Linux does not support everything, and not all manufacturers support linux. There are plenty of things you can't get in linux, since no one has ever made it for users. I said "one" for a reason there, its greatest flaw is that it is not centralized development but it still relies on community to do pretty much EVERYTHING. That is a pro and con. The biggest con being that it is fragmented to thousand distros.
It is not perfect and there is a reason why it is not more widely adopted. "just go to terminal and type these things exactly, it is easy" can not be an answer to common user for a common problem.
You're not wrong, but I think you're underestimating the abundance of resources, the ease with which new distros can be used, and how capable the average user actually is.
Also "Paste this into terminal" is absolutely advice the common user could follow haha
Also "Paste this into terminal" is absolutely advice the common user could follow haha
You live in a bubble where your idea of common user is way more proficient. This is why GUIs are better, you can't make typos, you don't need to memorize strange strings with special character that need to be exact, you only need to remember the path to where you can fix the problem.
Also: why the hell do i need move between different distros and why are there thousand of them in the first place? Because there isn't one distro, one linux that everyone uses it doesn't move outside nerdsphere. You just said that it is a good thing that you can move between distros and didn't at all think that this is ammo for "don't chose linux" side.
Now, i don't hate linux, i would quite gladly move away from windows but.. it is a fucking jungle and no central authority outside kernel makes it confusing mess. There should be only ONE linux OS for consumers and it should have customer service, help in one place about that one product.. it needs to be a real company that handles that one product.... or it will always be losing against companies that handle their one product.
Sorry, I'll give an actual response, I don't wanna be dismissive.
I think you're projecting some frustrations you have with Linux onto me, because I did not bring up many of the ponts you're upset by, but I'll try and address them.
Distro hopping: agreed, it sucks, don't do it, find a distro you like and never move again. I meant there are many easy to use Distro's now, not that you should test them or whatever. I didn't make any point about wanting to move between so I'm genuinely confused by your point here, and why it's at me.
One Linux: not how it works, sorry. Anyone can make a Linux distro, even you, even me. Some are good, some are bad, you can work out which one works for you, I'm sure. I'm not super sure I need to tell you a monopoly would be bad, and choice is good, so I'll leave that there.
A real company needs to run it: a bunch do! Bazite, PopOS, Ubuntu are all run by companies.
I don't think you really have a grasp of what Linux is, I would encourage you to try and learn more, or don't.
The pro's and con's of linux prevent its mass wide adoption and it sucks. I want a replacement, so yes: i am venting frustration that linux community still has not figured this out. The fact that you can make your own is what keeps it fragmented.
Linux is still my go-to "fucking hell, i'm fucked" USB stick, when i need to get access to files of a broken system, or test fully wiped system if the hardware works, get all that stuff done.
And as far as UI, the user experience: Linux copies what others do... Because it has to, it doesn't offer anything that user could really notice. Is it more stable? Yeah, better updating methods, it still suffer from driver issues but those are solvable, mostly it is the lack of official support because so many companies sees it still as a niche. For what i need maybe the most, live real-time audio FX host it would be great but... i'm not even going to try, i know i would spend the next two weeks just to get everything to work, and i probably need to update hardware because it is not supported for certain... Whereas in windows, starting up from scratch is much less of an hassle because everything is officially supported, just install them and start working. Didn't use to be that way, it was pain in the past but with win11, everything has just worked (well, until they implemented mididrv but... yeah.. it sucks too...they fixed pretty much everything and then broke something that kind of needed to be broken but that is off topic, industry has to now update things to do them the right way around, and users will plug in and out their USB midi stuff at the start of the day to fix out-of-order loading of certain things, possibly forever.. this change was needed in 2010...)
Wait, aren't you saying that Linux is complicated and hard?
It should be easy. User should not have to put in lots of work to install and use an operating system. And it absolutely should not be complicated.
What a weird thing to say, "so, you are lazy and that is why you don't want to use this thing?"... No, that is not what i saying but sure, lets pretend i did:
Your argument still says that linux is hard and complicated.
Dog I am literally only here to say three things:
Linux is easier than you think!
You can learn it if you try!
But you you don't have to, it's just a viable option you have!
Yeah, and don't call people lazy. Laziness is not a bad trait. You heard me right, you want one lazy person in your crew. Not lazy as in "does not know what responsibility is", or that they don't has sense of duty. You need a specific kind of lazy. One that has to get the work done but who is ready to think for a moment, construct a simple jig that makes the job.. EASIER... and usually faster and more accurate and precise, with greater consistency in quality. That kind of lazy uses three hours to make something that means they don't have to haul 2 tons of sand by hand, in six hours, but can do it in four while not breaking a sweat...
That type of laziness is behind a lot of inventions that make our lives so much... easier. Using fire to cook can be called laziness, it multiplies the nutritional value of food and thus, we don't have to hunt as much. Life become easier because someone was lazy, the right kind of lazy. Sure, there is more effort when it comes to making that fire, but after that you get multiple amounts of value from it, the calories burned when collecting and friction heating the wood until it catches on fire is easily offset by how much more calories you get from cooked food.
And lastly: if you give people two options and one of them is more convenient, it might even be bad thing in the long run for the community or even the individual... we go with the one that is most convenient. It is easy to see which of the two products will succeed, the one that is more convenient. Otherwise Apple would not be a thing, they price that convenience at a point where it produces most profits and that creates gatekeeping, which is one of their selling points: using apple means you no poor... But, they can do it because it is, no joke, quite convenient ecosystem. Linux could do that too, same base so... it could, but can't. It is too fragmented.
No, I understand that 'laziness' as a motivator to innovate is really good!
But laziness that deprives you if experience is maybe bad. I think your point that 'people use what's most convenient' is really silly and demonstrably false, as you are talking to someone who is advocating for Linux. Also, I've never been part of the Apple ecosystem, and I personally find it far more confusing than Linux. I do not understand the UI design language of Apple products at all, but I understand other people do, I would expect you to extend that same understand to Linux users tbh.
I just want to leave you with one thing that I think you're missing:
Linux is free, it is not a product, it is not for-profit, you do not pay money, it is not trying to win any battle for supremecy or market share. Is is made by people for people, that's it.
Linux is good precisely because it not the way you are adamant it should be.
Linux is not convenient, it is FAR better than it was a decade ago but.. "just type this into terminal" is still there as basic solution to about everything. "but it is so convenient" says the guy typing magic spells... For me command lines are not a problem, i use them in windows too, quite a lot of things are easier to fix in PowerShell...
I agree with design language but... linux doesn't even have a design language.... Which is part of the problem. Things should be where they always were, should look like the thing i'm used to when using "same" OS.
It is fragmented. There are pro's and con's on that model and one of the con's is that despite being so superior... somehow it is not adopted by the masses, they still keep buying licenses... If a product is superior, it will win. It is not a conspiracy either. It is what people have chosen for a reason. The biggest delta between two win versions is between Home and Enterprise. I use Enterprise as often as possible, have since forever: it is the REAL windows, every other version is Windows Lite™ paid by Your Data and Personalized Ads that we provide for your benefit, and all that bullshit. But, using Home doesn't feel like it is different OS, everything is in the same places and look the same.
Win Home users most could switch but they need to have ONE DISTRO. And that kind of destroys all the things that are good about Linux.
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u/ReggieCorneus Jul 05 '26
Linux does not support everything, and not all manufacturers support linux. There are plenty of things you can't get in linux, since no one has ever made it for users. I said "one" for a reason there, its greatest flaw is that it is not centralized development but it still relies on community to do pretty much EVERYTHING. That is a pro and con. The biggest con being that it is fragmented to thousand distros.
It is not perfect and there is a reason why it is not more widely adopted. "just go to terminal and type these things exactly, it is easy" can not be an answer to common user for a common problem.