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this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2024
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Technology
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yes, it does have a different set of advantages/disadvantages. i'm talking specifically about bloatware and privacy problems. looking for competition and alternatives is a good thing.
hardware support isn't perfect on windows either and can always be worked on (and it is!) when the entity behind it doesn't have financial incentive to enshittify their software.
the important part is that we don't have ONE financially motivated entity with all the control.
dismissing it as 'a broad switch' ignores the fact moat people use windows just because its whats there despite its shortcomings. we should be pushing for it.
When going from Windows to Linux, all of the tradeoffs are involved. For me what I don't like about Windows outweighs the pain points of my choice of Linux distro, but for some they'd weigh the sides and Windows still comes out on top.
Anyway my take is that Linux is better ideologically, but for the average consumer who justs want to use their favorite apps, Windows works fine and they're not really going to care until Windows piles on enough garbage to make switching worthwhile.
I was under the impression we were talking about power users though. isnt this thread about how to debloat Windows? I'm talking about specifically people taking their time to learn and debloat Windows. Thats a huge difference.
Average consumers put up with an OS riddled with ads because they don't know any better, not because Facebook and Zoom wouldn't work.
Even then if you swap it out for Linux, most average people will adapt to the UI and then not see much difference. Average people use apps that are all on Linux one way or the other.
I guess it kind of depends. Not really sure what most people actually use, but for those who use MS's services, Office web isn't great, and Skype for Linux is rather temperamental. A lot of games work under Proton, but not all.
My perception of "average user" is probably skewed towards being not technical enough to troubleshoot on their own, but skilled enough to run through a tutorial of what keys to press. For someone used to Windows, patching things up is simpler than learning all the ins and outs of a new OS.
I don't disagree that most people would be fine using Linux, but there needs to be a compelling reason why Linux would be significantly better, or else the switching cost makes it not worthwhile.
I wholeheartedly agree with your last point.
Linux is better for a lot of uses but it has to be much better in order for people to actually want to switch.
Or it has to come preinstalled on computers. Maybe the cost savings alone would be worth it to people. This happened in the past in my country and you still see many normies who prefer Linux.