Technology

Personally, I'd take choice over adoption.

I agree, but only until the part you mention how people should install their software. And that's simply because I don't think that people should install random .exes or .debs from the internet, because repositories are:

1. Easier to find software within: you've got a one-stop-shop for all/most of your most important software
2. They're inherently more secure as the software should (emphasis on should) be checked by maintainers or the people who upload software onto them
3. Software updates are much easier to enroll, as they are treated as system updates

Basically this, it's why it has worked from that gaming side since just installing steam and running a game is now a painless process thanks to proton.

Okay so step one is to take GNOME and throw it into the trash where it belongs, and replace it with KDE which is a complete DE and not a bunch of plugins disguised in a trench coat of bash scripts.

Step two is to recommend a distro that targets both user quality and latest stable kernel releases for the most updated modules (Like Fedora or OpenSUSE)

Linux needs to adopt executable installers for software packages that can be downloaded on the web

Is the wrong problem because that's what Flatpak accomplishes without creating distro dependency hell. Regressing to .run and .appimage files for everything is why windows updates suck total ass, and it would nuke one of Linux's most killer features.

Users are already used to an appstore on mobile, I can personally guarantee you that they have no trouble getting accustomed to a desktop app installer, especially since they find it so much easier to search and click install without opening a bunch of websites. Since it shows both package manager and flatpak apps, they don't even have to be aware of the backend system.

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The only thing holding back linux at this current point in time is honestly just vendors using it standard in consumer hardware. The dependency hell issue was resolved years ago by both huge improvements in package repos and the widespread support of Flatpak. The leftover baggage from X11 has been replaced by Wayland, which finally became viable around end of 2023. Even stuff like pulseaudio has been replaced by pipewire to handle every edge cases scenario.

I would not have said the same thing 2 years ago. The evidence is that the linux desktop user base is growing at an increasing rate. All they need is to hit a critical share (6-7%) for bigger vendors and OEMs to follow.

The good news is, as mentioned, there are a lot of vendors that are starting to do this. Valve's steam machine by itself could be enough to add another 10 million users if they play their cards right.

My other anecdotal evidence is that I successfully changed several of my friends and family members over to Fedora just last year because I finally found it viable to throw at any former Windows user.

The only dissatisfaction I caused was one "dependent" person who couldn't play Fortnite (the only game in their library that didn't work), which I audaciously told it would be possible in 2026 via waydroid/lepton (valve plz dont fail me lol).

You are completely right.

I do also get why the run these commands is a thing, because it's usually faster and also is distro / desktop environment agnostic.

Why would someone want to write separate guides for Gnome, KDE, Cinnamon etc. when one or two commands will suffice? But on the flip side, my family and friends will see a scary looking command and immediately be put off.

I feel it's getting a lot better since more apps are just in the browser or electron apps, there's way way less to actually configure for most end users. The type of people put off by commands generally won't go digging through the settings anyway.

I do wish there were a proper GUI for configuring GRUB though. Any that I've ever found seemed to fall out of date very quickly.

and the answers are run these commands

This one always gets me. There's rarely an explanation of what the commands do, and "man $command" is often so obtuse that it takes 10 minutes to figure out what the list of switches and options are doing to make sure it's not going to download some malware in the background.

Then, you run the commands, and the output is six pages of warnings, debug, and test scripts. You might even notice that some of the tests fail (if you can even follow along), but was it important? Who knows? I guess as long as it works, who cares?

compatibility layer upon layer

I can understand the sentiment, but don't ignore the real advantages to the proton/wine way of doing things.

For instance, some old games won't run on modern Windows but will run on Linux under proton/wine.

It's also just a lot easier for game companies to target a single platform i.e. Windows. When Valve first released their Steam machines, a few AA games were released natively. For several of those, the native builds no longer work and you now need to run the Windows version under proton/wine.

Who would make this "default" Linux? Who would be in charge of it? What power would they have over directing development of the kernel? What happens when this centralization that's so important to soothing the confusion of people who aren't even using the OS yet inevitably causes it to enshitify and brings us right back to the Windows problem?

No, I'm sorry - there may be some things that would make Linux more palatable to non-techies, but this just recreates the Windows problem again. The same dichotomy that's been at play for the past 30 years is still at play - you can have it easy or you can have freedom and control, but you can't have both.

Exactly. I wouldn't touch a chromebook with a barge pole. Who wants Google to watch absolutely everything you do?

The average Joe doesn't care.

For gaming and home use I think Windows will slowly die off. But I see precious few enterprise customers who are willing to consider Linux desktops for anyone other than sysadmins or programmers. Some will allow Macs for general users but I've never seen one that allows Linux.

"Everyone wants to save the world, but no one can agree on how..."

The linux problem in a nutshell

Do you mind sharing your "script" or bullet points how you tell people about the Recall thing?

Linux, in my experience, has been way less painful to set up than Windows. It takes like 1/4 of the time, and I don't end up with half my shit in One Drive because I misclicked.

Now, at work, I use a MacBook. I can get my Dev shit done, I can get my business work done. I can get work done. I want to get my work done and move on with my life.

Quiet, you fool! You’re not allowed to say such heresy around here. You must constantly battle uphill and insist on purity at every turn.

I imagine he means things like Chromebook, rather than Chromebook itself. Mass-market consumer hardware which comes with Linux by default

No one wants to use any OS.

People just want to use their computer easily, and do what they want with relatively little hindrance or concern. The overwhelming bulk of people, I'd wager, Don't care about the OS as long as it stays the hell out of the way and isnt obnoxious.

Which is why Windows reigned for so long, because regardless of what criticism you throw at it.. Microsoft was amazingly successful at creating a GUI and interface that you could set anyone in front of and they'd be able to figure out basic usage in half an hour with relatively little direction.. and, especially in its heyday of windows 7, did an excellent job of just being mostly invisible to everyday use. It wasnt even a thought in your head. Just throw your disc in/download your software, and run. No thought, no worry. Just doing what you need and want to do, without having to think about it or worry about it.

Linux, depending on the distro, is finally getting close to that same place.. Where you can just use it without having to think about it to much. Where you don't have to dig into a terminal and look up command line actions and such. For basic mom&pop email and banking computers, you know..basic web based stuff, Linux has been there for I would say almost a decade at this point.

But for gaming and other stuff? I You've been able to do it for longer, but I'd say the past 2 years have just been an absolute golden age of being able to just do stuff without really having to worrying about your OS/proton/etc. The only remaining roadblock that requires you to stop and think at all is to see if the game uses a kernal based anticheat, and thats pretty much the only roadblock to playing a small minority of games on linux, Which doesnt feel like a small minority if those are the bulk of the games you play, in all fairness.. But thats not even linux's fault. Blame the devs for being shady fuckers for it, cause plenty of BIG games out there use regular old anticheat that doesnt have to have full root access to your computer and often does an even better job at stopping shit than the kernal anticheats.