This is a good a start as any to market Linux to the common end-user. It’s not about the software being better; it’s about the software offering the user some advantage, like not needing to buy new hardware.
Linux is, far from perfect still. It has a metric ton of “foot guns” that cannot be pointed anywhere away from the feet; the user MUST move their feet away to avoid these “foot guns”. It has a lot of pain points and still lacks polish in some ways. Most things mostly just work; but may the gods and goddesses help you if something for some reason does not work, or does not work as expected for any reason. Coaxing it to work exactly as expected might seem impossible for average users.
Then there’s the issue of Linux having only volunteer support in most cases. Getting help from an overworked and under-interested FLOSS developer is like pulling teeth; even when they’re literally the only person on the planet who can solve your problem
That being said; Linux is free and mostly usable. 9/10 times it does work and can save you a lot of hassle and headache if all your computing needs are basic and predictable.
for instance, fresh install of debian 12 (using cinnamon, but gnome3 would have the same problem since the issue is in gnome-calculator), try to open calculator - it freezes. why? because some … we’ll say, extremely inexperienced developer put a blocking call to a bunch of banks for their latest exchange rates so that you could convert money right in the application!
not only is this not a mission critical feature for a simple calculator, but there is no way in hell that an error to a live service should block the main thread for the application if it’s waiting on a response (successful or otherwise). why would this exist? how has this not been rolled all the way back until said feature isn’t there? wild.
Okay, this is a cute way to push Linux and all, but Windows 10 reaching end of service really doesn’t mean we have to give up using it. We could easily have years before the end of support causes compatibility issues for the average home user.
Im using my steamdeck but might try installing Linux on our old 2010 beater that my kids use.
Linux ftw!
I’ve never heard of a “repair cafe” before. Would love to visit one of those!
I have no problem with Linux, but I’m worried that the 50 or so applications I’ve installed will not be compatible. And saying there’s a Linux alternative doesn’t fill me with hope, usually I’ll have tried and discarded 10 other programs just to get one that acts how I want.
I just keep a Windows partition on my PCs for those few occasions where I need it. Usually about a tenth of the drive. For most stuff you can mess around with a vm or wine too but this way is easier imo. And realistically Windows 10 will be fine to use for the forseeable future. It’s still possible to use XP securely even today.
