Linux has made significant strides, and in 2023, it’s better than ever. However, there are still individuals perpetuating a delusion: that desktop Linux is as user-friendly and productive as its mainstream counterparts. After a few discussions on Lemmy, I believe it’s important to provide a clear review of where Linux falls short as a daily driver for average users.
EDIT: can I just make it clear I don't agree with this article one bit and think it's an unhinged polemic?
The average user doesn't need specifically MS Office. But if they do, they do.
Use (always) your package manager. The trend of using Flatpak has severe downsides as you pointed out.
Use libvirt and the virt-manager UI
Might as well be the case. I haven't tried.
My experience is the other way around.
Old games don't run on a recent Windows either. I've tried.
If you need specific proprietary tools, you might need Windows or Wine. Depends on the specific use-case. But the 'average user' we're talking about isn't an electrical engineer. If you're a student, try KiCad it's not Eagle but it is something.
You need specialized software along with the specialized hardware. Again, more niche than 'average user'.
Same. If you need special software, you need special software. It's arguable if the 'average user' needs exactly that. Special needs might render Linux unusable in your situation.
My file manager does this. And it's more like the windows people do their webdev. I rarely work like this. I don't have a need for WinSCP on my desktop but webdev works fine.
Why do most people use Linux instead of Windows to host their servers, then? Why is almost all of the web powered by Linux if Windows is better? All the devs and sysops wrong? AWS? Almost all cloud services?
Really? I need to throw away printers because people update their Windows and the printer has no drivers available for the new Windows version. Printers stop after a service pack got rolled out and need fixing. People have Ransomware sent to them. Graphics drivers and sound drivers sometimes do silly stuff and don't detect the headphone plug properly. HDMI doesn't switch over to the projector. All sorts of small annoyances and they happen regularly.
Agree. If you learned Windows and have no idea of Linux, you'd have to learn this now. It takes time. If you had learned Linux, you'd know where the logfiles are and you'd struggle with Windows. Sometimes learning new things (properly) is a good things. Sometimes you can't be bothered or lack time to do it.
The 'average user' doesn't need all the specific tools in exactly that version. The average user needs an office suite and a browser, not Eagle and Adobe. If you live in one ecosystem and have to share stuff with your colleagues, you live in that ecosystem. I agree. I have far less issues with my linux machines and debugging is so much easier with them than the Windows machines and servers I had. It's sometimes been days of trial and error to tackle problems there while Linux usually has good debug messages available instead of 'Error 33492, program closed.'
The average user needs a stable and user-respecting system that get's out of the way. They need Office, a browser, E-Mail, a network-share and a working printer. All the specific tools and WinSCPs and so on are additional knowledge you learned during your times with Windows, while the average user struggles with their Antivirus. I agree, it's more complicated for you if you have 10+ years of windows experience and now try to apply it 1:1 to Linux. It doesn't work this way.
(My general advice is: If you want it 100% like Windows: Use Windows.)
And that's a good thing, according to my MSc. in Electronics colleague. We replaced EAGLE with KiCad a few years ago because it's just a better product ever since CERN essentially took over development.
Yeah, I can see how stuff like electronics simulation might be an issue. I'm not up to date any more, the major tools used to be some very expensive proprietary products. I've tried some simulation tools, but I'm not an expert on that and I don't know where we're at with the alternatives and what kind of feature set they offer. And I struggled a bit with KiCads autorouting back then. But it's probably gotten better since.
Because Linux is good at that, well supported at that and the people use it. When it comes to the desktop is the exact same opposite. That's kind of the point of the entire thing, Linux is great at certain things but certainly not as a desktop because it fails for all those use cases that compose the majority of what people do.
I'd have to disagree. I use it exclusively and it's awesome. My dad uses it and my mom has for quite some years. I know dozens of people who use wildly different distributions for all kinds of stuff. I think it'd be the same for the majority of people if it came with their Laptops and Chromebooks.