As Torvalds pointed out in 2019, is that while some major hardware vendors do sell Linux PCs – Dell, for example, with Ubuntu – none of them make it easy. There are also great specialist Linux PC vendors, such as System76, Germany’s TUXEDO Computers, and the UK-based Star Labs, but they tend to market to people who are already into Linux, not disgruntled Windows users. No, one big reason why Linux hasn’t taken off is that there are no major PC OEMs strongly backing it. To Torvalds, Chromebooks “are the path toward the desktop.”
I’m not sure it’s good for Linux to attract disgruntled windows users. It would be better to attract people who actually want to use an OS that is different to Windows, rather than ones that just want a Windows that works. Linux is not a version of Windows.
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.
Huh? Windows is a confusing mess. I don’t think this is true at all. Windows was successful at being in businesses, and the what I learned at work became what I use at home.
Edit: I know this from experience, I set up a lot of linux users over the years. No computer experience: Linux was just as easy, if not easier thanks to package management, than windows.
I watched new computer people struggle with windows far more often.
Then there was the I barely know windows user switching to Linux who complained about the whole thing because of their ingrained habits.
A lot of people just want a browser that works. They don’t care at all about anything else in the OS. For them, Linux can be perfect. So if they’re disgruntled that Windows keeps shoving ads and AI bullshit in their eyeballs, when all they want to do is check their email and watch YouTube, a preinstalled Linux laptop is a great answer.
that is good point. Having tons of people who would prefer to use windows but cant or dont for some reason is the way for them starting to demand stuff that would make things more like windows. Have enough of them and they might start having an impact and who knows where that might lead, most likely nothing positive though.