this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2024
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Look, Linux is amazing and perfect for those that can install and maintain with minimal support. The only way the average user will use Linux, is if it’s wrapped in a way that is supported by a business… that is probably going to add AI. People are lazy, they want that easy button.
AI will probably die off in its current iteration, likely becoming less prevalent and just a background service. Or, it’ll gain sentience, watch all our AI movies where we’re the hero and learn the most efficient way to kill all humans, is to be quiet and silently kill off humans. Pretty sure I’m on Siri’s list, the twat. Also, fairly sure I told Alexa to “die in a fire you fucking dumass robot”. Yep, yep… I’m dead.
people ~~are lazy~~ have busy lives and want to put their time and energy into things that aren't learning a whole new technology skill.
FTFY.
I don't think it's a support issue at least that's not the hard part. Native Linux apps are generally second rate if you're lucky. The browsers are fantastic there's maybe a couple of dozen solid production quality apps out there that working all or nearly all distros.
You can get almost anything you want to be done in Linux, but there are definitely compromises you have to make.
As long as there's compromises are greater than the compromises you make sucking on Microsoft's tit, Linux will still be in the shadows.
For most users it probably just comes down to what is installed on their machine when they buy it. People generally don't think about operating systems a whole lot.
So why don’t people have a business installing and administering linux for people?
They do. They are called servers.
But no one is using Linux desktop computers in a business environment because corporate IT departments don't want to have to deal with the nightmare that is installing packages every 5 minutes.
Linux is fine if you're into computers and like fiddling around, but if you just need the damn thing to work you don't want to mess with Linux. It doesn't "just work".
I think immutable distros for business will perfectly fit this niche.
2nd this. I just spent an hour redeploying a whole appstack for my internal customer because someone on their team decided to remove some core files in /etc. we have a zero touch policy, the guy knew it, still messed with servers and proceeded to deny he did anything… even with logs showing his actions. No way would I ever want to support desktops for the average user.
I really don't care to be the guy that's like, oh, you criticized Linux, I'll point out how wrong you are, but packages? If the software you want to install is packaged, then it's easier to install than on Windows. You just open up the app store UI and click on "Install". I also have no idea why you'd need to install packages every 5 minutes.
I'd say the most prevalent issue people have with Linux, is that they need/want specific software that only runs on Windows.
I think, there's just too few potential customers.
Linux works excellently for techies, but those don't need help.
It works great for the many people that just browse the internet, but Windows or their phone/tablet is also fine for that.
Well, and then there's a chunk of people that aren't techie enough to install an OS, which would still have an interest in an improved OS, but those will then also often use some specialty software which only runs on Windows.