Based on my tests on my family and friends, the main problem is tech support. Most geeks seem to assume other people want the same things than themselves (privacy, freedom, etc). Well, they don’t. They want a computer that just works.
Overall when using Linux, people actually don’t need much tech support, but they need it. My father put it really well by saying: “the best OS is the one of your neighbor.”
I apply few rules:
The deal with my family and friends is simple: you want tech support from me ? ok, then I’m going to pick your computer (usually old Lenovo Thinkpads bought on Ebay at ~300€) and I’m going to install Linux on it.
I’m not shy. I ask them if they want me to have remote access to their computer. If they accept, I install a Meshcentral agent. Thing is, on other OS, they are already spied on by Google, Microsoft, Apple, etc. And most people think “they have nothing to hide”. Therefore why should they worry more about a family member or a friend than some unknown big company ? Fun fact, I’ve been really surprised by how easily people do accept that I keep a remote access on their computer: even people that are not family ! Pretty much everybody has gladly agreed up to now. (and God knows I’ve been really clear that I can access their computer whenever I want).
I install the system for them and I make the major updates for them. Therefore, if I have remote access to the system, I pick the distribution I’m the most at ease with (Debian). They just don’t care what actually runs on their computers.
When they have a problem, they call me after 8pm. With remote access, most problems are solved in a matter of minutes. Usually, they call me a few times the first days, and then I never hear from them anymore until the next major update.
So far, everybody seems really happy with this deal. And for those wondering, I can see in Meshcentral they really do use those computers :-P
When i told my dad i can install Rustdesk on his computer to do remote support (moved out), he asked me “does that mean you can look at my computer whenever you want?”. I’m really proud of him, he actually listened.
I think people sell themselves short with regards to having undue access to family members’ computers. If they’re willing to give it then you’ve clearly demonstrated that you’re trustworthy and haven’t given them reason to assume you’ll snoop or worse steal from them.
Are there any limitations to Meshcentral? I tried using Team Viewer and a few others when I was supporting family on Windows, and they all wanted to charge me after a while.
I self-host Meshcentral. I haven’t seen any limitation at all. I don’t know if there are limitations when you use meshcentral.com instead of self-hosting.
I’ll have a look into it, thanks. I pretty much only support my mother’s laptop outside of my house now, but I use NoMachine to sort out the home computers. As much as I like it, it can be a bit slow sometimes, and it’s always in the back of my mind that it’s going to lock me out like the others did.
Oh actually if you are worried about vendor lock-in: Meshcentral is opensource. So even if they decide to try something stupid, a fork would be likely to happen.
I personally dont understand why mass adoption is a goal.
The “challenge” to bring users to Linux is simply making them want to use Linux. There are enough flavours and guides ranging from plug and play that anyone can use to build your own kernel and distro from scratch that anyone can find what they want in Linux… if they want it.
The truth is that for a not insignificant portion of computer users, the OS is a means to an end not a feature. Its “the computer”. A laptop that comes with windows 11 is a windows 11 machine.
If you want the average user to move to Linux, create an desktop environment with the option to look and behave like either windows or Mac, have a software compatibility layer for both that can run at the same time, buy a hardware company and include the distro as default and sell it to the masses at a loss to undercut all other options. Flood all consumer electronics stores with them.
Outside that, its not going to happen and I dont know why people want to make a competition out of it. Linux doesnt suit everyone and it doesnt have to. We see less GUIs as a good thing, id rather dev time from the solo/small dev teams go towards the functionality not making it look pretty. The majority of computer users dont agree with that though, and thats fine. I like being able to add/remove from my OS, most don’t and thats fine too. I like rolling updates, the uproar around windows updates with thousands of youtube videos dedicated to people stopping them indefinitely indicates many others dont. Our semi annual O365 update is currently rolling out at work, and people are freaking out that one of their outlook toolbars moved. Never mind its a 4 second fix to move it back, but can you imagine these people seeking out/installing/configuring/using a new desktop environment?
Its not an elitist thing. Id love more of my friends to use linux, but I cant make them want to use something. It either appeals to them or it doesnt. For most the appeal of a computer is the software it runs, and the OS is just a means for that.
I personally dont understand why mass adoption is a goal.
Oh this one is easy. The higher market share the better software support they get.
And as a secondary bonus, the more people use it the more people contribute to it and make it even better. But mostly this one is just an extension of the first point.
Last time I was hired as a code monkey we used Linux with a dual-monitor setup. The setting would not, under any circumstances, see one of those 1080p monitors as anything more than 480p.
I spent literally half the first day of work looking for solutions, and eventually settled on running some random command i don’t understand copied from the internet running on startup.
If it helps, Mint seems to have this sorted. I was using a 1080 screen and a 2k screen. Now I’ve got two 2k screens (1440 x something?). Mint detected both configurations correctly and set them up for me. The only thing I had to do was tell it which monitor was the primary, and that was only because I prefer my primary screen to be on the right.
I had the 1080 screen set up in portrait mode for a while too, and Mint had no problem with it 👍
That’s really interesting - and I see others are saying the same thing. I have never had this issue, and I’ve been using dual-monitor setups on Linux for years. I’ve never had an issue getting any monitor working correctly with Linux (and I’ve been using Linux practically full time at home since the late 90s). I wonder what’s going on for your issue.
looking @ the conservatise political programs, they realize people will die due to climate change, but their solution is more babies (ergo, forbid women to stop/prevent pregancy), not stopping climate change…
Since the correct mathematical answer isn’t one of the options, the people picking the other options are representing a real resistance to the order of mathematical logic that binds us.
The real answer is 14 because I’m 14 and this is deep.
Funding. Nobody has figured out how to fund development for large open source OSes outside of the enterprise realm. You crack that, you can have linux be installed by default on Desktop/Laptop computers, and patches that come as a result of that funding benefit the rest of the ecosystem as well. People will use the default, they will complain about it, just like they complain about Windows Update randomly restarting their computer, but they’ll use it.
But also the share of people who own laptops or desktops continues to dwindle. Many people don’t have and see no need for a computer. So they run Android, which is Linux, so I guess we’re winning there?
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