Linux, in my experience, has been way less painful to set up than Windows. It takes like 1/4 of the time, and I don’t end up with half my shit in One Drive because I misclicked.

You are completely right.

I do also get why the run these commands is a thing, because it’s usually faster and also is distro / desktop environment agnostic.

Why would someone want to write separate guides for Gnome, KDE, Cinnamon etc. when one or two commands will suffice? But on the flip side, my family and friends will see a scary looking command and immediately be put off.

I feel it’s getting a lot better since more apps are just in the browser or electron apps, there’s way way less to actually configure for most end users. The type of people put off by commands generally won’t go digging through the settings anyway.

I do wish there were a proper GUI for configuring GRUB though. Any that I’ve ever found seemed to fall out of date very quickly.

Okay so step one is to take GNOME and throw it into the trash where it belongs, and replace it with KDE which is a complete DE and not a bunch of plugins disguised in a trench coat of bash scripts.

Step two is to recommend a distro that targets both user quality and latest stable kernel releases for the most updated modules (Like Fedora or OpenSUSE)

Linux needs to adopt executable installers for software packages that can be downloaded on the web

Is the wrong problem because that’s what Flatpak accomplishes without creating distro dependency hell. Regressing to .run and .appimage files for everything is why windows updates suck total ass, and it would nuke one of Linux’s most killer features.

Users are already used to an appstore on mobile, I can personally guarantee you that they have no trouble getting accustomed to a desktop app installer, especially since they find it so much easier to search and click install without opening a bunch of websites. Since it shows both package manager and flatpak apps, they don’t even have to be aware of the backend system.

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The only thing holding back linux at this current point in time is honestly just vendors using it standard in consumer hardware. The dependency hell issue was resolved years ago by both huge improvements in package repos and the widespread support of Flatpak. The leftover baggage from X11 has been replaced by Wayland, which finally became viable around end of 2023. Even stuff like pulseaudio has been replaced by pipewire to handle every edge cases scenario.

I would not have said the same thing 2 years ago. The evidence is that the linux desktop user base is growing at an increasing rate. All they need is to hit a critical share (6-7%) for bigger vendors and OEMs to follow.

The good news is, as mentioned, there are a lot of vendors that are starting to do this. Valve’s steam machine by itself could be enough to add another 10 million users if they play their cards right.

My other anecdotal evidence is that I successfully changed several of my friends and family members over to Fedora just last year because I finally found it viable to throw at any former Windows user.

The only dissatisfaction I caused was one “dependent” person who couldn’t play Fortnite (the only game in their library that didn’t work), which I audaciously told it would be possible in 2026 via waydroid/lepton (valve plz dont fail me lol).

I feel much of this, especially the installer situation right now.

I’ve setup and maintained a number of Linux servers from scratch, and I’m used to installing / updating / maintaining server software (via bash / SSH), but desktop kills me.

I didn’t think my Windows setup would be that crazy to get working, but VMWare Workstation, and Splashtop have both been killers (and good triple monitor support to some degree). Steam has been 50/50 for games for me, but I’m running an older NVidia card, so that’s probably my issue.

I started with Open Suse, and liked the OS quite well, but could never get past the errors installing and configuring VMWare (I develop in Windows inside a couple of VMWare images, and will for the next decade at least), so fast / stable VMWare support is key to moving off of Windows.

I also couldn’t get Splashtop running: I need remote access to my machine when outside of the house, and to client machines quite often, so need two different apps installed. There’s also no LogMeIn desktop app for Linux, so that becomes very painful (one of our dealers uses LMI instead of Splashtop).

After a week of that, I paved the disk and loaded Kubuntu, figuring that the better support for those packages would help. I did manage to get VMWare and Splashtop Business installed but everything feels unstable, and there have been lots of issues (third monitor is often black, had to disable 3d acceleration in VMWare, Solarr never seems to see my mouse, can’t browse shared NTFS drives), and have to re-sign VMWare modules every time the OS updates.

I’ve been using Windows for decades, largely without any issue, and would like to move, but it’s been problematic enough for me to put the entire thing on pause, knowing that I’m going to have to start all over again and burn several more days trying to get a base setup working.

I agree, but only until the part you mention how people should install their software. And that’s simply because I don’t think that people should install random .exes or .debs from the internet, because repositories are:

1. Easier to find software within: you’ve got a one-stop-shop for all/most of your most important software
2. They’re inherently more secure as the software should (emphasis on should) be checked by maintainers or the people who upload software onto them
3. Software updates are much easier to enroll, as they are treated as system updates

Basically this, it’s why it has worked from that gaming side since just installing steam and running a game is now a painless process thanks to proton.

The average Joe doesn’t care.

Exactly. I wouldn’t touch a chromebook with a barge pole. Who wants Google to watch absolutely everything you do?

Same. Im a total noob and there are challenges to using Linux but Microsoft are assholes who treat customers like shit so screw them

Ironically, the laptops that do come with Linux are always the shittiest stuff like that Lenovo distro.

Agreed. We are in an age where tech is spoonfed to people with slick UIs and automated installs. Linux needs that–some kind of easy onramp to get people comfortable and familiar with it–in order to have a chance of getting broad acceptance. It’s not particularly accessible even for people with a small amount of tech knowledge and skill.

I tried to set up mint on an old laptop recently and immediately hit a roadblock before I could even get an install going. I did some research and found some options to troubleshoot it but gave up because the guidance I found online was a bit more complex than I felt comfortable acting on.

I really want to try out Linux, but if someone like me (with some technology knowledge and comfort) still gets this easily tripped up on installing it, I can’t imagine the average person taking the leap successfully.

Are you talking about a Chromebook?

Aside from that… I remember when I had my very first help desk job in 2008, Dell was shipping Latitude laptops with Linux for $90 less than the laptops that shipped with Windows… which is what a lot of places did that already paid for their own licensing direct from MS.

I need exceptional anti-cheat support

Say what it really is: a root-kit to hand your entire system over to a corporation. That is a line I wouldn’t be willing to cross.

So yeah, the best scenario for you is a dedicated, nothing personal on it, non service connected windows machine for gaming. At least until they quit rooting your computer simply to play a game.

For gaming and home use I think Windows will slowly die off. But I see precious few enterprise customers who are willing to consider Linux desktops for anyone other than sysadmins or programmers. Some will allow Macs for general users but I’ve never seen one that allows Linux.

I came here to say that too