Bugs. People that are into linux have enough compium and often the expertise to fix broken stuff that otherwise would work on windows. Your average user will quit after too many things don’t work out of the box.
This is sadly true for so much software, not just Linux but also many Linux application packages and self-hosting packages.
I tried to install Nextcloud yesterday, and failed at three completely different attempts/guides/packages. Same thing happened a year ago. Maybe I’ll try again in a year.
@Maticzpl Tbf my Windows OS makes me perform a bizarre ritual to just get my headphones to connect each time. Windows has as many bugs as Ubuntu at least.
I also have known people that were non technical that had way worse a time getting drivers to work on Windows than on Linux.
Real issue is software support. A lot of the big closed source stuff only wants to run on Windows whereas most open source stuff is fine working on everything.
Because the people who made money investing in the old way stop making money. That’s it. That’s the entire problem. The fossil fuels industry wants to keep making money, and the politicians who are bribed by them want to keep getting bribes. So they create a culture war so the facts don’t matter.
I’d add that especially in developed countries, we have gotten used to the high energy-density of fossil fuels, which is the result of millions of years of pressure, temperature or in short: energy. And we are using up this energy within two centuries. This resulted in the unsustainable lifestyle (it’s everywhere we look), that would have to be curbed, if we were to get off this Jurassic Park Experiment completely.
Therefore a number of people see their very (unsustainable) way of life in jeopardy. This source of resistance is what gives that culture war BS its fuel in the first place. At least in my experience of talking with people it is this negative emotional place that leads them to embrace false information in order to keep their lifestyles. Which in turn makes cooperation impossible. To make it even worse, people in developing countries now aspire to the same lifestyle - and who can blame them? But I don’t trust their (or ours for that matter) politics enough to hope for scientifically sound action to get there.
I’ve said for years that the deniers and fossil fuel barons will be looked upon by future generations as some of history’s greatest villains. They will be seen in much the same light as a Hitler or Stalin or Mao.
It’s not THAT simple. For a period of time, there is a slight reduction in quality of life as people switch to renewables. Example, in many towns there are mandatory solar requirements on new homes, which inflates the cost of construction for homeowners etc. Same with the no gas hookup requirements now in some cities where you can’ get a gas line to your house… which means higher costs to run your heat etc.
It’s one of those short term problems but it impacts people in a real way and people just don’t wanna go for that.
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.
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?
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.
The biggest issue ive had (ive only used ubuntu) is the file management. Disks and file system is a bit different from boyh mac and windows, and i had a hard yime figuring out where and how, etc.
I couldnt figure out how to get my home network to work (so my windows pc could grab files off the linux pc) and such.
I had no issues setting that up, between my mac/windows pcs
I do plan on installing linux for my sons pc which he will then be forced to learn to some degree.
I think you just made another point why Linux is difficult to adopt to for non-tech people. It takes a level of understanding about how computers work in general, and operating systems specifically, that that majority of people just do not care to have. It’s not that people are too stupid or anything like that. It’s just that the majority of people absolutely do not care what a Desktop Manager is, or why and how it’s different from the OS itself.
Well… people like you and me care because we think it’s interesting. We are the exception. The very thing we love most about Linux is the thing that stops it from general acceptance. It’s too flexible to “Just Work”.
For file sharing over a network between Linux and Windows, the keywords are “samba” and “cifs”. In my experience, that’s variable levels of pain in the ass to set up, but does work once you’ve got it configured. (Sometimes it’s easier to run an sftp server or similar on the Linux machine.)
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