"Just use Linux" is much like "just ride a bike" or "just shop at a refill store" - accessing the non default option can be time consuming, expensive or unavailable locally. We need to recognise you need a certain degree of privilege to have the capacity to complicate your life voluntarily. We need to be trying to make the better, harder thing more accessible, not blaming people for not using it.
@afewbugs
People have been working on making Linux more available for decades now. It's at the stage where it's probably more intuitive, more usable and more friendly than Windows ever was.
Yes, it's different, and thus requires investment in familiarizing yourself with a different os, but it's no worse than going, say, from win10 to win11.
The "Linux is for nerds" meme has to die.
@Mux @afewbugs it's not about it being "for nerds" or not, it's simply less accessible because it's not The Default and it's not what people are already used to using
There's always gonna be an uphill struggle in cases like these, and blaming people for not essentially gambling away their time for something unknown to them just reinforces the idea that Linux is for pretentious nerds
@hazelnot
Neither is Microsoft's latest os, whatever that is. Every time I have to use one I'm completely confused because each version has a completely different interface.
Honestly Classic Gnome on Ubuntu would be so much more familiar to anyone who was there for the Win95/XP/Vista era than modern Windows interfaces.
People get used to what they're given. Don't underestimate people. They can learn a new interface pretty quickly. They have been doing so for decades.
@afewbugs
@Mux @afewbugs it's the difference between "well I got a new computer cause the old one broke and now I gotta get used to this" and "I'm gonna install a new OS from scratch" when most people are terrified by the prospect of installing an operating system at all
There's a reason computer repair shops charge money to install Windows for you, cause most people can't do that
@hazelnot
You can buy computers pre-installed with Linux from trusted names like Dell and Lenovo. They're cheaper than their Windows counterparts.
The cost here is mostly in considering doing something new, which I get. This is not something to do when you don't have the time or spoons for it.
That said, if your computer broke down and you have to get a new one with an unfamiliar interface anyway, that might be the perfect time to switch.
@afewbugs