Linux is in desperate need of a PR campaign. The popular distros are just as functional out of the box as Windows, but no one knows it.
As always, it depends on what the user uses the computer for. Not everyone can run Windows full-time, as some applications don't work on Linux. I am a full-time Linux user for decades at this point, yet I still use applications that only run on Windows and are too latency sensitive to run well through a VM (and don't work at all via Wine).
Maybe though, these applications could get some love if there was a PR campaign for people to move to Linux...
Have an older device? It maybe didn’t come with WiFi, or came with an older card you replaced with a better one. Better hope the distro and version of that distro you picked has a kernel with drivers already baked in!
Otherwise it’s off to some random git following some random “download this source” and oh wait I’m not connected to the Internet.
This is a 2020 full-intel, basic enterprise machine, nothing fancy. Worked fully out of the box under Linux, including sleep. The display output was borken for about a year under Windows (wouldn't output 4k@60 without doing a stupid plug-unplug-replug-just-at-the-right-time dance). At one point, installing the latest driver from intel worked, but Windows would helpfully "update" it to an earlier, borked version every other day.
My point is that the current hardware situation seems pretty much hit-and-miss, and figuring that running windows to avoid fiddling with drivers and whatnot isn't such a sure-thing as people in this thread make it out to be.
The kinds of usages that consumer windows has had and the software ecosystem that's promoted for 3+ decades compared to what has been developed for linux affects this too. Windows is extremely broad in all the software available for all the little utilities users are going to look for, and hardware it's going to need to support (and support well). Even trying to pull windows applications that don't do anything too complex over to linux via Wine is very much a YMMV area. It's impressive what has been accomplished and the recent rate of progress, but there's always more to do so it's not an awkward, poorer version of doing the same task in windows.
The aspect I wonder about is what proportion of the 60% of people still using win10 are actually aware or care about it going end of life, assuming windows doesn't auto-update to 11 for them any EOL warning will just be swatted away like most other annoyances so they can get on with their intended task. Getting that type of user to switch to linux seems like it'd remain a herculean task.
But no, the experience is nowhere near "polished", and troubleshooting is a joke. "Something unexpected happened" or "contact your administrator" isn't exactly helpful. Sure, there may be some log somewhere in that godawful event viewer, but who has the patience to wait for that abomination to load? And then to go spelunking in the millions of categories?
Windows is hands-down the most annoying and janky computing experience among all my devices. I put up with it because I like Photoshop, and since I have PCs lying around can't justify buying a MacBook (plus Linux works well enough for all my other needs).
HiDPI support is a joke, with windows showing up wherever they want, the start menu becoming blurry, taskbar menus appearing at random locations on the screen. The windows jump up and down when switching virtual desktops. Windows appear as active, complete with a blinking cursor and everything, yet won't register text input until I click on them. I could go on for days.
Windows wins 100-0 in terms of polish in the eyes of the average user, and that's saying something given that it's not very polished as you said.
I got to thinking in this thread I can even convert the "gamer" types to Linux - I need to make sure Facebook games work on chromium... And show them Steam.
Give me some names that works out of the box and resembles Windows. I have not tried Linux mint so I don't know how well it works for older people. Ubuntu has been quite good and stable but it has also required fiddling with the terminal.
The only one I found to be the best alternative to Windows is ... believe it or not, DeepinOS.
Even Windows can be quite different from older versions of Windows.
However, I don't think some of the older people are willing to go through all that. I wish to see an easier option for people who wants a smoother transition from Win10 to something else, especially now since Win10 is being discontinued october this year.
People like to freak about how arch isn't for newbies but honestly it's fine. I find it to be just as stable as Debian.
But let's be real, aside from gaming, 99% of what the average user does with a computer is open a web browser. Dekstop apps are secondary. If you put a Firefox/chrome button in the task bar, you've covered most user requirements.
Power users who actually need a bunch of proper desktop applications have a different set of needs. It's impossible to generalize, but a very large fraction of those users would probably be happy with the Linux alternatives, or wine and proton. A lobotomized W10 LTSC VM is also quite usable.
most users won't know or care they're on Linux if the browser works.
- AGI/ASI
- Fusion Energy
- Linux overtaking Windows
(The exponent has been increasing since MS decided to snapshot the user screen all the time. But it's hard to say if it's just noise.)
It's like saying Windows has too many versions because there is Home/Pro/Education/Enterprise and then 23H2 vs. 24H2 etc. There is barely any difference between them.
The distro wars are a bunch of programmers arguing about which one has the best toys for power users. Any of them will run a web browser and the boring popular Debian Stable or LTS derivatives are the ones least likely to deliver unscheduled maintenance as a result of an update.