Don’t get me wrong. I love Linux and FOSS. I have been using and installing distros on my own since I was 12. Now that I’m working in tech-related positions, after the Reddit migration happened, etc. I recovered my interest in all the Linux environment. I use Ubuntu as my main operating system in my Desktop, but I always end up feeling very limited. There’s always software I can’t use properly (and not just Windows stuff), some stuff badly configured with weird error messages… last time I was not able to even use the apt command. Sometimes I lack time and energy for troubleshooting and sometimes I just fail at it.
I usually end up in need of redoing a fresh install until it breaks up again. Maybe Linux is not good for beginners working full time? Maybe we should do something like that Cisco course that teaches you the basic commands?
Nearly everyone forgets how hard windows was to learn initially.
I spent the better part of a child hood and the first 10 years of an IT career learning it. Does that sound like a simple or easy system? Conversely I’ve spent slightly less time but an equal 10 years of an IT career learning and supporting Linux. I’ve only recently in the last 3 or so years started to feel like I truly grasp Linux and started using it as a daily driver on personal machines.
I now find Windows absolutely horrible to work with. All the nonsense MS foists on it’s users. The inflexibility. The weird choices. The licensing nonsense.
The bottom line is not that Linux is harder. It’s that Linux is different and different is scary and uncomfortable. Different is hard, not linux. People are lazy and creatures of habit. We like familiar. Few of us actually enjoy the work of learning something new that isn’t easy. If we did more of us would probably be pilots or engineers or whatever hard thing to learn you want to choose.
If you’re into computers and you still find it hard or constraining keep at it. The Ah, ha! moment is coming. There’s a paradigm shift in thinking you’ll hit and suddenly you’ll get it. When you do you’ll find it’s magnificent and powerful and freeing.
You see, but for a windows power user, Microsoft’s obstacles are minor. I can’t transition because I have my most used Universal Windows Tweaker or WinAero tweaker registry edits written down for every clean install. Microsoft Activation Scripts 1.8 allows me to use anything from Windows for Education to Pro for Workstations. I don’t find it inflexible, I bend it to my will without difficulty because it’s what was the standard and I learned inside and out. I haven’t transitioned to Linux because I can’t maintain the same ability without relearning a new OS.
