Comment by lock1 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by lock1 | Hacker News Reader

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> Most people on earth should be using Linux

I don't think the current state of the Linux desktop is ready for that. Linux desktop still loves to show its sharp edges from time to time. Sure, I do also think most of Windows stuff now "just works" on Linux; Proton & Wine already cover a lot of "Windows-only" app I need and I only boot to Windows when I need to change some proprietary driver config.

However, I think "just works" here is different from the general population definition of "just works". HN folks probably don't even mind writing their own patches or compiling stuff for themself. But for the general population, people don't even change the default settings, let alone follow a tutorial or type in some commands on their terminal. People delegate this stuff to more "techie" people around them or dial customer support.

I don't think there will be a mass adoption of Linux desktop until this part gets ironed out or somehow everyone is forced to install Linux by their employer/school.

Work issued me a Windows 11 laptop and even clicking on a window in the task bar does not reliably bring it to the front. There's sharp edges and there's wtf

Windows 11 can't even reliably work out how big a maximised window should be, forcing me to have to restart explorer multiple times a day.

Yeah, sure, I have a fair share of complaints on Windows too. Since Win XP, I think there has always been some kind of jank around Windows auto-hide taskbar, and it still persists on Win 11 which irritates me quite a lot.

Closed-source doesn't help for a poweruser; I'm fine with fiddling around with the code or config, just give me the code and manpages.

But again, my argument is that all of this is not applicable for the general population. Excluding loud internet forums, people seem fine sacrificing this kind of jank behavior as long as it doesn't interfere with their task that much.

I think Apple's recent Liquid Glass is a kind of stupid attempt to try to copy Win Vista-7 Aero style with terrible execution. But as long as it still allows Apple users do their things, I don't think they're going to switch to Linux just for customization.

Recently it's got really bad though. The taskbar is badly broken.

* If you use auto-hide, it won't show when some applications are open. Edge in particular is bad.

* Some applications simply don't show on the taskbar at all. Teams is one. It's in the alt-tab list.

* Sometimes it stops working entirely.

The testing and QA of this stuff appears to be largely absent.

What would a normal person need to open terminal for though? In my recent experience with Mint I never needed it for anything normal.. eg wifi and bluetooth on laptop all just worked perfectly after install.. for installing software there is a gUI app store type thing.. for games u just install steam and it works exactly like on windows.

Installing stuff with your package manager?

In my experience, it's still quite annoying and fragmented in Linux desktop to install stuff here. GUIs like KDE Discover exist, but sometimes it doesn't do the things I expect them to do. For example Wine. Last week I tried to install it from Discover but it doesn't work like expected for apps I need. After figuring things out, it was some kind of regression bug, and I had to open a terminal to install the version I needed.

Games, sure. I think Steam + Proton does a very good job making things seamless; you don't even need to do anything other than press the install button on your library. This is what I expect if you try to sell Linux to the general population.

Drivers, it's kind of a mixed bag. I've had some bad experiences with Nvidia drivers lately, and it just got fixed in the latest patch. Proprietary drivers also rarely support Linux distros. It might be useless, but some people might find their RGB mouse and peripherals not working anymore to be a dealbreaker.

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