The main reason for the Linux operating system not seeing widespread adoption is because of its multitude of distros. Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, Mint… there are just so many choices, just like how when someone asks how to join the Fediverse people will response with “which instance?” Who the fuck cares about instances and whatnot when an average grandma just wants to make a post on knitting in a supportive community? It really turns people off and without niche community, there is no way Lemmy will grow any further than its current state. Without niche community, what are we going to talk about? Memes? Just programming-related stuff? (I can just surf stackoverflow for that) It can be fun for a while but without diversity, the site will just devolves into boredom and circlejerks. I love this place to death and really want to see it grow, but man, seeing how confusing it can be for an average user makes me anxious for changes.
The main reason for the Linux operating system not seeing widespread adoption is because of its multitude of distros.
No it isn’t - it’s because the vast majority of computer/laptop users just stick with the OS that comes installed on their device and probably aren’t even aware than installing a new one is even an option. Your grandma isn’t sitting there thinking “should I install Ubuntu or Fedora?” …
Lemmy/Kbin do have something in common with Linux in that the Fediverse concept requires a certain amount of technical knowledge to understand, but it’s far easier to grasp that than it is to install Linux on your home computer.
Dnn@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I won’t nitpick how Linux is a kernel not an OS but how is it not widespread? It just runs basically the whole internet…
The reasons the average Joe doesn’t use it for their desktop are convenience (Windows and macOS come pre-installed) and that you can run into technical issues due to bad support by hardware vendors. The latter is a chicken/egg problem and will possibly never be resolved.
Anyway, I disagree it’s due to the number of choices - we don’t need monopolies. Your grocery store is full of different brands of cheese and all of them still stay on business.
mathlad@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Google has a monopoly on search, Youtube has a monopoly on videos and that helps aggregating interesting contents and users towards the product. Social media platforms thrive on user growth. I had Linux as a daily driver also (until it badly messed up my ssd), but customer support and friendliness are definitely limited parts about Linux that scare people away.
cpo@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I’m willing to bet that between
and
there are a number of systems management decisions you made.