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5 reasons why desktop Linux is finally growing in popularity (www.zdnet.com)
submitted 2 months ago by testeronious@lemmy.world to c/linux_gaming@lemmy.world
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[-] neidu2@feddit.nl 87 points 2 months ago

I can list the biggest one without having to look: Because the most popular alternative has progressively gotten worse for the past 12 years, and what was once a quality OS (sure,it had its faults and flaws, but I'll concede that Win7 was objectively a good OS) has now morphed into a combination of spyware and adware.

[-] anamethatisnt@lemmy.world 46 points 2 months ago

Microsoft being uninterested in Windows Desktop and focusing on Saas and the cloud is indeed the first bullet point.

  1. Microsoft isn't that interested in Windows
  2. Linux gaming, thanks to Steam, is also growing
  3. Users are finally figuring out that some Linux distros are easy to use
  4. Finding and installing Linux desktop software is easier than ever
  5. The Linux desktop is growing in popularity in India
[-] henfredemars@infosec.pub 5 points 2 months ago

I get the sense that Microsoft doesn’t care about their desktop users and as much as views desktop as another small side market.

MacOS only runs on their particular hardware, so Linux is free to gobble up market share limited mainly by user technical know how and the general shift to most web traffic coming from mobile.

[-] Linkerbaan@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Users aren't finding it out. The distros just actually got usable and stopped being super elitists.

[-] dan1101@lemm.ee 13 points 2 months ago

Also the updates situation has caused many to dislike Windows.

Linux is a perfectly viable OS at this point, it's not just for tech geeks. I did have a problem with my USB Wi-Fi adapter during the install but other than that everything was just as smooth and less creepy than Microsoft.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

what was once a quality OS (sure,it had its faults and flaws, but I’ll concede that Win7 was objectively a good OS) has now morphed into a combination of spyware and adware.

The last objectively good Microsoft OS that didn't have any significant user-hostile features was Windows 2000, IMO. Windows 7 -- specifically, before invasive "telemetry[sic]" started getting backported to it from 10 -- was just the last version before the hostility got bad enough to get me to switch.

[-] khannie@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

The last objectively good Microsoft OS that didn't have any significant user-hostile features was Windows 2000, IMO

Hard agree. Windows 2000 was rock solid, reasonably lightweight and had no shenanigans going on in the background. It's EOL (edit: actually I think it might have been a specific version of directx only being supported on XP maybe) was one of the things that pushed me to Linux.

That and the native Linux Unreal Tournament 2004.

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[-] Case@lemmynsfw.com 7 points 2 months ago

10 was bad. 11 is... awful.

I'm running it on my daily driver / gaming rig to learn its flaws and how to work around them, because work may be moving that direction. My hardware, my license, not like they can stop me.

I've never had more problems with any OS than 11 on day to day stability issues. Vista? At least it had direct X 10. 8? Yeah, a total design fuck up, but even supporting it professionally I never had this many problems.

[-] Baggie@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 months ago

Looking back on it, Vista got a lot of hate but I don't think my experience was that bad. It was really annoying with user account control permissions but honestly as a proto 7 it did okay. Compared to 11 I kind of miss it.

[-] starman@programming.dev 4 points 2 months ago

That's 1. point in the article

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[-] bort@sopuli.xyz 62 points 2 months ago
  1. Users are finally figuring out that some Linux distros are easy to use

so recommending arch linux to newbies was counter productive all along?

suprised_pikachu.bmp

[-] SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 months ago

I refuse to accept that. The ArchWiki is super well documented, so there should be no issues for newbies!

[-] bort@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 months ago

Yes, the arch wiki is very good and useful. The issue is, that you need the wiki in the first place. In a user-friendly distro everything would either work OOTB, or it could be done intuitively via GUI.

how far can you get in arch without opening the terminal?

[-] rickrolled767@ttrpg.network 3 points 2 months ago

Uhhh, how long was the first boot time?

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[-] Secret300@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 months ago

What do you mean, arch is one of the easy to use ones

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[-] meldrik@lemmy.wtf 41 points 2 months ago

A major reason that Windows is “popular” is because it’s pre-installed on desktops and laptops. Users don’t have a choice when they go to the store to buy a laptop for doing banking stuff or save pictures from their old camcorder.

It’s the same way with browsers. IE was “popular”, but only because that was the browser that was pre-installed on Windows. The IE browser was complete shit.

[-] rah@feddit.uk 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)
[-] meldrik@lemmy.wtf 2 points 2 months ago

What needs to happen is that all the laptop makers, HP, Lenovo Acer etc. start having Linux pre-installed on their laptops in the stores. That probably won't happen, as I imagine that Microsoft pays these companies to sell their laptops with Windows on them.

[-] jol@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 months ago

In theory, in the EU, as well as some other places, you have the right to get refunded for Windows if you don't want it. In practice that's often hard to pull off in most shops.

[-] nekusoul@lemmy.nekusoul.de 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Imagine a "Choose your Browser"-style pop-up, but for your OS on first boot. I'd really love to see it, partially mostly for the amount of pure chaos it would cause.

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[-] wingsfortheirsmiles@feddit.uk 20 points 2 months ago

Number 2 was huge for me, and it hit home when I realised that 99% of my Steam library was supported. Thankfully I don't need to use any Windows only apps (Adobe suite, etc) so the decision to move over to Linux was trivial personally

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago

Yup, I'm guessing that's the main contributing factor here. Just like how Chrome grew in popularity because the nerds (e.g. me) shilled for it, Linux is also growing because gamers still for it. It turns out that if you can solve one major pain point for a very passionate subset of the population, you get a lot of free evangelists and people will follow.

[-] Flaky@iusearchlinux.fyi 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

There's still some stuff I'm tied to Windows for, namely music players (MusicBee and Apple Music but they can be used in a VM) and VR. But it's nice to see Linux growing.

[-] cookie_sabotage@sh.itjust.works 13 points 2 months ago

What music player is tying you to Windows?

[-] Flaky@iusearchlinux.fyi 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

MusicBee. Tried it on WINE. Not great. Linux players also don't do a lot of what MusicBee does OOTB, and if they do it's not as seamless as MusicBee. (tag hierarchies are the main thing, but the playlist functionality is also good.)

Thankfully it runs fine in a virtual machine.

[-] ElectricAirship@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 months ago

Musicbee was the only thing keeping me from switching for years. Simply put, it's the best music player and even better is that it's open source.

[-] nekusoul@lemmy.nekusoul.de 2 points 2 months ago

AFAIK MusicBee isn't open source, just Freeware. Which is fair enough if the dev doesn't want to, but also a bit frustrating personally, as people could've improved Linux support considerably if it was.

[-] wingsfortheirsmiles@feddit.uk 1 points 2 months ago

Even having moved to Linux, I miss Foobar. Deadbeef isn't that dissimilar but isn't quite close though for me

[-] ramirezmike@programming.dev 12 points 2 months ago

music players??

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[-] onlinepersona@programming.dev 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I wish installing linux for non-technical people using windows were as easy as downloading an .exe and walking through an installation wizard. Something that gave very very simple instructions, backed up their stuff, rebooted to install linux with the chosen settings, and restored their backup into linux.

IMO if it were that simple or as simple as double clicking an .exe and hitting Install Linux (with default settings) that did all of the above with a default distro set by the installer, more people would be willing to install linux.

And non of that Gnome shit. Drop them into a distro with a DE configured to look like windows (probably KDE or Cinnamon).

Anti Commercial AI thingyCC BY-NC-SA 4.0

[-] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 months ago

I think the best we can do is "easier to install than Windows." Which it currently is, barring the fact most devices ship with Windows pre-installed. If you're a PC or gaming enthusiast and you've built your own computer from spare parts, installing Linux is a similar though more streamlined process than Windows.

[-] Zer0_F0x@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Non tech savvy people don't install windows or macos either. Everything comes pre-installed with the machine you buy.

If you make it to the point where you kinda know what Rufus and an iso file are, Pop! OS and Mint are easier to install than Windows.

I suppose a program could be made that partitions your OS drive and installs a distro on the second partition with a dual boot selection screen on next boot, but if you're at the point where you're curious enough about Linux to try it, you've probably learned enough to use Rufus and an iso file.

The answer is system integrators need to pre install and actively support one of the more friendly distros (like Valve with SteamOS on the deck) or it'll never catch on.

Simple users don't care what OS you present them with, as long as it's already there and it's easy to use.

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[-] taanegl@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

I think Fedora Media Writer kind of hits those boxes, and the Fedora installation (with the Blivet partitioner) is fairly easy.

My problem, however, and Brodie on YouTube can attest to this, is the language. Open source projects have a problem with communication, messaging and signalling.

It should be the priority of design and the UX to properly communicate actions, events, consequences, etc. It's also about accessibility, as bad messaging can be confusing and off-putting.

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this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2024
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