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this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2024
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Look, no hate, but I always find these kinds of comments funny because I've been reading them for over twenty years.
It's not going to happen, certainly not in any significant numbers.
Hell, look at the fediverse. The vast majority of internet users find signing up to mastodon hard, let alone lemmy. How the hell are these people supposed to install linux, for example when they follow many an 'easy' linux installation guide, but then find Rufus isn't able to create a bootable USB stick in fat32? How are they supposed to verify their data, or hell change the bios settings when the guide they read gives them the wrong key to press to enter the bios? And then if by some miracle they do manage to install linux, you expect them to move away from all the apps they've grown used to? They'll try to install MS office on linux and blame this not working on linux.
TLDR: Gretchen! Stop trying to make mass linux adoption happen! It's not going to happen!
It's....been happening. Notice how gaming on Linux is an actual thing and large companies like Valve now put out things like the SteamDeck that use Linux, not Windows.
windows costs money, per device. microsoft places limits, pretty strict ones, on how far oems can go wrt customizations of the oobe, the ui/ux, and other shit. valve didn't chose linux because of anything other than it was the only reasonable choice for what they wanted to produce.
Just the fact Linux is a viable, and preferred, choice for a gaming handheld speaks volumes to how far Windows has slipped. This was an arena that nobody else competed in 10 years ago, the only choice was Windows. Now if you want a gaming handheld that won't chew through the battery via piles of ads and background processes, Linux is the choice.
Valve has been doing (or trying to do) Linux things for a long time. The reason is Microsoft's move towards a centralized Windows Store and their Xbox on Windows. That's a huge threat to Valve because they could all of a sudden find themselves in a situation where the preferred way to game on Windows is through their gaming competitor Microsoft's services because they control the OS. That's why Valve has been working hard for many years now to get gaming on Linux to the state it's currently in. It's for survival on their part.
So, do you stop rooting for your favourite sports team because they can't be world champion? Do you not support a small artist you like because he won't ever be as big as van Gogh?
Like, will desktop Linux overtake Windows anytime soon in market share? No. Do I use Linux on all my machines? Yes. Does that mean I'm not allowed to like it / hope for more adoption or hell, help people who would like to get away from Windows?
I get your point and I mostly agree. But why exactly should that be an argument for people to stop liking / improving something that's objectively got more future?
Wait until you learn how big van Gogh was during his life...
TL;DR:
“Stop advocating for things you care about, it’ll never happen. Fuck your passions and your want to share them with people.”
That’s how you sound.
I don't think entry level users are what will be converted, at least first. It's users like you and me. Users that, for whatever reason, haven't preferred Linux historically. I've tried the new popular distro every few years to 'check in' with Linux, and each time I ended up running into some issue which reaffirmed my preference for Windows sooner or later.
Until I tried Debian 12 a couple of months ago, that is. Between nonfree drivers, Wayland and its compatibility throughout the ecosystem, and updates to GNOME, it's honestly been refreshingly user-friendly and feels more optimised than Windows.
Importantly, in searching for alternatives to Windows-only software I use, I didn't have any problems and in one case actually ended up finding new software I prefer.
The peace of mind of my OS not trying to sell me something or trying to farm my engagement is nice too, but not why I'd recommend giving it a try. I've always gotten behind it in principle support of free software, but now I can get behind it actually using it. I'd recommend it because it genuinely seems better in my general use.
Linux has something like 15% market share in India and growing