Let’s not cherrypick scenarios to try and pretend Linux is easier than Windows. Most normal people are nervous interacting with a GUI pop-up that gives them two options, never mind putting them into a terminal window where they could seriously fuck up their machine. What about clicking the download link on a webpage, clicking next a few times and having them software on your machine, compared to having to build something from GitHub (how many people here have never had to do that?).
Most normal people are nervous interacting with a GUI pop-up that gives them two options, never mind putting them into a terminal window where they could seriously fuck up their machine
Maybe this is a problem that we should be addressing, rather than just making technology more of a black box, and raising generations of people who have no fucking concept of how any of it works.
If you have a driver's license, do you know a car works besides the basic maintenance that is checking your oil and keeping the tires inflated? Some people don't even do that last one, while it's a thing you should check regularly.
I think it's a good thing the general public is able to use a computer without knowing the inner workings, but it also shouldn't be obscured from them if they want to know/learn.
Greatest and Silent generations helped create computing, Boomers helped create important software such as DOS, Gen X and Millennials helped develop the Web, Gen Z is still going into computing and development jobs and Gen Alpha is too young to consider
This applies to pretty much all "Linux good, Win/MacOS bad" memes. I just assume that people either aren't really serious about them and it's just tongue in cheek, or they don't have any contact with regular people.
I used to work as a(n assistant to the) sysadmin and the things I got called over never stopped to amaze. For instance, there was a case when software was updated on the work machines and I got called because some lady couldn't use Adobe Acrobat. "It is asking me something, I don't know what". I come over and it's just a TOS Accept/Decline window.
Some people do not understand computers to an extent that they can lock up in a state of confusion when a button has been moved 100px in any direction from its usual position.
Unless you have a system without a GUI, you don't need to open a terminal in order to update or install stuff. There is a GUI for that. And no, you don't need to build stuff from GitHub for normal user stuff..
We were talking about normal user stuff that normal users do, not "seriously advanced stuff".. And I agree that most normal users probably don't want to use terminals because they are not familiar with them. But normal users probably don't and shouldn't do "seriously advanced stuff", no?
Yes, if you are trying to do "serously advanced stuff" (whatever that means), chances are you will probably need a terminal (or a terminal will at least be easier), but you shouldn't be doing "seriously advanced stuff" unless you know what you are doing anyway...
That experience is highly dependent on the Linux distro you're using. Steam comes preinstalled on gaming-centric distros like Nobara or Pop!_OS. More "general purpose" distros like Mint or Ubuntu might require adding an apt repository before you can install steam from their GUI package managers, but adding an apt repo can be easily accomplished with a GUI as well.
Basically, if there's no guide for installing steam for a given distro, or the process of installing steam is more than a couple easy steps, that specific distro probably isn't well suited to run steam.
Weird, I would expect Steam to be in the Ubuntu repos (assuming that's what you were using, since you mention apt), but maybe not. As for apt, or apt-get, they are just the terminal equivalent of the GUI package manager (synaptic? it's been a minute since I ran ubuntu), so if something isn't in the repos, apt at the terminal won't find it either.
If it's not in the repos, you should be able to download and install steam from the website just like you would in windows. It gives you a .deb file which will launch just like an executable installer in Ubuntu.
But to your point, yes, sometimes things in linux take a little extra thinking to get to work. Getting accustomed to the way Linux works can help overcome hiccups like this. Windows has many quirks as well, it's just that if you use WIndows often you know your way around them.
Let's also not conflate "ease" with historical behavior.
Taking previous experience out of the equation, it is easier to type apt upgrade and reboot to update your entire system than to click through 300 times in the system and multiple apps with reboots.
Most normal people are nervous interacting with a GUI pop-up that gives them two options
Sadly no. They should be nervous if it's about making changes to their system. In reality however Windows conditioned them to just click the button labeled "Yes" or "Okay" without even reading the pop-up in the first place.