It's the simple things really. I've swapped back to Linux as my primary about a year ago, and still I have issues I don't have with Windows.
6 months now, particularly on Linux Mint (Bazzite to its credit hasn't had this issue much) I just can't fit connect to the internet. Linux is the only thing with this issue. By some arcane lucky magic, it somehow fixes itself when I'm fiddling around trying to fix it myself.
Only for the problem to come back next time I boot up my PC on Mint.
I have it connected to a TP link switch, just like other devices. None have the issue, not even a console (Nintendo Switch). Months, fucking months of going through forum posts, articles, social media, and trying out dozens upon dozens of "solutions", both in gui and the terminal - and the problem persists.
Now, I don't think I'm tech savvy exactly, but I'm not tech illiterate either. I understand some simple lines of code, some very basics of networking, etc. I'm patient enough to deal with issues like these for over half a year.
But how the hell is Linux even going to dream of being anywhere near mainstream when one of the most recommended "beginner" distros can't even run a year long without something as simple as the damned internet working???
And it's not just the internet. It's little things that just pop up one day and now you have to solve a puzzle to figure it out. Oh, suddenly you have to print something? Oh, you decided to get a light up keyboard that was on sale? Try to use Steam Link? Get ready to roll the dice on whether it'll take you a weekend to do / use it.
Microsoft is shit. Windows, is shit. Windows 11 is a privacy goddamn nightmare.
But in the end of the day, it just fucking works, those damn bastards ensure that. And even when something doesn't work, it seems, for some unknown reason, most of the online solutions do fix the issue.
Now imagine someone who's less likely to open up a terminal using Linux. They won't. They'll sacrifice their privacy because they might have full time jobs in something not remotely tech related and just wanted to watch some YouTube and don't want to spend the little free time they have fixing their own computer.
What's hilarious is just as I'm finishing this rant, the internet on Mint just magically decided to work again with no issues.
Maybe next time then I'll try yelling at the Linux fairies in my PC to see if they'll do their magic. At this point it's about a valid solution as any other.
The sarcastic and rude responses to this post also show a major downside of Linux, asking for help with an issue on Linux often results in little actual help and lots of annoying responses.
I've honestly rarely seen negative responses to posts actually asking for help (at least here), the only reason people are responding to this post negatively is because OP's post can sound arrogant and ignorant.
ignorant because they are restating a common complaint that everyone's heard many times already (that some devices have bad support) and arrogant because they are pointing the blame at volunteers rather than the companies making those products that don't support linux, volunteers that a lot of people here respect
I'm sure the responses would've been very different if it was a post asking for help rather than a post of complaints
Maybe constructive communication courses should be mandatory worldwide if something that amounts to "Your stupid OS doesn't work for me so it's never going to work for anyone [who isn't a nerd with infinite spare time to fix it all' the time]!" is how people think to ask for help.
My point being, this isn't a request for help. This is yet another nuisance post by someone who's come to punish "the Linux community" for some problem they had. It's unproductive, unamusing, inflammatory, and on top of all' that it's redundant: we get this crap often.
I wouldn't call it unproductive. We live in an era where things "just work," and when they don't then you end up with complications. Would a business switch to Linux if they see that network problems are a possibility? Maybe when they're looking to upgrade their hardware, but even then they'd have to get their IT department to research hardware that will "just work" with Linux. And after that, they need to find a commercial wholesaler to provide the kit or have the company custom build however many PCs themselves, just so they don't end up having financial losses due to failed network connections. Would they put Linux on their current hardware? Hell no. Windows is a known quantity and no business is going to risk losses by introducing a potentially risky operating system to their systems/workflow. It is good to point out the issues with the OS so that those issues can be fixed. It's good to hear the perspectives of the everyman if we want Linux to grow.
how do you see complaints like this helping fix hardware support issues?
it's not like people don't know that wlan support on linux isn't great, or that nvidia drivers are bad, it's just that the community doesn't have enough resources to fix them.
if we want real fixes we need to either have the companies making these products start writing drivers for linux, or more volunteers writing drivers, neither of which sound like something that'll come soon.
What a weird comment. What do IT departments do if everything "just works?" Also, this isn't a company. This is one random person saying Linux is bad for home users and always will be because they had one bad experience. Bug reports and actual requests for help are productive. "It didn't work for me so it's crap" is not. If some people having bad experiences doomed an OS then Windows would've died by now.
I'm literally asking people to prefer using us for tech support over dropping our nth rant this week about how Linux is crap because it upset them.
Also, we get every "it doesn't work!!!" rant but few "Oh wow, it works just fine!" posts. Who wants to work on improving the "everyman" experience when they won't be paid for it and the appreciation they get will be an email or two of thanks and people still insisting that Linux will always be crap because of every single thing they didn't fix?
[Kinda rant] Knowing that those people are giving special treatment to some other OS... or rather, I suppose they're giving special treatment to Linux. It's the "hard" one, the "rough" one. If your wifi doesn't work in Linux it's because Linux is crap. If it doesn't work in Windows it's because of literally anything but Windows. Could be solar flares or Canadian government mind control waves or something. Not precious Microsoft Windows, though. Everything works on that! (Except when it doesn't, then I get called because I'm the local "computer whiz" or, for one summer, a computer repair tech critter... with that little experience in the role I still saw drivers flaking out and taking down Windows systems)
Anyway, what do we get from "Linux will never be mainstream because my wifi doesn't work" or any other "Shut up about your stupid crappy OS" type thing that we don't get from a more cooperative approach? A bug report, or a request for help, or just "here are my experiences?" I suppose what I'm getting at is...
tl;dr: Bashing is useless and annoying, nothing is permanently crap because one person had a bad experience. ...Especially when another person had a bad experience with any available alternative. Sharing is sharing but "It sucks!" n times per week is discouraging and counterproductive.