I’ve been waiting for the “big year” since 1996. It’s never going to happen. This is not to invalidate anybody’s appreciation of Linux but it’s not for the public and it never will be.
I switched over some months ago now and tried several different distributions before finally settling on one that mostly could be made to work with everything, as many of them had one or more hardware dealbreaker that prevented it from working out.
I think its also fair to mention that while many things did just work “out of the box” on all of them, many also did not. Some were able to be cajoled into cooperating after varying amounts of troubleshooting, editing and general trial and error effort, but there are huge swaths of the user experience that are about as unpolished and manual as they were at the turn of the century.
I still prefer using it to Windows 11, and it has improved a lot over the years, but I think the main thing that has made Linux increase in appeal over time is the relative continual decline in the quality and behavior of Windows.
I’m sure a lot of these hindrances can be addressed by building or buying a computer purpose-built to run Linux, but I think the point stands that unless you just use your PC for the “Facebook, Email, YouTube” type of stuff, you’re going to run into things you have to do that require quite a bit of research to get to work.
Don’t get me wrong; I don’t regret my decision in the slightest. Linux offers you very real ownership of your computer and user experience, it is just absolutely not for everyone, and I hope the Linux community at large one day grows to acknowledge that the tinkering and troubleshooting that many of them are not troubled by, and some of them even get enjoyment from, is fine with them because they are hobbyists and professionals. People outside that sphere see computers more exclusively as tools than hobbies, and tools that often give you trouble and take away your time are worse than similar ones that don’t.
MetalSlugX@piefed.social 3 hours ago
No it isn’t.
I’ve been waiting for the “big year” since 1996. It’s never going to happen. This is not to invalidate anybody’s appreciation of Linux but it’s not for the public and it never will be.
badgermurphy@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
For. Real.
I switched over some months ago now and tried several different distributions before finally settling on one that mostly could be made to work with everything, as many of them had one or more hardware dealbreaker that prevented it from working out. I think its also fair to mention that while many things did just work “out of the box” on all of them, many also did not. Some were able to be cajoled into cooperating after varying amounts of troubleshooting, editing and general trial and error effort, but there are huge swaths of the user experience that are about as unpolished and manual as they were at the turn of the century.
I still prefer using it to Windows 11, and it has improved a lot over the years, but I think the main thing that has made Linux increase in appeal over time is the relative continual decline in the quality and behavior of Windows.
I’m sure a lot of these hindrances can be addressed by building or buying a computer purpose-built to run Linux, but I think the point stands that unless you just use your PC for the “Facebook, Email, YouTube” type of stuff, you’re going to run into things you have to do that require quite a bit of research to get to work.
Don’t get me wrong; I don’t regret my decision in the slightest. Linux offers you very real ownership of your computer and user experience, it is just absolutely not for everyone, and I hope the Linux community at large one day grows to acknowledge that the tinkering and troubleshooting that many of them are not troubled by, and some of them even get enjoyment from, is fine with them because they are hobbyists and professionals. People outside that sphere see computers more exclusively as tools than hobbies, and tools that often give you trouble and take away your time are worse than similar ones that don’t.