| ▲ | geophile 8 hours ago |
| From perusing reddit, I see some Windows users tempted to consider Linux, often because of Windows 11. But then, many of them won't move because: it doesn't work just like Windows; there is some Windows application they must have, or maybe they just don't want to learn the alternatives. Or they use word/excel/powerpoint and have to interact with others who do also. The brainwashing, high tolerance for pain and misery (and expense!), and lock-in makes it close to impossible for ordinary computer users to escape. |
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| ▲ | qwerpy 5 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| For me the apps that don’t exist on Linux are Fusion360 (3d printing modeling) and OneNote (shared notebook with my non-technical wife that syncs to mobile). I also have zero tolerance for needing to tweak settings to make a game work on Linux. So I’m stuck on windows for now. Every month I have to spend an hour fighting some new asshole behavior concocted up by some ambitious Microsoft product manager. The latest one was them adding Windows Store results to the start menu search. I use start menu search to launch applications and suddenly some games from the store started showing up when I did my usual searches. The only way to stop it was to uninstall the windows store entirely using a power shell command. |
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| ▲ | throwaway173738 44 minutes ago | parent [-] | | Is it really that much easier to fight Microsoft? Say what you will about tweaking settings in Linux but it lets you do just about whatever you want. And the settings changes are at least understood and documented. I’d hate to use an OS that you repeatedly have to fight with over its user hostile changes. Every time I boot Windows in a VM I’m reminded of how much harder Windows users have it because they can’t just do whatever they want with the computer, it has to be done with Microsoft’s blessing. | | |
| ▲ | qwerpy 28 minutes ago | parent [-] | | It's probably my last Windows. It's getting harder to undo the shenanigans each time they push out another update. The moment I can't undo it, I'll move to Linux. I'll learn FreeCad and use Onenote in a browser. I have a long backlog of games that I finally have time to play, and for now they all just work on Windows. They probably 95% just work on Linux too, but it's that 5% that gives me pause. |
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| ▲ | raincole 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Call it brainwashing or whatever. But the reality is that even one single popular app not working out of box is enough barrier preventing people from switching. I've tried to convince people to use Linux. The conversation usually ended when they realize Photoshop isn't natively support Linux. And after many attempts, I ended up being converted to Windows + WSL. |
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| ▲ | reddalo 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Linux Mint is super easy to use. I've personally battle tested it with my elder parents. Given all the nagware present in Windows 11, I'd even say Linux Mint is easier than Windows. The most difficult part is probably the installation itself. |
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| ▲ | scorpionfeet 7 hours ago | parent [-] | | Not if you are coming from windows and are not a tech nerd. I don’t want to end up being tech support for some non techie I coerced into Linux. It is nowhere near as seamless as zealots like to believe. Been having this discussion since 1997. | | |
| ▲ | inetknght 7 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | > It is nowhere near as seamless as zealots like to believe. Perhaps not. But it's still more seamless than Windows these days. Microsoft keeps lowering the bar. | |
| ▲ | reddalo 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Have you actually tried a modern distro like Linux Mint? Seriously, you don't even need to touch the terminal, everything is neatly organized in a single control panel (unlike the messy >2 control panels situation of Windows). You can easily install all the applications you want; even games thanks to Steam and Proton. It's easy to use, there are no ads, no preinstalled adware, no nagware, everything is fast and clean. | | |
| ▲ | esseph 6 hours ago | parent [-] | | > modern distro Let them cook... > Linux Mint Oh. :( | | |
| ▲ | 4k0hz 6 hours ago | parent [-] | | Modern != brand new shiny hipster thing. Unless you're a devotee of rolling release or unconvential things like Nix, Mint is not obsolete. | | |
| ▲ | esseph 4 hours ago | parent [-] | | Depending on your age, "brand new shiny hipster thing" could be Enlightenment Desktop, Mate Desktop, or it could be Cosmic or Hyprland+. Mint is a steady distro like Debian is. It certainly hasn't changed much in the last 15 or so years. For better or worse, depending on your POV. |
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| ▲ | surgical_fire 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | I don't know the last time you tried - I made numerous attempts to migrate to Linux since 2003, until I finally made it for good in 2022. Modern beginner friendly distros are genuinely more user friendly than Windows nowadays. | | |
| ▲ | scorpionfeet 5 hours ago | parent [-] | | I”ve been installing Linux desktops for decades (mostly Ubuntu, but in the day: Suse and RedHat, and Qubes, and FreeBSD and NetBSD, Nix, Arch, etc…) I always check out the latest LTS release of Ubuntu. I tried Mint and didn’t see a huge difference. Same sort of belly flops into the shell to make things work, but with a difference skin. It is not fundamentally different than any other distribution with a desktop in my opinion of staring at this for 30+ years. | | |
| ▲ | justinpombrio an hour ago | parent [-] | | Honestly I've had more technical problems installing Windows than Linux Mint recently, not to mention the multiple hours spent hunting down and disabling all of the telemetry and ads in Windows. Still can't believe they put ads in File Explorer. |
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| ▲ | p_ing 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| > The brainwashing, high tolerance for pain and misery (and expense!), and lock-in makes it close to impossible for ordinary computer users to escape. Or opposite of the house, the arrogance and presumption. |
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| ▲ | bsder 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| > maybe they just don't want to learn the alternatives. Or they use word/excel/powerpoint and have to interact with others who do also. If they're on Office 365, they could be on Linux. |
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