ChromeOS right? Is that the answer to the blogs unanswered question? Of what if Linux but supported by a MAANG company made for people who don’t want to delve into computer science or engineering or tinkering.
This is pretty much PopOS. Especially with how drivers are integrated into the package manager app.
Nowadays you dont gotta use the terminal very often, but I agree that we can do more to make common tasks powered by the GUI instead, or implicitly work out of the box.
My pain point with Linux atm is how my Laptop’s HDMI output doesnt work unless I’m on Nvidia-only graphics. Not only does that require logging out to switch, but it takes a command line program AND it stills feels like a broken workaround for something that would “just work” on Windows.
DisplayLink drivers also suck ass too, sadly.
Other than that, which is a pretty big pain point for new users, Linux is definitely as “out of the box” if not moreso than Windows, regardless of the distro.
The author of the blog post likes X, that’s why distro A is might be the perfect distro for them. While I like Y, which is why distro B is the perfect distro for me etc. What makes Linux -in a sense as a platform- perfect great is that it allows one to either find/install/build/configure the perfect system for them[1]. Some prefer to be in full control from start to finish, while others just like sane defaults. The fact that Linux allows for such diversity is almost mind-blowing.
The degree of that diversity will only increase as time goes on and very likely at some point (purely as a side-effect of further diversification) very ‘dumped down’ versions of Linux might -and perhaps already have- arise. This is inevitable and -perhaps to a degree- essential. And no matter how ‘dumped down’ some Linux distros would have become by then, you can still bet your money that distros like Gentoo and Slackware will continue to do what they always have. So that everybody and their mom, but also the tinker-loving you, will be able to have their perfect distro.
Therefore I don’t see any merit/benefit in contributing to gatekeeping, elitism or whatever this is supposed to be. Instead, we should contribute in more meaningful ways; e.g. like by maintaining some packages you need in your perfect distro. And perhaps those changes will actually contribute to it becoming the perfect distro for others…
- I’d argue Linux isn’t quite there yet, unfortunately. As some highly specialized systems just don’t exist yet… Regardless, l would reckon it allows one to get the closest to such systems.
I agree with this 100%, every word. Well, almost every word; the expression is “dumbed down” not “dumped down”, but other than that, this is basically what I was going to say.
I find that elitist, gatekeepy posts like what OP said are completely unhelpful. They’re worse than wrong, because they can’t even yield useful discussion, really - just neck beards nodding vigorously and everyone else rolling their eyes.
You want a stable, locked down system? Vanilla OS, Silverblue, Blend, and Aeon will have you covered. You want to tinker? Debian, Fedora, Arch, and OpenSuse are still there. Linux is about choice, and it’s just silly to worry that Arch is going to disappear just because Blend (or Garuda, or whatever the hell) exist.
It’s true. On the other hand distros like Zorin or Pop!_OS don’t need the command line and work “out of the box”.
The real problem being that, Linux users are nerds. And once you get use to power, you can’t imagine a time where you did not have that power. That is why when a newbie asks “what linux should I use”, the answers are never the right ones. It’s always : you can use that to do that, or that one is better for that aspect or […] omitting the simple fact that before all of that, to have more Linux users, the goal is NOT to scare them. Give them something easy, that works. They’ll eventually figure it out.
That’s the point of the article. It’s well written. It’s spot-on.
How long ago was this written? Sure it’s not perfect but you can run a lot of distributions like fedora, ubuntu, opensuse etc etc whatever exactly as described. Maybe this is a joke I didn’t understand lol. But in case it is not:
- No need to use command line if you don’t want to
- Drivers are installed automatically (okay this might depend on the distro but in OpenSUSE I recall this being possible in a GUI)
- There is a steam flatpak, and most user apps can be installed through a GUI, often as flatpaks
- For a user like this, I see no reason to interact with system packages other than choosing when to update.
- I’m a programmer and even I rarely edit ANYTHING in /etc on my desktop. Sure I edit stuff in ~/.config, but that is not stuff a “normal” user would need to do.
Now sure if you want to start customizing your login screen and this that and the other thing, eventually you will have to run something on the command line. But Windows doesn’t allow much customization beyond changing your desktop background, and pales in comparison to the amount of customization you can do with KDE, all through a GUI
What you’re saying is correct but all the things you’re describing are not 100% foolproof. Flatpaks are community maintained and can contain misconfigurations.
Also the sandboxed nature and all these foreign concepts for new users would have a user question why they’re not seeing their folders or why their cursor or theme doesn’t match their system.
These systems are great but they’re not nearly as polished as Windows and Mac.
It’s great for us but Linux has always struggled with any semblance of full polish. I think you’re overestimating the average computer user. Probably Ubuntu based distro’s are still as close as we got to an OS for the regular person.
The introduction of new concept could be mitigated by a proper system of introducing and explaining these to a new user but it’s difficult not to overwhelm them with info or keep them engaged and willing to learn.
TLDR;
True but it’s not that simple
I think the appstore / sandbox / flatpak situation is actually quite accessible to a younger audience that grew up with smartphones. They don’t deal with files much
Not to mention the fact chromebooks exists where local files are a mere joke and everything get’s uploaded to Google Disk or an alternative to that and they have never been more popular. The average person doesn’t save a word-processing document on a computer locally, they save it on a cloud and trust whoever owns that cloud service.
lets be real windows isnt polished either. the windows control panel and settings situation highlights that.
At least they work.
I’ve always had issues with Linux that I’m happy to solve and capable of solving but a regular computer user would not know what to do.
