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For server hosting it's the only way to go.
Gaming has improved significantly, although it's rather frustrating that it's by all these compatibility layers and such rather than native run.
For desktop, as a workstation and general purpose it's 'ok' with rough edges. Things like (limited tests with a couple common distros like Ubuntu/Mint/Bazzite) the nextcloud app not supporting virtual files that have been available for a while in Windows and domain auth being twitchy where I've tried.
For the end user a big part is being able to just find an app and use it, no compiling or tweaking of settings needed for it to do what's expected. Package managers help greatly, but with the huge number of distros out there it makes it really hit and miss to say just go for it. The relatively few times you can just download a Linux version of an app from a site (as people are prone to doing if they go read about something on the web) you often would have to go chmod +x it and quite possibly have to run it from a CLI rather than just click the downloaded app.
So usable yes, but in a place where I could just drop it on someone and say go to town less so...
I read that Ubuntu is trying to solve this with the Snap Store.
But to be honest, I'm just not the target demographic for that.
I honestly think if the EU had continued with rolling out Mandrake and SuSe to public sector employees 20 years ago, Linux would be dominant today. Microsoft lobbied hard to stop it.
And I think the way forward will be to have a handful of big customers making the switch. Either China or the EU will probably drive this.
Maybe Huawei might sell MacBook alternatives based on Linux. Or the EU might revisit that old SuSe/Mandrake strategy.
Or the EU might revisit that old SuSe/Mandrake strategy.
They actually are ! I have seen a few posts talking about it. Not sure about SuSe/Mandrake, but they are talking to implement Linux or try to somehow get away from Microsoft.
Agreed. Just put Debian on a 17" i7 Asus laptop tonight as win11 didn't like the track pad or the display adapter.
To get Chrome on, had to download a deb file, then manually open it with a right click and choose software installer since it wanted to open an archive instead.
Just little things like that are tedious for the n00b.
had you installed mint or pop, you could just install multiple chrome variants from the software manager
This is part of the annoyance of Nix as a desktop though. With windows you have 64bit and (for whatever reason) x86 versions of apps and it's generally just assumed to work with what your running, unless you have an antique with win98 or something.
With Nix there are a a whole pile of possible variables and ways to install things. Particularly with people getting so used to phone/tablet app stores the need for easy install, use, removal is needed for mass adoption. Nobody wants to create folder structures and set environment variables to use some app.
Good point.
Mint wouldn't run on my other Asus laptop which is why I ended up on Debian. I think it was a discrete GPU issue booting to a black screen.
I know most Linux users probably wouldn't want Chrome anyway, but since it's the most popular browser and this post is discussing the greater populace, I think it was a valid point - same as how a n00b booting to a black screen is an issue.
Having to fetch gnome tweaks to get a right click on a trackpad is another - that might just be a Debian thing.
Is it Linux's fault that Google doesn't provide an apt repository? Chromium is available in DebianStable
Absolutely 100% agreed.
I'm frustrated by app managers because on principle they all work so much better than the Windows alternative, but the moment you have to explain to people how and why they need to manually add repositories or what a flatpak is you've lost the battle.
For server hosting it’s the only way to go.
How I wish
It’s like someone’s never used GroupPolicy.
As much of a shit show as it is, group policy is really the killer feature of Windows.
And Active Directory
Kinda but … they go together, and Active Directory is more or less LDAP+Kerberos with a sprinkling of standardization on top.