Great take on "Why don't more people use Linux?"
Great take on "Why don't more people use Linux?"
A couple of weeks ago, I saw a tweet asking: "If Linux is so good, why aren't more people using it?" And it's a fair question! It intuitively rings true until you give it a moment's consideration. Linux is even free, so what's stopping mass adoption, if it's actually better? My response: “If exercis...
Stumbled across this quick post recently and thought it was a really good tale and worth sharing.
A couple of weeks ago, I saw a tweet asking: "If Linux is so good, why aren't more people using it?" And it's a fair question! It intuitively rings true until you give it a moment's consideration. Linux is even free, so what's stopping mass adoption, if it's actually better? My response:
- If exercising is so healthy, why don't more people do it?
- If reading is so educational, why don't more people do it?
- If junk food is so bad for you, why do so many people eat it?
The world is full of free invitations to self-improvement that are ignored by most people most of the time. Putting it crudely, it's easier to be fat and ignorant in a world of cheap, empty calories than it is to be fit and informed. It's hard to resist the temptation of minimal effort.
And Linux isn't minimal effort. It's an operating system that demands more of you than does the commercial offerings from Microsoft and Apple. Thus, it serves as a dojo for understanding computers better. With a sensei who keeps demanding you figure problems out on your own in order to learn and level up.
Now I totally understand why most computer users aren't interested in an intellectual workout when all they want to do is browse the web or use an app. They're not looking to become a black belt in computing fundamentals.
But programmers are different. Or ought to be different. They're like firefighters. Fitness isn't the purpose of firefighting, but a prerequisite. You're a better firefighter when you have the stamina and strength to carry people out of a burning building on your shoulders than if you do not. So most firefighters work to be fit in order to serve that mission.
That's why I'd love to see more developers take another look at Linux. Such that they may develop better proficiency in the basic katas of the internet. Such that they aren't scared to connect a computer to the internet without the cover of a cloud.
Besides, if you're able to figure out how to setup a modern build pipeline for JavaScript or even correctly configure IAM for AWS, you already have all the stamina you need for the Linux journey. Think about giving it another try. Not because it is easy, but because it is worth it.
And Linux isn't minimal effort. It's an operating system that demands more of you than does the commercial offerings from Microsoft and Apple. Thus, it serves as a dojo for understanding computers better. With a sensei who keeps demanding you figure problems out on your own in order to learn and level up.
Counterpoint: most people don't use Linux because the people that evangelize Linux talk about it like this.
I don't want to "level up," I want to accomplish my tasks. I'm trying to get shit done, not train for a fucking tournament.
The UIs and UXes in Linux are still shit and look like they are from 1998. Engineers are not great designers. I design UI and UX for windows and Android for a living. I'm not professionally educated in design, but I know how to make a GUI look like it wasn't a collab by Mattel and M.C Esher for use on a museum computer. That goes for apps and system features. The Bluetooth device GUI in Linux Mint is fuckawful:
Being able to consistently install things by downloading an exe from a website and just double click it is lacking.
The names of Linux software are also regularly dumb. Trying to be punny, clever, or cool. If it resized images, just call it Image Resized For Mint or something, not "Nautilus" or Nemo", they are forgettable and tell me nothing about the app "Uhh, it was something ocean themed, I think". (This is true of Windows apps as well, Audacity, Figma Director, and Irfanview, I'm looking at you)
Apps "forgetting" the last-used settings, inc last used save file path, or user config, is a common issue too. Out of the box, apps should remember last-used settings without having to be told.
Window focus interfering with key capture is an issue too. Use Flameshot (a screen capture app) to take a region screenshot of a right-click context menu in another app - you can't. Greenshots on windows does it fine.
I still persist with Mint, but the process is further from 'Seamless' than even windows 11, the shitshow it is.
Maybe I just hate all operating systems.
See...
The RTFM condescending, contemptuous attitude doesn't help.
A lot of us are not teens, or 20 somethings, and have other responsibilities and duties.
We just want the shit to "Just Work." We don't want to research why the last version upgrade broke the graphics driver, or why our printer doesn't work anymore, or any of that stuff.
Granted, the distros that try to fix this have advanced light years over the last actual 20 years, but it's still not good enough.
And yes, I have my "Compiled From Scratch Arch" membership card. Never again.
Path of least resistance is at the electronics store and general support from marketed software. So lack of Linux hardware in stores and lack of well marketed software
20 years ago Apple at least had store presence and had their own software as major draws, Final Cut Pro, GarageBand people loved, and really as a brand MacBook's are/were fashionable
Linux is widespread in software development and data science. It's mainstream draw is still developing. Could be games. It could maybe someday be seen as the choice for content creators if the selection of media creation/editing continues to improve and have their Blender/Krita rise. Talking like Kdenlive, Ardour, GIMP, etc
Man, I wish the Windows-only shop I support as a sysadmin "just worked." I spend the majority of my time troubleshooting random Windows issues.
Driver issues, firmware issues, Teams breaking, Outlook breaking, SharePoint and OneDrive sync issues, Edge freezing/crashing, UI scaling issues, routine updates failing, random connectivity issues, random audio issues, printer issues...
I won't lie, my Linux computers have random issues too, but way less often than the Windows machines I have to support every day. And when I encounter the Linux issues, I actually can fix them in a way that is permanent almost always.
Windows on the other hand, I typically fix and then the same problem starts happening again a few months later after an update, or the only "fix" that works is restarting the computer several times in a row.
To be fair to the Windows defenders, Windows 11 has easily been the worst for this in my experience. Windows 10 was more stable, and Windows 7 was even better. XP had lots of random issues, but back then you could still get under the hood pretty easily and make Windows do what you wanted.
Every personal device I have runs Linux and has for several years. I removed Windows completely from my life thank God, and I can't imagine going back. I honestly would be more likely to stop using computers altogether before I went back to the horror show that is Windows/Microsoft.
And Linux isn’t minimal effort. It’s an operating system that demands more of you than does the commercial offerings from Microsoft and Apple. Thus, it serves as a dojo for understanding computers better. With a sensei who keeps demanding you figure problems out on your own in order to learn and level up.
I don't think this is true unless you're digging in. For the average person doing everyday things, using a Linux Mint installation isn't going to be any more complicated than using Windows. Just different, with some new patterns to learn. I don't know about MacOS since I've never felt moved to pay the entry fee to use it.
Let them eat ads
Worst take ever. Outside of Desktop, Windows gets dominated by Linux. Even on Azure, Linux is the number one OS over MS's Windows Server. Windows is free on IoT and still Linux dominates. So what makes Desktop different? 30 years of Microsoft's vendor lock-in strategy. All the OEMs have to invest into Windows because they have to take the volume licensing deal from Microsoft or be priced out. This ensures Windows engineering efforts for drivers, software, and testing. Because the machines were Windows, 3rd party hardware and software had to invest into Windows as well. When there is no vendor lock-in, Linux receives the money for engineering efforts and dominates Windows. Nobody complains about having Linux on their Smart TV. Right, because the money for engineering efforts are not forced to be put toward Windows. How many people are switching their Steam Deck to Windows 80%? 50%? 10%? 1%,? more like ~0.1% switch. The money is there to make a great experience and so there is almost no reason to switch. It's only the tech nerds that are installing OSes. Average people don't even know what Windows or Linux is. When Microsoft loses it's lock-in strategy, Linux will take over. Nobody is choosing Windows for Desktop. It's just what comes on the machine at the store.
Well yes but also no. There are quite a few distros that are "minimal effort", they just work for the average person without any more knowledge you'd need on Windows or Mac. The last part that's still not so "minimal effort" is gaming, most things just work out of the box, some things don't. Btw Android is Linux.
So I don't think that the problem is that Linux needs a little more knowledge or effort, because it mostly doesn't, but the fact that most people who would switch see a billion different distros and don't know what to do. Having so much choice here actually hinders people from coming to Linux. Doesn't mean it would be better with less choices, it's just one of several reasons why we don't see mass adoption.
Another reason is the outdated thinking that Linux is complicated to use (and this blog fuels just that).
Why don't people use Linux? Fair question. It's because people who don't use Linux are stupid and lazy.
Wow, galaxy brain stuff.
Sysadmin here. I use Linux a lot on the job and in my homelab, but it's true, I don't wasn't firefighting exercises off the clock. I just want to use my computer. Also, my systems are used by the whole family, and they sure as hell don't want to learn Linux and become IT zealots.
You hit the nail right on the head. Chromebooks got decent enough uptake and many folks just use an ios or android smartphone and don't really use a computer. In some ways its nice things are like this. At least for me. I used to eat fast food way to often but that bout of inflation hit fastfood hard and now I rarely if ever eat it. Even my once in awhile is a non chain burger, hot dog, beef, gyro, burrito type place and not taco bell or mcdonalds since the mom and pop places are like a buck or two more for higher quality. Still pretty rare though.
I think one of the biggest hurdles for Linux is that Windows comes preinstalled. People are lazy, and want things to just work.
If companies could sell systems at a reasonable, competitive price, with Linux preinstalled; I do believe we could see folks use it.
The average user does not see a computer the same way a tech-savvy individual does. They want to push the buttons and the computer do the thing.
Sure steam has helped make it more viable for game enjoying folks to hop on board, even if it isn't just click and play for every game; it has made strides.
We also need support from big entities, but that is likely an uphill battle. For as much as I love open source software, and the entire ecosystem surrounding open software standards; we have players like Microsoft, adobe, and I am sure more that will push back. Including DRM and Anti-Cheat from other companies as well.
The average user isn't going to know, let alone fight things like kernel level anti-cheat, DRM, and closed standards.
Unfortunately not everyone has the will, the time, or the intelligence to learn something new.
And add in many folks inability to deal with change well.
This is just some of my thoughts on the subject...
Development led me directly to installing Linux because Windows is bad for dev...
I fell into the warm embrace of KDE and GNOME environments in 2022 and have never looked back.
I’ll give an alternative opinion.
Im a software engineer and have been doing it for many years. I’m comfortable with various Linux distros. I build software for and deploy software to various Linux instances. I maintain Linux systems and overall like using Linux for these purposes.
When I come home, I turn on my windows PC and it just works. I don’t want to maintain a Linux system at home because it feels like work and I don’t want to work at home. Yes, most days I’d not need to do anything, but some days I would. And those days I’d prefer not to.
It is less about not wanting intellectual exercise and more about already having worked out today, so I’d rather relax with junk food and watch Netflix.
I've been wanting to switch to Linux for years, but it was always too intimidating for me since I'm not a computer programmer. In the end, it took a roommate who was tech savvy to help install it and answer a few questions. Took about 10 minutes of his time but I still felt like a burden
Sysadmin here. I work with linux every day, live and breathe.
And both my actual workstation and my home machine are windows.
Because for tasks that aren't inherently problem-solvey, I don't want to have to problem-solve.
For tasks that need tools and technical skills and poking it with a stick, absolutely do them on linux. Logfiles, strace, tcpdump, your programming language of choice, all the tools in the box.
But for file/print/email/office/internet/media/video gaem, lolno fuck that. Save your creative ingenuity and mental bandwidth for the things that actually need it; you don't want to be reinventing the wheel every morning just to make breakfast.
For the mundane shit where you only care about the content, the UX on windows (or mac, for the people used to it) is just boringly unobtrusive, and thus the better choice.
I can't use Linux because I can't get the medication I need to read through the documentation. I am literally unable to focus on pages of details on my own and it's crippling. If any issues come up, like trying to get an nVidia card to work, I can't get through the help documents.
Linux is unhelpful by being so open. As much as folks don't like rails on their operating system, it helps some of us get work done. I want to like Linux and have a laptop with Mint but it's wireless card needs drivers and finding relief is non-existent.
dhh isn't advocating for linux for everybody per se; instead it's addressed at programmers and similar folk who regard linux as way too complex for everyday use. the background story being that he was an Apple fanboy for the longest time and recently made the switch and now can't shut up about it. as a result they (basecamp) developed some insane rice setup that has to be seen to be believed, it's beyond ridiculous.
as an aside, I've met those people he's talking at and they regularly blow my mind. like, how can you utilize a modern toolchain for practically every possible development scenario using an OS that actively fights you every step of the way, the abomination called WSL notwithstanding...
so the idea is the brogrammers will become the early adopters and by way of trickle-down-tech linux will make its way to normies, same way e.g. Android did.
I don't think that's gonna happen in the foreseeable future. the options, distros, DEs, whatevers are way too fragmented and fragile and are infested with the most deluded, rabid "fans" there are, each and everyone of them mired in truckloads of "no true scottsman" fallacies.
Apple has a vertically integrated tech stack - there is one DE, one WM, one codebase for every product they sell and they are free to focus their sinister efforts elsewhere, backed by the deepest coffers there are.
contrast this with the myriad of distros, package managers, DEs, WMs, etc. each pulling in a different direction, abandoned paths and duplicated efforts galore, done predominantly with no funds to speak of; and if there are any, they are squandered on... what was it, shamans?
no math in this universe is gonna make team #2 catch up to team #1, let alone surpass it.
good take while I love Linux I must admit it has been quite the struggle sometimes. But everything worthwhile in life takes effort. It's not everybody's cup of tea and I like it that way actually.
If you have other takes then let's discuss here!
When I told my father, who has been using computers since the MS-DOS days and is by no mean technology-illiterate, that I switched to Linux, his response was "What's Linux?".
I knew it was a lost cause to explain him about privacy, or control and ownership of his own device. He uses Windows 11 and as long as it does what he needs it to do he will never care enough about switching over.