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Comment by ekianjo | Hacker News Reader

Again Linux users trying to convert Windows users at every OS change. It wont work well. Windows users expect Windows, not having to relearn everything from scratch

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Yeah. Microsoft has been more effective at getting users off Windows than Linux ever has.

Since Win 11 I've had multiple inquiries from friends/family about how to switch to a different OS... (or get them back to at least Win 10...)

Clicking on the web browser in Ubuntu isn't any different to doing so on Windows.

How many people need more than: browser, word/excel clone, and email client?

Everything is moving onto the web and Windows becomes less relevant.

Why do you think ChromeOS is so popular?

Well if that's the use case, chromrOS is just better.

> Why do you think ChromeOS is so popular?

Mostly for kids who know nothing about computing.

It may be very different. Ever tried using a touchpad on a Linux laptop?

Also the small issue that despite how much Windows sucks Linux continues to be worse.

It start and ends with applications.

As long as linux doesn't provide unique high-value software that doesn't exist on windows, why should anybody bother ?

It depends from person to person. My mother runs GNU/Linux because it runs faster on her potato laptop, I run GNU/Linux because I believe in the fundamental software freedoms and MS refuses to relicense Windows under the (A)GPL.

For your mother, chromeOS with it's support for android apps and very low maintenance is probably better.

One interesting use case for linux is if you want to run early stage stuff developers wrote. Thats easier with linux.

Maybe there's some practical value in that for non-developers. Not sure.

It really depends on the field. As a programmer, Linux offers plenty of desirable software and I wouldn't use Windows for anything serious (other than maybe programming windows app or using WSL in my gaming PC)

The idea of trying to develop software on windows makes me shudder.

It's also that there are no guarantees your hardware is supported -- so when you do bother, you might find yourself in config hell trying to get your wifi to work.

That used to be the case a decade ago, but I find that most wifi hardware supports linux these days.

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