Linux will never become more widespread untill they make it more plug-and-play

I have the opposite experience. Last time I tried Linux for daily desktop use was ten years ago and it was so fickle and cumbersome that I went back to Windows and terminals and x-server on virtual machines for my dev needs. A few weeks ago I got a new convertible laptop, hated Windows 11 with passion enough to do the plunge again, prepared to be cursing that shit ain't up to shit. But... It just worked. Hardware support out of the box. Some quirks obviously but nothing deal breaking. I'm used to containerization on servers and I'll be damned but Flatpaks are effing awesome. Even Windows games run perfectly. It. Just. Works. I'm almost expecting the entire thing to literally blow up in my face with shards of hope and OLED panel because, you know, Linux desktop experiences of the past. Fingers crossed. Maybe this is the future after all.

Edit: Fedora KDE on a HP Envy x360 15"

Edit 2: Forgot to mention that I tried PopOS first that did not just work out of the box. Or well it seemed to at first but then it got complicated. Fedora was my saviour.

This isn't an unpopular opinion, just ignorance. You're used to other systems. Different systems are different, even among the various Linux distributions. Having used mostly Linux and Windows, I too briefly had some culture shock using OSX. Complaining here is like rocking in a rocking chair, it may feel good but it's not going to get you anywhere.

Windows is an abomination when it comes to plug and play. Errors are part of the normal use of the system and rebooting is actually the most efficient way to solve issues. If that is fine for you then anything is.

First Windows install/run:

1. Protracted install with DRM.
2. Download NIC drivers on another PC and put them in a flash drive.
3. Install NIC drivers on the new PC.
4. Install most other drivers with Windows Update.
5. Hunt down other missing drivers from manufacturer websites, some don't have installers and need to be installed via device manager.
6. Change Windows settings so that the OS isn't constantly nagging you with ads for Microsoft products and services.
7. Download software you use individually from different websites and install them one at a time, each with their own unique installer. Force the OS to respect your defaults as best you can.
8. Never fully have control over your own computer, because Daddy Microsoft says so.

First Linux install/run:

1. Express install.
2. Hardware just works.
3. Run updater.
4. Install software quickly from store(s) - with a script if you want to.
5. The computer is yours.

I just spent 45 minutes trying to install Standard Notes "the right way"

I'm curious what you mean by the "right" way, from a website? Linux does things differently at a fundamental level, that I won't deny. But I'll also say, if you're interested in Linux, you have to be willing to learn.

I'm not an expert, but as I understand it most Linux distributions rely on repositories, and expect you to install most of your software from there for both security and compatibility reasons. Those errors were telling you what additional things needed to be downloaded before what you selected would work. And I guess I'm confused on that point. You said it pointed you to what you needed, did things not work after the downloads completed? I know Linux Mint does this, and it's considered to be very user friendly. To use your analogy, if you turn the welder on and it says you need fuel, "please download this exact type" that should resolve the issue.

I know it's hard expecting everything in Linux to function exactly like Windows, but that's not how it works and that's by design. Regardless, as Windows adopts more spyware, ads, and anti-user features into their products I think Linux is the far better (free and open-source) choice and it's definitely worth learning... Good luck!

You haven't been using Linux for long enough.

I remember when you literally couldn't install it on a laptop. I remember having to download wireless driver binary blobs in order to get only a select few WiFi adapters to work. I remember printing being a roll of the dice. I remember hardware graphics acceleration being non existent. I remember when gaming on Linux was Doom, Quake, any of the various Tux games, and Battle of Wesnoth. I remember when webcams just straight up weren't supported. Installing Linux? Prepare to download "disk sets" that were lettered and numbered based on what software you wanted, and each one would go on individual floppy disks.

I used to have to look up hardware that Linux supported and make purchases based on that.

I know things are far from perfect nowadays, but I just wanted to point out that we stand on the shoulders of giants. I bought my kids some Lenovo Ryzen based laptops for Christmas, was able to boot Linux from a USB drive, install it, install steam, put their favorite games on there and it all just worked. Not a single hiccup.

Just wanted to lend some perspective.

Never seen this program before, out of curiosity what is "the right way"?

Standard notes is available as appimage from their website, as a snap on ubuntu and also as flatpak on flathub. How did you install or run it? Also, please don't equate ubuntu with linux, unless you had troubles installing it on other distros as well. It scares away other people trying to move to good gnu+linux distros (like linux mint, fedora, etc).

I recall having issues like that when I tried to do things the wrong way. The forum posts just tell you wow to do something, but they rarely question if it’s the sensible thing to do in the first place. If Standard Notes isn’t in my repositories or if I can’t find a flatpack for it, I would just ditch the whole idea and switch to whatever note app is easily available. If something is not easily available, I just ignore those apps completely. Going through hours of trickery and hackery to build a wobbly tower that will collapse next week is not worth it.

True

Yea chatgpt is great at this. Yea, installing stuff can be confusing some times. Happens more rarely in windows. Pick the method that is easiest for you. If it does not work right away, use an alternative software. The more popular, the better support and ease of use. Hopefuly Valves efforts in linux gaming and microsofts crackdown on privacy, pushes more people towards linux. Only the future will tell where this is going. I remain optimistic.

Installing applications can be done in a few ways, typically you'll just download from your OS's software store. Ubuntu does sometimes require that you add new repositories, but to avoid that you can always give something like flatpak or appimage versions of the software you want a try. Appimages are similar to .exe files, you can just download them from the software's website - and you can get flatpak applications from flathub.org. The main downside with these is they come with all the stuff they depend on, so they tend to be a bigger file size, they can be a little slower but honestly it's barely noticable. I rarely use appimages because they won't show up in your desktop environment's application list by default and it can be a pain to set them up to show. A good default way to go is Software store -> Flatpak -> Appimage -> then finally if none of that works you could do it manually, but I don't recommend that. Ubuntu's software store tends to be behind on updates because as a distribution it's focused on stability. Once you're used to it, there's a lot of advantages to using a centralized software store instead of downloading .exe files off websites. Either way, don't let some growing pains totally discourage you! Not every distribution provides the same experience, and there's a lot of options out there!

I think you're always going to have issues installing an OS yourself versus using a laptop (or other device) with an OS installed already. The hardware issues should be resolved for you which gets rid of some of the issues others have raised like missing wireless card drivers. Having said that, the issues you hit are pretty common to anyone moving to a new OS like "how do I install software?". I remember using macOS for the first time and finding the "mount a DMG file and drag it to the applications folder" completely unintuitive and someone had to tell me that was how it was done. There's always a barrier to entry and I think it's perfectly reasonable to say that Linux requires more from the user than other OSes. However I think we're seeing some solid efforts from companies like System76 and Tuxedo to make Linux more accessible. Hell the Steam Deck is fantastic and the fact it's Linux is almost completely hidden from you (until of course you come across a game you can't play, thanks Warhammer Vermintide 2).

In short I disagree with some of the other comments that imply some failing on your part or on tech illiterate people. Every OS has problems, and Linux's biggest problem is getting people past the painful stages of adoption which you just power through if you've bought a new device. I will agree with others saying their windows experiences are worse than modern Linux but then we're probably a bit biased!

Maybe instead of expecting everything else to always get dumbed down, people should try to step up just a little and learn something?

The thing about the "race to the bottom" of making things idiot proof/accessible is that the universe is more than happy to keep providing better idiots.

Have you maybe time traveled 15 years into the future?