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Linux Distros Designed for Former Windows Users Are Picking Up Steam | Linux Journal
(www.linuxjournal.com)
this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2025
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It will take some serious, I hate to say it, YouTube campaigning and such to make Linux a more mainstream thought in the public’s brain.
What it takes is people being able to buy a Linux machine at the local electronics store. Installing your OS yourself is still a major hurdle for most people.
That is an important step, yes.
However another important step is that the default distro needs to basically not even highlight that terminal exists.
If you're trying to learn how to use linux, and step 1 of the tutorial is "open terminal", you will lose 97% of your new install base. Then headlines will flood that linux machines are being returned in high numbers.
As much as you guys hate to hear this, the first experience for a new linux user needs to be intuitive. Before they even turn the machine on, they have to know how to use this software. Not because they are experts, but because the space and experience guides itself.
Then as you learn, you can customize a bit more, and from there linux can become a rabbit hole. But the point is, let the individual user control the depths which they dive. Because I suspect 90%+ won't even change the desktop background. And thats ok.
Make it easy for the dummies, but then you individually can tinker if you want to. And it's linux, so....ya know. Go nuts. But some people don't want to do all that tinkering. That vanilla experience is what gets remembered to represent that OS. Even if you customized it and experienced it very differently.
Gnome is very good at this
But its very unfamiliar for people coming from Windows. That said, ZorinOS does a very good job of reworking it to look and act like Windows, KDE, cinnamon or previous versions of Gnome.