I’d like to agree. But I’m stuck with Windows at work. At the moment, our IT guys upgrade a couple of PCs a day from Win10 to Win11. The GUI sucks, and the complete network is getting slower and slower. I crave the good old DOS times, when the system used to be faster than me.
Except for people who are less tech savvy and don’t have a desire to tinker. Windows has been the standard for so long that many people don’t have knowledge outside of the Microsoft ecosystem. Linux is best for those who want to dig into computers.
Desktop computers are the one and only one space where Linux doesn’t utterly dominate as the kernel of choice. Supercomputers, servers, embedded devices, basically all Linux. In the mobile space, Apple and Android are a duopoly, Microsoft repeatedly tried and failed to enter that market. Microsoft managed to secure a de facto monopoly on the desktop, kept Macintosh like a pet to ward off actual monopoly lawsuits, and has spent the last 20 years just making their product worse for the user in order to wring another pint of blood out of the same moldy old turnip.
Or super casual users. All my dad ever use is Thunderbird and Chrome. I’m too lazy to get him to use Firefox, but at least I’ve got him on Mint for I don’t know how many years now.
I’m a tech worker and know my way around Linux but I use productivity software / VR (with NVIDIA) at home and don’t want to deal with getting all of that stuff working again.
Win10 EOL is pushing me there and all of my problems would go away if more people switched but I just want to be a simple user in my downtime.
@possiblylinux127 my kids (12 & 5) have 0 desire to use computers for much of anything. If its not an Andoid touch screen its shit. And if that doens’t do what htey want exactly the way they want and fast as all get out, they are going to wine and complain all day, refusing to even try to do anything (they won’t reboot no matter how many times we tell them). They’d probably be OK with iOS too but my wife was upset that her MP3s didn’t work on her gen 1 iPod (is that the one that had fire wire instead of the 30 PIN?) so she hates Apple forever now and would kill me if I brought one home.
It’s gotten wayyyy better in that regard though. It’s more a matter of what people are used to and being resistant to change, than a lack of tech savvy-ness.
It is primarily for those who want to be in control of there computing.
Which becomes more and more weighty by the day, even for casual users. For example, Bitlocker being enabled by default is a data destroying time-bomb waiting to explode (and causes a lot of slowness).
In my case, I had to switch to Linux earlier this year due to strange issues with bluetooth audio cutting out when my monitors went to sleep (not my computer) and game stuttering/poor performance on Windows. Issues fixed immediately on Linux, without tinkering.
Regardless, there is an important distinction between enthusiast distributions and beginner distributions, the latter of which are 100% viable even for grandma and grandpa to use and maintain.
Linux gets many bonus points for security, which Windows 11 lacks wholly for regular users - there aren’t even proper guards against applications getting admin access. Microsoft refuses to patch known UAC bypasses, of which there are many that can be found publicly on GitHub.
Their excuse? UAC is not intended to be a security barrier. Many malicious applications have instructions to bypass Windows Defender that users may follow, and getting your binaries signed is fairly easy with e.g. leaked certs (which take time to be revoked due to Microsoft’s enterprise considerations and business model) - potentially avoiding Windows Defender completely and likely UAC as well (…and also fool a very careful eye).
It is driving the world into the loving arms of Linux, our Lord and Savior, so I think it’s marvelous that Windows has gotten so bad.
I’d like to agree. But I’m stuck with Windows at work. At the moment, our IT guys upgrade a couple of PCs a day from Win10 to Win11. The GUI sucks, and the complete network is getting slower and slower. I crave the good old DOS times, when the system used to be faster than me.
Except for people who are less tech savvy and don’t have a desire to tinker. Windows has been the standard for so long that many people don’t have knowledge outside of the Microsoft ecosystem. Linux is best for those who want to dig into computers.
Desktop computers are the one and only one space where Linux doesn’t utterly dominate as the kernel of choice. Supercomputers, servers, embedded devices, basically all Linux. In the mobile space, Apple and Android are a duopoly, Microsoft repeatedly tried and failed to enter that market. Microsoft managed to secure a de facto monopoly on the desktop, kept Macintosh like a pet to ward off actual monopoly lawsuits, and has spent the last 20 years just making their product worse for the user in order to wring another pint of blood out of the same moldy old turnip.
Gotta get that infinite growth. Enshittification is just the last stage.
Or super casual users. All my dad ever use is Thunderbird and Chrome. I’m too lazy to get him to use Firefox, but at least I’ve got him on Mint for I don’t know how many years now.
I’m a tech worker and know my way around Linux but I use productivity software / VR (with NVIDIA) at home and don’t want to deal with getting all of that stuff working again.
Win10 EOL is pushing me there and all of my problems would go away if more people switched but I just want to be a simple user in my downtime.
W10 LTSC IOT pushes that back to 2032, freeing you to switch at your leisure before then.
@possiblylinux127 my kids (12 & 5) have 0 desire to use computers for much of anything. If its not an Andoid touch screen its shit. And if that doens’t do what htey want exactly the way they want and fast as all get out, they are going to wine and complain all day, refusing to even try to do anything (they won’t reboot no matter how many times we tell them). They’d probably be OK with iOS too but my wife was upset that her MP3s didn’t work on her gen 1 iPod (is that the one that had fire wire instead of the 30 PIN?) so she hates Apple forever now and would kill me if I brought one home.
I think that is completely fair
Tech changes over time and that is ok
It’s gotten wayyyy better in that regard though. It’s more a matter of what people are used to and being resistant to change, than a lack of tech savvy-ness.
I think it has a target audience that doesn’t include everyone. It is primarily for those who want to be in control of there computing.
Which becomes more and more weighty by the day, even for casual users. For example, Bitlocker being enabled by default is a data destroying time-bomb waiting to explode (and causes a lot of slowness).
In my case, I had to switch to Linux earlier this year due to strange issues with bluetooth audio cutting out when my monitors went to sleep (not my computer) and game stuttering/poor performance on Windows. Issues fixed immediately on Linux, without tinkering.
Regardless, there is an important distinction between enthusiast distributions and beginner distributions, the latter of which are 100% viable even for grandma and grandpa to use and maintain.
Linux gets many bonus points for security, which Windows 11 lacks wholly for regular users - there aren’t even proper guards against applications getting admin access. Microsoft refuses to patch known UAC bypasses, of which there are many that can be found publicly on GitHub.
Their excuse? UAC is not intended to be a security barrier. Many malicious applications have instructions to bypass Windows Defender that users may follow, and getting your binaries signed is fairly easy with e.g. leaked certs (which take time to be revoked due to Microsoft’s enterprise considerations and business model) - potentially avoiding Windows Defender completely and likely UAC as well (…and also fool a very careful eye).
A lot of beginner distros really do not at all require tinkering.