I think the issue is Linux users think user friendly means 100% freedom to adjust and configure as desired (the system is friendly to users), and most other people think user friendly means a single obvious green path to getting things done.
These are not strictly incompatible, they’re just difficult to balance.
I think KDE does it well? “simple by default, powerful when needed” works a charm on their applications
KDE was a nightmare for my wife since it has the configuration right in the desktop bars and dialogs. Misclicks and drags meant she was making changes she didn’t want to. GNOME was a better choice, 100% simple and no surprises.
I like Gnome too, and I think their settings done via terminal is genius. I know Apple has it too. I have no idea who invented this first, but I love it. The pro user can tune the things they like, but an average user don’t need that many configuration options.
That’s stupid. We do not design cars such that it’s impossible to crash if someone starts yanking on the wheel randomly.
Expecting an OS to do as much is … just beyond pathetic.
You make a point but, hey now, let’s not be cruel to people. I think we’ve all had a situation where a click was accidentally a click-and-drag and now things aren’t how they were before, and we didn’t realize exactly what was happening.
I feel like KDE might have features to lock down taskbar customization a little better but, I haven’t looked for such a feature… 🤔
I’ve done that click and drag many times. Nothing worse than accidentally dragging a folder designated with pseudo random numbers into another pseudo random numbered folder, and not knowing if you actually dragged it into a folder, or missed and did nothing
Part of basic computer literacy is to not barrel forwards when something unexpected happens. It’s not the end of the world to have to pause and go, “wait what?” and figure out how to get back or undo it.
Except GNOME did exactly that. Sh can’t accidentally alter anything. Some people just have a hard time with computers and expected UI. Ever tried watching a good grampa deal with printer install and windows popups…you have to simplify things for less tch savvy people. Just like cars now have auto ebrake and lane assist
And cars are one of the most dangerous things on the planet, accounting for nearly 2% of all annual deaths by themselves. So maybe safety features are actually good?
Nobody is dying because they accidentally started desktop customizing on KDE. It’s beyond pathetic to expect an already safe environment to protect you from yourself when the consequences are a moment of confusion.
Yeah I’m saying cars should be safer, not that KDE should kill you
There can’t be single obvious green path for a lot of complex things and most of the things that we do on computers actually are complex like that. I would think that user friendliness is more of an indicator of a sane default behaviour or something that people already are taught to expect. Balancing that is even harder i think.
Recently been playing around with Mint. For the most part it’s user friendly. Where it falls apart is it’s not intuitive, it took me hours of googling to try to figure out how to add windows specific drivers (because the manufacturer didn’t create Linux drivers) for a Bluetooth mouse so I could program the mouse buttons. There were community created drivers on GitHub but no direct way to get them, I would have had to download and configure several support files before I could even try to install. I eventually gave up and just bought another mouse.
Most people would have given up in the first 5min and tossed their PC out and kept the mouse.
It’s not that Linux doesn’t work, it’s that it takes work to get it to work.
If Linux worked in the sense of clear step by step instructions and the developers/legacy users didn’t expect everyone to be experts or expect everyone to spend hours trying to figure out world peace just to perform a mundane task, then it would probably replace windows pretty quickly.
meh, we already have an option for the first (KDE Plasma) and for the second (GNOME) as far as I’m concerned, so what else is missing
Windows pretends it’s friendly, but in reality it’s just there to sell you Copilot 365 subscriptions.
OneDrive secretly changing all of my save paths to OneDrive and not adding the cloud symbol to show that it’s beed saving my files to Microsoft servers, even when OneDrive sync is turned off.
I wish I could drop Microsoft completely.
Before you know it, it’ll start not letting you save anything because the cloud account you told it not to use is full
I feel like I’ve seen this exact complaint around the internet before…
You still have to configure OneDrive yourself for any of that to happen.
I once knew someone who became an insurance salesman.
When hanging around, after a while all conversations drifted towards stuff he could insure against.
This is what using windows feels like
It really doesn’t. I mean I hate windows to the point of having it in my signature on my email, but let’s not perfect this is true. If your going to say what’s bad about it, tell the truth so people know. It’s not trying to sell you anything, it just sucks as an operation system, has more holes in it then swiss cheese, and it’s so convoluted that their own devs have to compete against each other.
there’s literally adverts in the start menu now
Somehow you got downvoted even while there’s the occasional full-screen startup spam:
"WANNA SUBSCRIBE TO OFFICE?
ENABLE DEEPER AD DATA TARGETING?! (you can’t disable ads)"
Options:
{YES PLZ (here monee)}
/
{I’m so dumb I clearly don’t know what I’m missing by refusing your products and services. Remind me very soon.}
too many secret windows fans that are butthurt in here
You mean that thing that is in about every commercial product, but unlike those other options can can be turned off in Windows with one single click on a checkbox?
Uh, the commercial products I use don’t contain ads, dunno what the hell you’re on about
BRO!
Bro.
We’re forming a squad! Almost a team!
where did you find this 😭
It was a gift, over 20 years ago. I married her
I don’t know about marrying a coup, but to each their own i guess.
yes… very user friendly…
proceeds to copy-paste random commands from internet strangers
Hehe. It’s funny because it’s true.
I had this picture 20 years ago, it still is epic.
Linux is like the Internet or even computers in general.
As I always say: “It’s for anyone! But it’s best not for everyone.”
Hey, that’s my coffee mug!
subscriptions optional
That’s the toxic attitude Linux is known for; if you struggle with it, it’s because you’re dumb.
