It's easier to disable all the garbage than remove the garbage?
this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2026
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Because Linux is still an enormous hurdle for a lot of people, and completely incompatible with lots of proprietary hardware people actually need.
Stop pretending like you don't understand why 98% of PC users still choose Windows. I'm not one of them, but let's not delude ourselves, it is tiring.
98% of Windows users, use windows because that’s what the OS that came with the computer they could afford.
98% of windows users probably don’t know what version they are on or even what windows is
OEMs pay MS to put it on the computer. Why do you think that is?
As if Linux PCs are more expensive?
Apple computers, which is a higher market share than Linux, are more expensive. That’s what I was getting at.
Windows became dominant because of enterprise software sales 20 years ago. Now everything runs in an electron wrapper that can run on any platform or in the browser.
PCs don’t even have optical drives anymore. No normal consumer even knows how to install a program today, let alone is considering legacy program compatibility when making a computer purchasing decision
I am qualifying my statements based on interactions with my coworkers of whom I deploy and manage their PCs. I could probably install mint on 50% of their PCs and the only reason they’d notice is because Microsoft office looks different and is called Libre Office for some reason
No. If it did Google would be winning with their incredibly weak Chromebooks.
What is a "normal consumer"? All of them? No. Enough of them that many platforms are dependent on that knowledge, yes.
That sounds like an extreme bias.
Are 98% of PC users using proprietary hardware incompatible with Linux? That would be pretty crazy, considering that that list of hardware is miniscule.
Like, I get where you're coming from, Linux isn't a 100% perfect drop in replacement for Windows that covers every single scenario and edge case. But it's never going to be that, and I don't think it needs to be that. It's still good enough to recommend over Windows. That hurdle won't get any shorter if people don't at least try using it.
Hardware compatibility is just one of a long list of reasons. The primary of which is usability. Linux can be completely free of ads and pop-ups but it doesn't matter if it can't do the things you need it to do, or it's too complicated to make it do them.
I don't know where you got this binary position. No, it doesn't have to be, that's not the point.
You can recommend it all day, if it can't do what the user needs it to do, you're wasting your breath. Some of them aren't mandatory but many of them are deal breakers.
No one is suggesting anyone shouldn't try it. But trying it also costs time and (probably) money.
Indeed
but you gotta admit it would help mass adoption.
i cannot install linux on my mothers pc, because all she needs is...
excel, and a browser.
and excel isn't on linux.
and sure, i could show her libreoffice calc - i use that without issue - but she's not interested in learning anything new these days
and sure, installing excel, specifically, isn't super easy on windows. But generally, installing a piece of software on windows, is easier than linux. There's often an installer package downloadable from the website - where as for linux you're often greeted with a terminal command.
Thats not "mom friendly", especially not for the stereotypical "mom" who doesn't know tech.
Phones have made it super easy to install software - and the app stores for mac and windows are good solutions for these non-tech savvy people. Only a few distros have an alternative, as far as i know
There's absolutely no way KDE is "complicated to use" unless your brain is the size of a goldfish grown in a badly kept piece of Tupperware.
An Android phone's default UI is significanty harder to navigate, compared to the standard Windows desktop metaphor, than KDE's default UI. People handle Android just fine.
The DE is not the problem...
And what is the problem?
Most Linux distros these days are more usable and less complicated than Windows. It's not difficult for most people to get it to do the things they need it to do. This view that Linux doesn't have the software selection or features comparable to an Enterprise Operating System ™️ like Windows is largely outdated and misguided.
Mkay, sure, uh huh. You're being awfully discouraging without explicitly telling people not to try Linux, but c'mon, we know what you're doing.
Abso-fuckin-lutely not. You're just lying.
It isn't.
I am not discouraging anything. I am being realistic. You are not.
LOL, I probs shouldn't feed the trolls, but here goes nothing.
We just bought a new PC. And because my family members are kind of adamant on using Windows, we will probably install the latest iteration that M$ has offered.
Funny enough, I am also the techie within the family. As such, I am expected to set it up so that it works as conveniently as possible.
Oh boy... From my reading on the subject, it seems to have become a gargantuan effort to rid Windows 11 of all of its anti-consumer mishaps. Only after doing so, can I actually start setting it up for our use case.
By contrast, if I'd install any beginner-friendly Linux distro, i don't have to undo anything; setting up starts right after the installation.
I can't fathom why anyone would prefer the former over the latter, but please feel free to give your take on the matter.
Stuff like Bazzite has literally become plug-and-play. And breaking it is harder than your average Windows install.
As for software: WinBoat is a very easy (almost) one-click installable piece of software that bridges whatever gap you're imagining.
LOOOOLOLOL it is absolutely not. There's even like 5 steps in the guided installer and each of them is incredibly convoluted. You're still lying.
K you wanna try and actually substantiate any of your points, or are you just going to continue to give a "nuh uh, you're wrong I'm right" argument?
I could but as a Linux user there's no way you don't already know this. You're just in denial.
Could you? I don't believe you.