Do any of the reasons that prevented people from using Linux still apply in 2021?

Posted by Wahaha in Linux

One reason was that hardware, like printers is tough with Linux, but who is printing documents in 2021?
Another was that Gaming isn't a good experience with Linux, but modern games are all shit anyway and older ones are easier with stuff like wine than real Windows and console emulators are cross platform.

It can't be software. Software for Windows is generally shit.
It can't be that people like forced updates or having to relearn the GUI for their programs for no good reason frequently.

Support? All the Windows support tickets I had the pleasure of finding through troubles myself ended in "this won't change, you're fucked, deal with it".

Any good reason left why people would stick with Windows other than because that's how it's always been?

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Rambler wrote

Fulltime Linux user since... 2010, part-time (dual boot) from probably 04-2010.

Hardware wise, I've never had any major issue. Nvidia cards sometimes cause relatively easily fixed issues. Some Linux distros such as Pop_OS! I believe come with Nvidia drivers and related packages installed, as well as Wine (useful for Windows programs/games).

As far as GUI goes: I stick with XFCE, Cinnamon or MATE desktop environments. Pretty familiar UI. Taskbar, menu, etc.

As far as support and fixing errors? Probably easier than Windows. My limited experience with Windows in recent (10 years) has been dealing with customers for a company that sold servers. Some users had Windows servers, but the company didn't have any specific Windows based staff/support available at all hours. Searching the web for the errors shown on their stuff would very frequently yield forum posts / threads with someone else asking the same question, but no one responding. Was incredibly frustrating at times. (And other times you'd find the answer, and it was a quick fix...)

Linux? Just copy/paste the error in your search engine of choice and you'll find a ton of discussion about that error. You'll find the resolution. You'll find someone else saying, "Well, that will work, but you can also do this." and someone else will respond giving you an opinionated history lesson on how the change from X to Y in a recent major update of the program in question was stupid.

Run Linux in a VM or try it on a USB stick first. If you kind of like it, then install it alongside Windows (dual boot).

I ran Pop_OS! for the first half of 2020. I liked it, and it worked great out of the box with my card and desktop build. I'm not a gamer by any means but I'll go through random spurts about once a year where I may spend a month playing Kerbal Space Program or City Skylines or something like that... and it all worked very well via Steam. I don't specifically recall any obstacle in getting it all to work that may be challenging to a newcomer, I think it all just sort of worked.

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dontvisitmyintentions wrote

Printing is easy. ACPI is hard. People who try Linux might be put off by shitty sleep or audio support in their new or niche hardware.

I put up with having to reboot to have audio because I got this machine cheap and it's really neat, and I'm too lazy to figure out if it can be fixed in software.

Other people won't put up with that. That's why they wouldn't stick with Linux: because it doesn't solve itself. Never mind that neither does Windows.

Most people never try.

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Wahaha OP wrote

If you run Linux and have audio trouble, chances are you run pulseaudio, whose troubles can be fixed by running "puleaudio -k", which restarts it. For me, for some reason pulseaudio decided to select the wrong devices upon each restart, so I wrote a script that selects the correct ones which runs at startup.

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dontvisitmyintentions wrote

It's at a lower level. Re-logging in also doesn't fix sound, though it does show missing batteries and sensors. The script that parses function key presses seems to get confused, and I think that's related to the machine's general ACPI spam. That might be fixable, if I can identify sequences to ignore instead of letting it build errors over time.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

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GadgeteerZA wrote (edited )

Funnily enough many seem to just accept Windows has some shortcomings too, but if Linux is not 105% then it can't be used.

For example, Windows has some serious printing system security flaws right now, and my wife has given up printing on her Windows 10 machine to my HP printer on the LAN. Yes I've had some printing issues too when the drivers on Linux update, but the fact that she sends stuff to me to print, suggests that my Linux printing is actually still more reliable ;-)

It's true that many people just stick through thick and thin with what they know even if it is not working for them (no I didn't mean politics, but that is coming to mind for some reason now). Others love beta updates and trying something different. It is pretty well much the same with social media - those that feel trapped and moan about Facebook, and those that end up on Rambler and all sorts of other stuff (so how many Rambler users are in Windows and Facebook?).

So today it's really not the OS, it is human nature I suppose. I can keep a Linux machine running, but I can't paint a picture ;-)

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sgji2p wrote

Like with most things, it's friends, relatives and professional requirements.

When you need to do work for school or the Office from home, you more or less need to have the same programs. And even if there are alternatives, you most likely don't feel like learning how to use a different program for the same purpose all over again.

Also people still like to ask friends or relatives about their problems. When you don't already have a sophisticated Linux user in your circle, you are unlikely to even get the idea of using linux.

Also nowdays for the youth, more and more activites are online, also like gaming. It's not just about the gaming, but also about doing something with your friends(online). The proprietary Software used here is a stronger limiting factor here.

I would recommend an easy Linux Distro to my mother, since she doesn't use her computer much unless to browse, edit and print documents(which will be shared in printed form)

My father, while more techsavy, couldn't use Linux, due to all the proprietary software he is using professionally. Also since he allready knows his way around Windows, the differences would upset him. He wouldn't have enough patience to learn the different environment.

In conclusion, it's much easier to recommend (and get the person to learn it) Linux to an unsophisticated Computer user, rather than someone who already is used to handling his current OS. So at the root modern Schools, who often provide Windows and only Windows for free, are to blame for noone really using Linux.

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vistingghost wrote

Too many distributions to use. You know? :D
...For non-English speakers, it can be time-consuming and unstable to set up non-English input methods in Linux. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, ...

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