this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2025
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Well, if you honestly think about it, Linux has always been tried by many of people that eventually went back to Windows because something wasn't entirely straightforward. Don’t get me wrong, I love Linux, but I don’t blame people for thinking that. Trying Linux is very different than sticking to it. Linux is amazing OS for people who put at least some effort into learning it, but like it or not, it can be absolute pain for those expecting things to just work without any interest on why they experiencing issues. Given how many sets of hardware and peripherals people have, weird quirks, bugs and required workarounds aren’t unheard of. Maybe it’s just something very simple to fix for an advanced user, but normies will just run away.
As someone who tried it for a few months then switched back for several years before returning permanently two years ago: Linux has long had the problem that it's completely ready for different people at different times.
In 2017 it was in pretty good shape if you weren't a gamer, didn't mind tinkering a fair bit, were prepared to learn a completely different two ways of installing software, and didn't rely on proprietary apps (I couldn't get Netflix to work). I was only ready for the tinkering. Also I'd used Ubuntu and gnome just added more changes.
Five years later a lot had changed. I wasn't using Netflix (especially not in the app) for one. But Proton had come around and made gaming just work. My wifi drivers just worked unlike before. Years of mobile app stores and a few months of lemmy had prepared me for repos, even though it still took some getting the hang of to switch from just downloading and double clicking an exe file. But also the software options are increasingly available rather than having to learn to use old school wine while in the middle of a massive change. I still think I should switch away from garuda at some point as I dislike some of the choices it made (no flatpak support for one), but I love aspects of it. And all throughout that time that Linux was getting more accessible to someone like me who isn't a coder, but was tech nerd curious, windows was increasingly getting in my way and becoming anti user.
I think adoption will continue to increase as Linux continues to get easier for more people
Garuda was a great distro for a hot minute. It was right where it needed to be to access Steam on Linux right as the Steam Deck came to market. It got all the performance benefits of Proton immediately as other distros had to play catch-up.
It still is a great distro, but it's lost some is that exclusivity.
I love the eyebleed aesthetic of it I'm just now skilled enough to get that on something like fedora or Debian. And these days what I want is for more things to work easier which puts me out of the arch sphere. If garuda hadn't committed hard to the aur I'd probably love it but the aur does everything 3 ways 1 of which may still be maintained and it leaves you just wanting the actively maintained flatpak.
Like I don't hate it, it was the right distro at the time for me as it was noob friendly and had plasma 6 when few others did. But I don't need the bleeding edge anymore.
I appreciate that arch's package manager is a bit of a monster - but that's also what made it the prefect choice for me.
In the immediate aftermath of the release of the Steam Deck, there was many hot weeks where arch's ability to turn on a dime was exactly the tool needed to run all the new things valve released (fast development to deploy is aur's specialty). This advantage was destined to not last more than 6 months, as that's the release cycle for other distros.
Nothing prevents ya from using Arch to install Flatpack, tho. It's also really well documented at https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Flatpak 😅
I think that describes computers.
Windows does the same thing, only worse because it is harder to trouble shoot, and harder to fix if you find yourself at the point where a reinstall is the only way out.
I am dealing with a laptop like that now for someone else, and it would be simple if it was linux, but of course its a pain in the ass because its windows.
Linux Mint just worked.
Which is like 95% of people.
Imagine if cars worked this way. Imagine you needed to be a mechanic to operate your vehicle. To start and drive your car, you first have to do automotive work, and know how to do automotive work.
A lot less people would drive themselves. A lot more Ubers.
Wait what? Hahaha, it is only a problem when things don't work. Same with cars, as in your analogy, if your car is not starting your are taking that Uber...
You don't need to be a mechanic, but you need to know the lights in your panel, know how to check the oil, know how to change a tire, etc... For when things go wrong and maybe you can repair what's needed yourself.
Bringing it back to Linux, you can try Linux directly from a USB without installing anything and most of the time it just works. If gradma is only reading the news or watching youtube she doesn't care what OS it is.
I mean that’s exactly how cars were for the first ~50 years they existed.
Fits with the recently announced 5% Linux use.
Maybe eventually people will increasingly realize the folly of this expecation.
Maybe even "AI" atrophying their skills will wake people up to this problem, right through to no longer wanting to be consumer cash-cows of the monopolistic corporation.
Convenience, so sweet, in the short term. Maybe eventually people will learn, the sweeter the juice, the more dangerous the pitcher plant. And then people will learn to drive. And to be able to mend their own. And stop buying the ones that make it difficult to mend. Seeing the folly of such dis-empowerment.
*Dreamer*
I must say on mine laptop it took fewer tries to have Linux mint working. When I was installing the Nvidia drivers I was losing the WiFi ones and couldn’t do anything to fix without internet there
So after some reinstalls I learned I need to update mint first, than do the Nvidia update, this did the trick for me.
There's the key flaw.
Maybe if we kept speaking of Free Software philosophy, people would not have these misplaced expectations they've been conditioned to as dis-empowered consumer cash-cows of the monopoly.
Unlikely, cons0omers don’t buy ideology and don't care about reason. They want to pay money and get complete product that is easy enough for person with not too many brain connections, not to just justify missing features for values.
Fortunately, they not not have to remain, and are not innately and inescapably "cons0omers".
I was such a corporate fanboy consumer in the 90s... Until I (frankly) "turned on, tuned in, and dropped out".
I sure wasn't the first, not the only since / wont be the last.
... Even despite the promise of "AI" (LLM/HRM/MCP) atrophying people's brains even further into dependence.
Also worth noting: ... ... Linux use % keeps rising slowly. (Currently over 5% I hear.)