Modern society is all about convenience. Linux can increase marketshare by being more convenient and digestible. Actually, I am in the process of moving to Debian w/ KDE Plasma as my daily driving computer, but it required extensive research on what my options were. Quite simply, there are WAY too many options all touting features that slightly differ from each other than normal end users struggle to interpret.
Formula is simple. More easy = more better. Make adoption as painless as possible, people MIGHT trickle in.
Yeah, Linux is just not that accessible tbh. I know maaayyyybe a little more than average about computers, meaning I know how to follow tutorials lol.
I installed Ubuntu onto my laptop because it was getting old and slow. Overall, I’m very satisfied with the speed. My laptop is fast as it was new. But, doing some of the simplest things is a nightmare to me. I spent an hour last night just trying to install AirVPN. Why do I have to go into terminal? Why can’t I just right click and install? Then when I finally got it installed I realized there’s no UI, so idk how to use it lol.
Given, I could learn. Nothing wrong with that. But the opportunity cost is low - I’m really not willing to give up that much for ? benefit.
I started same way with Ubuntu on old laptops to extend life. I later bought a Dell XPS 13 with Ubuntu preinstalled. I like figuring stuff out, but it can get infuriating as I too am not a tech job person, just enthusiastic. I keep a “how to Linux” text file with notes. The forums & to tutorials help a lot. I did manage to get a pihole up & running recently (days of fiddling with router). It’s a hard learning curve, but when I get on my spouse’s window 11 laptop I feel vindicated. Would I switch distros? Eh. My needs are met & it’s working. IDK what it entails to get back to the settings / setup I’ve got now.
My biggest problem is that battery life on my laptop was awful. I tried a few distros and they were all drawing 17-20W from battery doing absolutely nothing. Which means 4-5 hour battery life on an 90Wh battery. In Windows it gets ~10 hours.
I screwed around with it several nights in a row, but nothing really worked.
I’ll run Linux on servers, workstations, and containers; but never again on a laptop unless it’s been tuned by someone else.
I guess that’s kind of what’s going on with the Steam Deck, as in, it’s already set up and configured for Linux so you don’t need to make any choices or do anything especially, you just turn it on and away you go.
(Of course, you can install other distros and stuff on it, but I’d assume the vast majority of people don’t)
You’re right, pre-installs are the way for real adoption. That’s what Steam Deck, Android, ChromeOS, and macOS (Unix) all have going for them. But they also have users in mind, which is also a key.
I think of the community ever wants Linux on the desktop to be a thing, they need to collectively tap one distro to be the one and drive to make that as easy to use as possible (which doesn’t mean power users need to sacrifice, the CLI will still exist, and niche distros can still exist). For OEMs, it would give them an easy choice if they want to offer Linux as an option on pre-built systems. For existing systems, it would give users an easy place to start. Instead of people saying “install Linux”, they could say “install Debian”, or whatever the community picks. It really doesn’t matter what they pick, they just have to pick something.
Ubuntu, during it’s heyday was similar and seemed like it was going to be the one. People didn’t say “use Linux”, they would say “use Ubuntu”. There was a lot adoption and people trying it out during that time because new users weren’t being told to make a million decisions just to start… and Ubuntu was sending out discs like they were AOL. I remember dozens of them floating around the office.
The current situation of ultimate freedom with all these different distros, with all these different desktop environments, with all these different window managers, with all these different package managers and application packages… the rabbit hole just gets deeper the more you look into it. I’ve been using Linux in some capacity for over 20 years, and it’s as bad now as it ever was, probably worse. This isn’t the path for mass adoption, if anyone actually cares about that. Their words say yes, but the actions say no.
Right! This is the biggest issue Linux has. That’s why I said they need to pick and existing one instead of making yet another one. The world needs another distro like I need a hole in my head.
That’s essentially what ChromeOS is: a corporate-controlled distro that takes away a lot of choice but also a lot of the distraction. It works for some people who would’ve never considered a Linux laptop otherwise.
I do wonder if having fewer options would increase adoption and improve the overall quality with contributions being more focused.
Modern society is all about convenience. Linux can increase marketshare by being more convenient and digestible. Actually, I am in the process of moving to Debian w/ KDE Plasma as my daily driving computer, but it required extensive research on what my options were. Quite simply, there are WAY too many options all touting features that slightly differ from each other than normal end users struggle to interpret.
Formula is simple. More easy = more better. Make adoption as painless as possible, people MIGHT trickle in.
Yeah, Linux is just not that accessible tbh. I know maaayyyybe a little more than average about computers, meaning I know how to follow tutorials lol.
I installed Ubuntu onto my laptop because it was getting old and slow. Overall, I’m very satisfied with the speed. My laptop is fast as it was new. But, doing some of the simplest things is a nightmare to me. I spent an hour last night just trying to install AirVPN. Why do I have to go into terminal? Why can’t I just right click and install? Then when I finally got it installed I realized there’s no UI, so idk how to use it lol.
Given, I could learn. Nothing wrong with that. But the opportunity cost is low - I’m really not willing to give up that much for ? benefit.
Thank heavens for the Ubuntu app store
I started same way with Ubuntu on old laptops to extend life. I later bought a Dell XPS 13 with Ubuntu preinstalled. I like figuring stuff out, but it can get infuriating as I too am not a tech job person, just enthusiastic. I keep a “how to Linux” text file with notes. The forums & to tutorials help a lot. I did manage to get a pihole up & running recently (days of fiddling with router). It’s a hard learning curve, but when I get on my spouse’s window 11 laptop I feel vindicated. Would I switch distros? Eh. My needs are met & it’s working. IDK what it entails to get back to the settings / setup I’ve got now.
My biggest problem is that battery life on my laptop was awful. I tried a few distros and they were all drawing 17-20W from battery doing absolutely nothing. Which means 4-5 hour battery life on an 90Wh battery. In Windows it gets ~10 hours.
I screwed around with it several nights in a row, but nothing really worked.
I’ll run Linux on servers, workstations, and containers; but never again on a laptop unless it’s been tuned by someone else.
I guess that’s kind of what’s going on with the Steam Deck, as in, it’s already set up and configured for Linux so you don’t need to make any choices or do anything especially, you just turn it on and away you go.
(Of course, you can install other distros and stuff on it, but I’d assume the vast majority of people don’t)
You’re right, pre-installs are the way for real adoption. That’s what Steam Deck, Android, ChromeOS, and macOS (Unix) all have going for them. But they also have users in mind, which is also a key.
I think of the community ever wants Linux on the desktop to be a thing, they need to collectively tap one distro to be the one and drive to make that as easy to use as possible (which doesn’t mean power users need to sacrifice, the CLI will still exist, and niche distros can still exist). For OEMs, it would give them an easy choice if they want to offer Linux as an option on pre-built systems. For existing systems, it would give users an easy place to start. Instead of people saying “install Linux”, they could say “install Debian”, or whatever the community picks. It really doesn’t matter what they pick, they just have to pick something.
Ubuntu, during it’s heyday was similar and seemed like it was going to be the one. People didn’t say “use Linux”, they would say “use Ubuntu”. There was a lot adoption and people trying it out during that time because new users weren’t being told to make a million decisions just to start… and Ubuntu was sending out discs like they were AOL. I remember dozens of them floating around the office.
The current situation of ultimate freedom with all these different distros, with all these different desktop environments, with all these different window managers, with all these different package managers and application packages… the rabbit hole just gets deeper the more you look into it. I’ve been using Linux in some capacity for over 20 years, and it’s as bad now as it ever was, probably worse. This isn’t the path for mass adoption, if anyone actually cares about that. Their words say yes, but the actions say no.
xkcd: Standards
Right! This is the biggest issue Linux has. That’s why I said they need to pick and existing one instead of making yet another one. The world needs another distro like I need a hole in my head.
That’s essentially what ChromeOS is: a corporate-controlled distro that takes away a lot of choice but also a lot of the distraction. It works for some people who would’ve never considered a Linux laptop otherwise.