This is an unpopular opinion every time I bring it up. Usability and consistency sucks in Linux. There are just so many basic things that will frustrate users coming from Windows. I can’t even get my laptop (Framework 13) to sleep properly. Then there are is still a ton where you have to use the command line to get it done. A user shouldn’t have to go into the command line to get their fingerprint reader to work because the GUI doesn’t work properly.
The only thing that actually makes Linux practical for average users these days is that most everything is now web based by default so most users only interact with a couple programs for most of their day.
The Linux community really needs to get some UX experts in their projects and actually make an effort to improve usability rather than just doing it the way they like to do it.
And windows is full of simple things that are just as broken. And constantly makes changes (OP being another in a long list of examples) injecting obvious advertising masquerading as features.
Windows certainly isn’t perfect, but though familiarity and at minimum exposing a reasonable amount through the GUI, way more users can use Windows daily without issues.
The advertising and tracking, that’s the big problem, I don’t see a currently acceptable OS solution once Windows 10 is EOL.
Most of the issues you describe are because usually computers come with Windows preinstalled with all the drivers and configuration set up by the oem to “just work”, so replacing the OS inevitably means fiddling with it. People who e.g. try to install Windows on a SteamDeck will face similar difficulties.
This is an unpopular opinion every time I bring it up. Usability and consistency sucks in Linux. There are just so many basic things that will frustrate users coming from Windows. I can’t even get my laptop (Framework 13) to sleep properly. Then there are is still a ton where you have to use the command line to get it done. A user shouldn’t have to go into the command line to get their fingerprint reader to work because the GUI doesn’t work properly.
The only thing that actually makes Linux practical for average users these days is that most everything is now web based by default so most users only interact with a couple programs for most of their day.
The Linux community really needs to get some UX experts in their projects and actually make an effort to improve usability rather than just doing it the way they like to do it.
And windows is full of simple things that are just as broken. And constantly makes changes (OP being another in a long list of examples) injecting obvious advertising masquerading as features.
Windows certainly isn’t perfect, but though familiarity and at minimum exposing a reasonable amount through the GUI, way more users can use Windows daily without issues.
The advertising and tracking, that’s the big problem, I don’t see a currently acceptable OS solution once Windows 10 is EOL.
Most of the issues you describe are because usually computers come with Windows preinstalled with all the drivers and configuration set up by the oem to “just work”, so replacing the OS inevitably means fiddling with it. People who e.g. try to install Windows on a SteamDeck will face similar difficulties.