Jason Evangelho 🐧🎒
@watchfulcitizen @nowherefast @latenightlinux I preface this by saying I prefer NOT using terminal if it can be avoided (even if it can be fun):
My take is that online troubleshooting solutions have always focused on command line, because it's universal. There are a million GUIs for everything, and many of those GUIs could blink out of existence at any moment.
I've rarely met a terminal command that was obsolete. You know what I mean?
Watchful Citizen
@nowherefast @latenightlinux Fair points, agree with most.
The terminal though, Linux has come a long way. But search how to fix almost anything and the top results still assume terminal, not because there's no GUI way but that's just what lives online. You have to specifically search for a GUI solution to find one, and even then the comment section is half arguing about your distro choice instead of answering the question.
It's honestly the same overwhelming problem as Mastodon. Pick an instance, what the hell is an instance. Pick a distro, and most people coming from Windows don't even know what a distro is. There's a whole middle group between power user and calling IT who will Google a fix and just give up right there.
I love the terminal, it's fast but also fast to destroy something. Regedit is more cryptic and dangerous but it just never shows up at the top of a Google search so it feels safer.
Most of the app gap though, web apps sorted it since devs stopped writing three native versions of everything. Business software is still the exception like you said, and hardware is mostly fine now, though Nvidia is still a damn mess.
Linux is definitely more user friendly once you're in, but the path there is still pretty bumpy for a non technical user. Would love for it to go more mainstream.
I did install Pop!_OS on my father in law's old 2013 Mac though, and other than wrestling with network drivers and writing an rclone backup script he has had 0 complaints.
Watchful Citizen
@latenightlinux I can assume its already overwhelming picking a Distro. To keep users on Linux you mist be able to survive without ever using a Terminal
incommunicado
@watchfulcitizen @latenightlinux I don‘t like that “you shouldn’t have to use the terminal” argument. In the last years I only HAD to use the terminal to repair stuff, where windows would probably require a reinstall or recovery boot. Something the regular user is not able to just as well as using the terminal. Of course this is my experience for regular home users and office work. Granted you need compatible and reliable hardware.
incommunicado
@watchfulcitizen @latenightlinux the overwhelming issue for me, getting people to switch is: specific tools especially for businesses, unfamiliarity and unwillingness (I am not blaming them) to learn something they genuinely are not interested in aka computer stuff.
The Late Night Linux Family
The end of Windows 10 and the terrible state of Windows 11 are driving more and more people to Linux. How do we help people actually manage the switch and stay with Linux?
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