearly 0% on even the most up to date linux distros, at least unless you did very careful research before buying your machine.
This isn’t a criticism of linux desktop distros vs windows but it’s pointing out that the most important things you need when making a desktop OS for general purpose hardware is a big market share and relations with hw vendors. It’s a chicken and egg problem for linux.
Also: people generally aren’t interested in understanding or properly solving some problem. If a reinstall solves their problem that’s in many cases easier for most than editing a config file! Windows Systems are (can and often should be) ephemeral. I wish windows would make the nightly-wipe I have seen in university classroom installs of windows the default for home editions.
Microsoft literally pulled a patch in October because it was deleting files:
https://www.howtogeek.com/fyi/microsoft-explains-why-windows...
I'm going to disagree with you on this. But first I need to point out that if you mean literally "out of the box," then I would certainly agree with you; but I'm going to assume by "out of the box" you mean "fresh install."
I run a small computer repair/assistance shop and it is my experience that very few laptops, new or otherwise, work 100% with a fresh install of Windows 10 or 7 (we do very little with 8). BUT the crucial difference between the non-working devices under Linux vs Windows is that on Windows the WiFi and/or ethernet card (almost) always works right away which then allows Windows Update to find drivers for the non-working devices. Under Linux, the Wifi card will often not work with a fresh install which then makes getting the other devices working extra difficult. It's even worse if the ethernet port also doesn't work.
But on the other hand - If hackers own the hw manufacturers systems in Taiwan, chances are your original firmware was already bad.
I love Linux, but the amount of time it takes to make the system run as I like is unreasonable even the more tech savvy folk out there.
Is it really that difficult to support a linux distro (at the very least) out of the box ? Is it the OS's responsibility or that of the manufacturer ?
It's more than Windows (sometimes) but not outrageous.
usually this means they will use cards that are not very common and popular. i still dont understand why they do this. That's pretty much the only reason why Dell XPS are now the cool developer laptop for Linux.
Even worse, I asked about their business line of laptops that officially support Ubuntu, but they come installed with 16.04 and that is what is supported (as at November this year anyway).
I havent used Ubuntu for a long time, so im not sure what the issues are. But I like Fedora for their professional distros.
So the fact that newer versions of Bluetooth (there is like, what? 4 versions?) work at all on Linux counts as an accomplishment.
" The company computer was broken, and no one could fix it. They call the old repairman, who takes a look, and says he can fix it for $5K. Desperate, the company says "Anything, just fix it!". The repairman squats down at the main console, opens the hatch, and replaces 1 single bolt holding some boards together. As he closes the hatch, he hears the cheers as the computer starts up, from all but the manager, who says "What? $5K for that?". The repairman silently hands him the bill:
1 Bolt $1 Knowing where to put the bolt: $4,9999 "
In a similar vein, knowing which option in which config to change in which way is really the hard part, and changing the wrong one in the wrong way will make it worse. And in every problem I run into, each source, somehow, has a different recommendation, often without explanation as to what the change will do or why. So I see the original author's point, and had an excuse to trot out this old, shopworn joke.