Games on Linux are great now this is why I fully moved to Linux. Is the the work place Pc’s market improving.
Fix long-standing issues that create headaches for new users. I’m not sure if it’s Mint-specific, but:
Backing out of the OS installation should not make it crash to the point that I have to rename a file in the USB to fix it.
Downloading the new video codecs while installing the OS and ticking some box should also not make it crash.
And warning me beforehand that I need to disable secure boot should be a must.
Fix that and you just saved your users three attempts at installing and a couple of hours of troubleshooting just to get their feet in the door.
Most of that feels like Mint specific. The secure boot thing is sometimes mentioned in the installation instructions…but not always.
None, sadly. Most of the things that make Linux a bad OS are problems in Linux, but not problems of Linux so there’s little that can be done.
The elitism mostly.
It’s seen as complicated because linux users behave a certain way
Tell me about it. The Linux crowd here on Lemmy is so god damn annoying, and that makes me not want to switch.
(For one, Linux needs to get a lot better support for gaming GPUs and HDR monitors before I’d consider ditching Windows for good. I can’t live without RTX HDR and the Nvidia Control Panel, but Linux supports neither. There’s no SDR-to-HDR upscaling support in the Linux version of Firefox, either.)
HDR works on Linux:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/HDR_monitor_support
No, the NVIDIA Control Panel is not available but there are nvidia-settings and nvidia-smi
Yes it does but there is no SDR-to-HDR conversion. You need at least the Nvidia App for that.
It’s kinda a catch-22 situation: the vendors themselves need to implement these things on Linux, but they don’t because it’s a relatively small slice of the market. However, users won’t switch because these things aren’t available
That’s a good point—and I don’t like that I’m part of the problem—but I also don’t want to have to dual-boot just to play games or watch YouTube in HDR. I don’t care who makes it; I just want one OS that covers all of my needs. It would be nice if that OS was Linux.
Plus I DJ on the side and find that my decade-old hardware doesn’t play nice with Linux. Not a fan of the DJ software options, either. Mixxx is decent, but I prefer the industry standard, Serato for it’s reliability and simplicity. Unfortunately it doesn’t work in WINE without massive audio latency, which is a non-starter in a Live DJ environment where near-realtime (sub-5ms) audio is crucial.
True secure and verified boot, robust MAC systems with easy control (similar to what MacOS uses).
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Problems Linux itself has to overcome? Maybe two or three.
- Hopefully I’m mistaken but apparently accessibility has been going down the last few years.
- Settings that make sense to change should be exposed more adequately. No one should ever get a visual toggle to eg.: disable SELinux on their systray, but controls to adjust color profiles and screen “temperature” management should be more reachable and clear.
Problems that are mistakenly attributed to Linux but that are actually for manufacturers, sellers and provisioners to take responsibility for and overcome? A good lot.
- Sellers have to sell machines with Linux preinstalled. Getting a machine Linux-ready from factory is easy, but it’s only the commerces who can actually place them on a, ta know, selling point.
- Sellers or manufacturers should actually advertise when their device works with Linux. If people have to guess whether their next buy even boots / plugs in, that’s a hindrance to commerce.
- Hardware manufacturers are not providing adequate Linux support (FizzyOrange mentions the eternal issue of laptop battery management; Naiboftabr mentions stuff like “audio stops working”).
- Developers have to get back to developing for Linux natively (rather than eg.: “develop for a trimmed down Windows version that runs on Steam”).
- Developers of Linux itself need to provide a better “rescue mode” for when things inevitably go wrong. Something that boots up to a “guaranteed working state” that still has workable UI but with most or all customizations disabled.
accessibility has been going down for the last few years
Quick counterpoint as this gets raised a lot and I consider it disinformation.
In the Xorg -> Wayland transition, accessibility was immature as were a number of other things. And the implementations between x11 and Wayland were different (and so difficult to compare feature by feature).
Because of this, Wayland detractors made accessibility a favourite bugaboo and, even now, it is possible to find examples of things that worked better on X11 than they do on Wayland.
And there is no denying that accessibility was worse on Wayland for a while. You can say that about other things as well.
What the detractors do not tell you is that, for the major desktop environments at least, accessibility on Wayland is now better overall than it ever was on X11. Like a lot of things, whereas the poor security in X11 allows you to do many things, the capabilities have to be explicitly built into Wayland resulting in a period with poor support followed by systems that work excellently (better than they do in X11). This is a Wayland truism overall but particularly true for accessibility.
Latency and security are improved in particular. Assistive tools in X11 are a massive security hole. And accessibility in Flatpak apps is now far better as the tech built to work with Wayland sandboxing helps with Flatpak samdboxing as well.
Finally, accessibility is a greater focus in Wayland and so still improving whereas it was always an afterthought in X11. So regardless of the current state, I would say things are looking up for accessibility.
Developers need to get back to developing for Linux natively (not Steam)
No thank you.
Windows APIs are very stable. In many ways, they are better than Linux APIs for things like games. I will come back to this.
Games do not gain much performance by being native. The instructions to the GPU are the same on both platforms and this is where most of the performance stuff happens.
Linux adoption for gaming will be much faster if most titles work on Linux. A strategy of making Windows games work on Linux is going to result in a vastly larger catalog than will getting games studios to target Linux natively. Game studios do not want to create ports for small platforms.
What we need is to convince the game studios to ensure their Windows games work on Linux as well. We need to resolve the kernel level anti-cheat situation in particular. Perhaps we need these to be cross-platform.
The Steam strategy is a good one.
Now, back to Linux native…
There are many examples of Linux ports that now do not run or have problems on modern distros because of changes to the Linux userland since the games shipped. At the same time, Windows versions of these games work via Proton. Crazy but true. The Windows versions work better and keep working for longer (on Linux).
You could easily make the case that this is a problem with Linux as this instability is a major drawback of Linux for all commercial software (binary distributed is really the problem). It is not black and white though as this flux is what drives Linux forward. Over long periods of time, proprietary platforms have trouble keeping up. But this is a real problem for apps that ship as binaries.
On the non-game app side, the solution is Flatpak. Flatpak works by installing a parallel userland so that the Flatpak has access to the libraries and services that it expects.
So, one solution could be to use Flatpak for games on Linux as well. Or to create a gaming version of something that works like Flatpak does.
But guess what, we have that already. It is called Steam. Steam lets you install a parallel userland so that the game has the libraries and services it needs to run properly. It just so happens that the platform it provides is Windows. This works well for games.
Almost nobody “chooses” an OS. What needs to happen for wide-spread adoption is for first time computer users to be presented with something running Linux.
Microsoft understood this, that’s why Windows has been the default in classrooms since the 80s.
Windows was never the default in classrooms in the 80’s, that was Apple. First with the Apple II.
Windows didn’t even exist until 1985 and wasn’t widely adopted until 3.0/3.1 in the 90s.
Windows 386 in the late 80s was widely considered to be a joke:
Windows…in the late 80s was widely considered to be a joke
Nothing has changed.
Monopoly was & is the same joke.
Every fucking shopping concrete labels anything pop over it for the same delusional humor about thinking that not-paper is real any less than the any Mani Mani.
Thanks for that comment! And it’s always the same: the people with a historical perspective that doesn’t match the popular opinion get downvoted for spreading knowledge.
To go on a bit of a tangent here, Lemmy lets you hide scores on posts. I’ve had that set for a while and it’s nice to not get that bias before reacting to a post
Pretty sure that CBM, especially the Commodore Pet, was the default in classrooms in the 80s not Apple.
I hit first grade in 80 and never saw anything but Apple… At least until college
While the PET was the first computer I ever used, we only had 4 of them (and only 1 with a tape drive! Hope you type fast!)
Compared to entire rooms of Apple IIs.
Greatness must be thrust upon them.
Laptops sold in store. Vendor that targets schools elementary to college along with software and support to manage a fleet of computers. Would be relevant for corporations too. They would market and support Linux hardware
User friendly way to deal with permissions on flatpaks. Needs to be like Android and iOS where when it’s needed, you get a prompt box to affirm/deny or file/application picker to grant access to
Grow commercial support orgs for professional software support. Like orgs that support deployments of LibreOffice. Blender foundation is good. More of that for other open source pro/prosumer software. Sales and support staff separate from developers
I think you make a good point regarding support. This is, for businesses, the crucial issue. They want to buy reliance, support and certainty. This is what commerce, like Microsoft, offers; peace of mind for (big) bucks.
Organizations can’t easily take measures to assure proper support for a lot of open source software. They’d have to hire and probably educate a lot of expertise, which all has to be managed too.
It’s just a whole lot easier for decision makers to spent extra money to have a contractor solve any issues, or at be able to blame (sue) them.
I think LibreOffice should just be a PWA. I could easily be missing something, since I’m not an office suite power user, but AFAICT, everyone would be better off using an OSS version of Google Docs. Web apps are the most accessible option, they fit the collaborative use case well, etc.
No good enterprise management. Doesn’t run enterprise software.
Most people don’t really care what they use, they just want to be able to use it. If it doesn’t run their programs, it’s no good to them.
Companies don’t use it on the desktop because enterprise management sucks. There’s no equivalent to group policy. Ansible is not the same.
Yeah, this is pretty much it.
Microsoft took over the computing world because they built a really good enterprise management toolset. Say what you will about their shitty business practices both in history and today, both AD and GPO are fucking incredible pieces of software. Microsoft Office and Exchange email are also pretty much the only game in town unless you want to jump to Google which is objectively worse.
Those tools meant that workplaces adopted Windows instead of Mac and Linux and slowly transitioned their Unix servers to Windows. Then people started getting PCs at home, and they didn’t want to learn a whole new OS. Guess what, Windows is also available for home use and does all the same things that your office PC does.
Now that Microsoft has the vast majority of the install base on PCs, it’s not economically viable to develop or troubleshoot software for the other platforms, as you’re putting in a ton of extra time for about 5% of users.
Until Linux can promise ~90% compatibility with all software and they can put out some kind of real competition to AD and GPO, people are going to take the path of least resistance and just get Windows.
both AD and GPO are fucking incredible pieces of software.
AD is really the only way to manage an organization with thousands of endpoints and users.
I have some hope that someone in the EU will develop a competing product now that they’re pushing to get away from Microsoft, but it doesn’t exist yet.
I have to disagree here - you can absolutely run a large organisation on Linux (the Frenchies do it,e.g.).
The issue is the middle ground. A large company can absolutely invest into what’s needed for that. They might even come out cheaper.
The small to middle companies are the issue. The ones with 1-10 people running their whole IT. For them, Linux based operations are an issue - there currently is absolutely nothing that is as “one module working well with another” than AD. (Which should please not imply that AD is well designed and working too well). Period.
I have just kicked Microsoft (mostly) out of my company. But that is my personal decision - I am the CEO and we are small enough that I can do most IT support myself or with the help of a small outside company. But boy,did that cost us time and therefore money and still there are drawbacks and things that will not work as smoothly as they did on windows. I am thankfully able to do that - as I have no external venture capital I have to answer to, have staff that is very tech literate (especially considering that none has an IT background),willing to learn and don’t need software too much that requires windows. (Well,some, e.g. occasionally CAD)
But would I ever recommend that to anyone? Nope. Definitely not.
Which pains me to say.
the issue with this take is that they have been transitioning their enterprise services to web services. i and others on my team effectually use Microsoft enterprise tooling on Mac and Linux machines. i don’t think AD has anything to do with desktop Linux adoption?
You’re ignoring 20+ years of how it was the only player when web wasn’t so big as it is today. It was a major reason windows became the default OS in many offices, and as an extension of that, in the majority of homes in the 2000s to 2015. Thus majority of software industry and video gaming companies made their home in windows. Adobe Photoshop, AutoCAD, and many other industry software was made to work in Windows first.
There was also the case of Microsoft tilting the playing field by significantly discounting laptop and Desktop OEMs for Windows license keys just to be the sole OS installed on many computers. The concept of a PC was one which was running some version of Windows.
This also lead to another compounding aspect: Piracy of windows software made the windows AD/Server experts of today. Since Linux was free, there wasn’t as much of an intrigue on running it vs. A pirated copy of windows running pirated copy of many software.
No good enterprise management
There’s Kolide and Intune.
Doesn’t run enterprise software.
Like what?
Adobe? Excel? Both of which are used in almost every large business on the planet lol.
Adobe is a garbage company. Big studios don’t use Adobe crap. And the alternatives are better anyways.
Excel also has alternatives. LibreOffice and even Google Sheets if you don’t mind Google.
And before you say LibreOffice isn’t good enough, take a look at all the European governments that have switched over to LibreOffice. I use it regularly at my company where everyone else uses Office 365, and no one has ever noticed. Compatibility with Excel is stellar. In fact, my wife uses Office 365 at her company and she’s daily running into issues with it. Either some outage, or some weird bug that’s been a complaint in the Microsoft support forums for years, or some other issue.
Whereas I never have any issues with LibreOffice.
You asked what enterprise software. You don’t just get to act like those aren’t being used in almost every enterprise on the planet. I don’t care if they’re crap companies or not. They could literally be literally run by Nazis. As it is right now I ask you to find a single enterprise company that doesn’t have either of those in use on their systems somewhere. And I’m not sure what you’re talking about in regards to “studios”.
In regards to LibreOffice or excel alternatives not being good enough I can tell you they aren’t. Using Drools rules, software written by Red Hat, you are unable to create drools decision tables that work properly with Kogito (another software written by red hat) with anything other than Excel. That includes LibreOffice and OpenOffice.
Drools is the most used rule engine on the planet. Software devs use it, business stakeholders use it. Excel is an absolute necessity if you’re using the decision table functionality of drools.
You asked what enterprise software.
You’re right, I did. But the question was in relation to things that prevent adoption to Linux. Excel isn’t one of them, as Office 365 is available as a web version, but there are also many entirely compatible alternatives.
As for Adobe, I don’t know what software of theirs is used by enterprises. Unless you mean Acrobat, which again there are better alternatives that target the enterprise. I actually haven’t worked at a company that’s used Adobe products in over 10 years.
Using Drools rules, software written by Red Hat, you are unable to create drools decision tables that work properly with Kogito (another software written by red hat) with anything other than Excel. That includes LibreOffice and OpenOffice.
Drools is developed and maintained by the Apache Foundation. It’s FOSS software (Free and Open Source Software). Red Hat is the main sponsor of the project and the flagship product using Drools is Red Hat Decision Manager (formerly JBoss).
From the Drools docs:
Drools supports managing rules in a spreadsheet format. Supported formats are Excel (XLS), and CSV, which means that a variety of spreadsheet programs (such as Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice.org Calc amongst others) can be utilized.
Software devs use it
I am a software dev, and I’ve used JBoss in the past. I can promise you that it’s not limited to Excel in the least. In fact, Drools isn’t even primarily designed for spreadsheets, and it’s generally deployed on Linux servers.
As it is right now I ask you to find a single enterprise company that doesn’t have either of those in use on their systems somewhere.
This is a valid point, but not because they can’t operate without them. It’s almost always because of ignorance of better alternatives, upper management comfort zone, and billions of dollars of marketing from Microsoft and Adobe for over 20 years.
And I’m not sure what you’re talking about in regards to “studios”.
Studios as in Hollywood studios and VFX Houses. Some of them might use Adobe stuff here and there, but the “serious” stuff isn’t done with Adobe.
You’re right, I did. But the question was in relation to things that prevent adoption to Linux. Excel isn’t one of them, as Office 365 is available as a web version, but there are also many entirely compatible alternatives.
It is, I gave an example why.
As for Adobe, I don’t know what software of theirs is used by enterprises. Unless you mean Acrobat, which again there are better alternatives that target the enterprise. I actually haven’t worked at a company that’s used Adobe products in over 10 years.
of course I mean acrobat. Please do list an alternative (that works on linux) that has Adobe Sign or something like that.
Drools is developed and maintained by the Apache Foundation. It’s FOSS software (Free and Open Source Software). Red Hat is the main sponsor of the project and the flagship product using Drools is Red Hat Decision Manager (formerly JBoss).
are you just reading off wikipedia? Drools was created by Red Hat, same with Kogito and Quarkus. Drools and Kogito have been donated to Apache, but are still majority maintained by Red Hat.
Drools supports managing rules in a spreadsheet format. Supported formats are Excel (XLS), and CSV, which means that a variety of spreadsheet programs (such as Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice.org Calc amongst others) can be utilized.
yep, and as I’ve already told you, Excel is the only one that works properly. I’m a drools expert. I’ve been working in drools for 15+ years. There are issues with using drools with anything other than excel. Of course you can use CSV but you lose a lot of functionality in the process. I’m telling you this as someone that has tried to get around these things and use alternatives for years.
I am a software dev, and I’ve used JBoss in the past. I can promise you that it’s not limited to Excel in the least. In fact, Drools isn’t even primarily designed for spreadsheets, and it’s generally deployed on Linux servers.
smh. jboss is not the same thing as drools. Maybe you didn’t come across the bugs I have, but I have literally listed out to you the steps to encounter it. Use Drools, use Kogito. Use xlsx decision tables (not decision manager, which is now owned by ibm). And yes, Drools isn’t ‘primarily designed for spreadsheets’. it’s a rules engine. There’s ten thousand different ways to use it. I’m telling you that you will eventually encounter issues with using Libre or Open Office with drools decision tables. I did. My team did. We literally had to get an Office subscription (it was a google suite company) just to use drools because of all the issues we encountered. I understand this is most likely MS doing something internal to their xlsx format to fuck with anyone using other software. That is incredibly likely. The point still stands. Some software is absolutely necessary for businesses and there is no other alternative. Linux radicals seem to think that there’s always a way around it. But there isn’t.
This is a valid point, but not because they can’t operate without them. It’s almost always because of ignorance of better alternatives, upper management comfort zone, and billions of dollars of marketing from Microsoft and Adobe for over 20 years.
I think it’s more that enterprises want support and they want to trust other companies. You do not get that with linux. Like I said, give me an alternative to Adobe Sign that works on linux. You’re not going to find one that is open source, because the fundamental trust model is that adobe is your signatory, and you trust them and their servers.
Studios as in Hollywood studios and VFX Houses. Some of them might use Adobe stuff here and there, but the “serious” stuff isn’t done with Adobe.
I’m not sure why you’re bringing up vfx houses. Adobe doesn’t have any vfx software. Their major products are Acrobat, Photoshop, Premiere, and Illustrator. All things that any major company would need to operate any sort of marketing material. None of those are used for VFX. There are good alternatives for Photoshop and Premiere and Illustrator, even ones that work on Linux (no not Gimp). But I don’t see you replacing Acrobat anytime soon. And Lightroom (which I didn’t list) is far better than Darktable (I literally started with Darktable and it was so horrid I literally got an adobe sub because there was no other option at the time). Now there’s some others, but I haven’t tried them. I’m going to look at RAWTherapee though and see how it does.
Installing an OS will always be a hurdle. Most people don’t want to spend that much time thinking about how their computer works, they just want to turn it on and have it work. For more people to use Linux, it will have to be preinstalled.
After that, it needs to be stable. If the audio stops working, most people don’t think “maybe I need to roll back my driver” or “maybe ALSA has muted my output channel for some reason”, they just think “my computer is broken”. These kind of problems have to go away, or at least be reduced to <1% of users.
Also, very few people are going to have any patience for any kind of difficulty related to “oh you have to add a different repository to your package manager to play common media formats” or w/e (e.g. AUR or Ubuntu Multiverse &etc). Normal people spend exactly 0 time considering what codecs they might need to install to listen to some music, or where they might need to get those codecs from, or whether those codecs are open or proprietary or freeware or whatever.
OEM integration. i feel like there is a lot to like about Linux that most people who can will. but i think the thing that’s grown Linux a lot (other than geopolitical shifts) in recent time is SteamOS. not just because of Proton, but they’re literally selling a computer as an OEM with a 1st class linux OS. imagine if Dell and HP and Razer started doing the same
I bought several Dell XPS with Ubuntu preinstalled. I also bought a Tuxedo laptop preinstalled with Linux (sadly the hardware was shit).
There already are companies selling Linux preinstalled, but only the expensive ones.
I think if the Chromebook like computers would come with a normal Linux distro that might make a difference.
i have a Linux Dell at home as well (from work), but it’s just a thin Ubuntu clone with some Dell bloatware. they really could go wild with it with just a few resources. Chromebook is also a good example of what i’m talking about.
100% agree. The OEM’s that do have a linux option don’t really push it much being almost a hidden option many times. I went mac back in the aughts partially because of applecare. Would love to see like microcenter to have something like a supported inux distro and sell machines with care packages that cover everything.
Needs brainless application management.
Windows is basically: download the installer, run it, and boom you’re good to go.
Linux distros typically have 2-3 different ways to install applications and multiple mechanisms for updating/maintaining, where most of the good ones are non graphical. It’s confusing for even experienced users let alone someone who doesn’t know what a “package” is.
Say I want to uninstall something, I need to know how it was installed (apt? Snap? Flatpak? Manual build from source?) in order to do so. On windows, they have a registration scheme where installers log to a common OS level application management on what to run to uninstall.
Linux distros typically have 2-3 different ways to install applications and multiple mechanisms for updating/maintaining,
Windows ways to install applications:
- hunt down an installer either exe or msi file, or a zip which you unextract somewhere which doesn’t then create desktop icons and then scattered all aroundu
- Windows store, just like any other application store by MacOS or Linux only shit
- Winget, cli installer just like under Linux but actually decent
- chocolatey, aaaah just stop!
On windows, they have a registration scheme where installers log to a common OS level application management on what to run to uninstall.
Yup sounds absolute reasonable… Wtf?
Right but in practice nobody really uses the Windows store, and winget, chocolatey etc. are only used by geeks. For normal users it’s always
- Download .exe or .msi
- Double click it.
- Follow the instructions.
On Linux you have:
- apt, dnf, etc. - pretty reliable but only really work from the command line (I have yet to use a “friendly” store frontend that actually works well), and you almost always get an outdated version of the software.
- Snap or Flatpak - the idea is there, but again I have yet to actually use one of these successfully. They always have issues with GUI styling (e.g. icons not working), or permissions, or integration or something.
- Compiling from source - no Windows software requires this but it’s not uncommon on Linux.
Also it’s relatively common for Linux software not to bundle its dependencies. I work for a company that makes commercial Linux software and they bundle Python (yes it’s bad), but that depends on libffi and they don’t bundle that. So it only works on distros that happen to have the specific ABI version of libffi that it requires. And you have to install it yourself. This is obviously dumb but it’s the sort of thing you have to deal with on Linux that is simply never an issue on Windows or Mac.
Dependencies only become an issue if you don’t distribute your source (allowing distros or individuals to compile against the shared libraries they actually have installed, and patch out minor compatibility issues). Since closed-source is frowned upon in the Linux world, it’s unsurprising that there are various sorts of pressure to Not Do That.
Since closed-source is frowned upon in the Linux world
Indeed, this is a root cause of the problem. But it is a problem. The Linux community needs to get off its high horse and make distribution of binary programs (which may or may not be open source) work properly.
Snap and Flatpak are definitely a step in the right direction at least.
Right but in practice nobody really uses the Windows store, and winget, chocolatey etc. are only used by geeks.
ok.
On windows, they have a registration scheme where installers log to a common OS level application management on what to run to uninstall.
Yup sounds absolute reasonable… Wtf?
What’s wrong with that? When I was cleaning out Windows recently, I was happy that I didn’t have to hunt down uninstall scripts in every program directory I wanted to remove.
Maybe I’m a bit jaded as I remember the time where windows application didn’t even came with a basic uninstaller and didn’t relied on InstallShield instead used their own installer.
Also I don’t think that there is actually such log, and that “OS level application management” is just the good old “Programs and Features” dialog where it simply registers the path to the uninstaller.
On Linux on the other hand the applications place their stuff in well defined directories and the install script has to deliver the file manifest (and where to copy its content) otherwise the application or library would simply not work. Flatpak kinda does the same but uses a dedicated directory in the users home directory, Snaps uuhm I don’t touch canonical stuff with a ten foot pole, AppImage just delete the file and your are golden.
“OS level application management” is just the good old “Programs and Features” dialog where it simply registers the path to the uninstaller.
That’s what I took that to mean, too. And it’s sufficient. It allows the OS to provide a single point from which to uninstall all programs.
That’s what I took that to mean, too. And it’s sufficient. It allows the OS to provide a single point from which to uninstall all programs.
Well then, when that’s sufficient. Have you checked
AppData%(Local, Roaming, LocalLow) for any residue?What I meant is that the “registering with the OS” part is sufficient. If the uninstallers suck, no operating system can do anything about that.
Most users just open the app store on their distro and install things there. It’s painless. Your complaint is the equivalent of somebody on android deciding not to use the google store and saying that they have too many places to install applications from.
I actually find it hilarious that you even think windows installers are good. They are friggin mess and leave behind a bunch of crap when uninstalled. There’s a good reason windows needs stuff like reg-cleaners and debloaters and what have you. Let’s not even get into how easy it is to get adware or malware on windows, because searching for “rar installer” gets you a bunch of paid malware sites on the top of the search results.
Wishing to go back to the “simplicity” of a windows installers is madness. Linux isn’t perfect for packaging software, but let’s not pretend windows is better.
Consistency in the settings, especially in localization. For instance, in my Linux Mint start menu, I have “Settings”, “System administration”, and “System settings” (subtitled “Control center”). Now where do I look for a setting? Additionally, some or all setting from the “system settings” are available as standalone apps. Why?
In a similar vein, a run-of-the-mill distro is made up of lots of components, and it is not at all clear which is in charge of what. If I want to change hotkeys, who’s responsible for that? What do I need to google for? Drivers? Desktop environment? Some OS-specific settings app?
In general, there is always two or more of everything. Sound? pulse or pipewire. Which is installed? Which should be installed? Search the web and find literally every answer. UI widgets? Gnome, Cinnamon, KDE. Graphics? Nvidia, Noveau, PRIME, Optimus. The question “How do I make this work” always is a “well, it depends… actually… you’ll need to try, and if it doesn work, try something else.”
Pre installed hardwares. It’s not just about “being easy to use” or “working software X”. 90% of the users are not going to install Linux themselves, because they have no idea that Windows is something that can be replaced like any other softwares.
Even then, they’d not just begrudgingly use Linux because it was preinstalled. They’d find tech support and complain about how everything’s just completely changed and they want their normal PC back.
So no, Linux desktop will stay niche no matter how it gets, at least for a long time. Something as braindead simple as ChromeOS may help though.
The main things that have kept mainline adoption from happening:
- Driver support for new hardware (this is mostly an OEM thing)
- Dead simple tools for regular use, like updates, and printers or devices (Gnome has simplified quite a bit in the past few updates)
- Opinionated UI or package selection. Lots of options overwhelm many users
On #3: I totally wouldn’t mind defaults that could be overridden later, or better yet, a wizard that gives you a bunch of options and source material for making an elective decision for something else.
Mobile non-Android Linux on more than developer devices and 5 year old tech would be the largest impact, especially if you could pull off half of what the Liberux Nexx was promising. An all in one convergent pro-privacy device with flagship hardware would be a game changer. Possibly more urgent now that Google is pushing Android to be more locked down.
Desktops are primarily used by hobbyists (mostly gaming), creators, and businesses. To get Linux more there you need OEM installs and more driver support, Adobe and other big holdouts finally porting their stuff, and alternatives to AD respectively.
Librem 5
