As a complete noob who installed Mint about two weeks ago, I have Thoughts™. This is a good start, I think., and I'm really glad to see it, but it still makes some assumptions and misses a couple of things I came across that I think would be helpful.

I'll try to find some time tomorrow to pull together some edits and suggestions to share, rather than a bunch of comments here.

How's best to share them back?

I actually found the whole bootloader and how to dual boot thing a bit non-intuitive and generally unclear as to what I should do. But maybe that's just me. In the end, as it was a spare laptop, I just went full Linux Mint, reasoning that I can always reinstall Windows later....

I use Proton Mail, which lets you make 'aliases', which you can use for different sites. The alias forward staright to your main (or a nominated) email.

You can use https://simplelogin.io/ to do the same, and I'm sure there are similar services around.

E.g. I can't have feckwhatsapp@feckfacebook.com as my WhatsApp email, and it would forward to whatever account I normally use.

I do this for pretty much everything on line, so they all have their own bespoke email for me.

Have been trying Linux Mint on a spare laptop as a complete N00b. Can't get a huion screen tablet to work, nor an older xp non-screen one. Only option I've found for software is Krita (which isn't bad, actually), but no CSP.

Couldn't get a controller to work properly either without having to install some stuff via command line / terminal, which I wasn't comfortable doing (I commented about having to do this on another post elsewhere and some guy was like super aggressive about how I didn't need to, and was lying apparently... 🤷 )

Other than that, it's a been a pretty smooth experience. That's not sarcasm, its genuinely been interesting experience poking about and giving it a go. May just not be ready for my use case yet.

I'm afraid Linux is more complex for most regular people.

Yes, a lot of stuff is managed by a package manager (though you have to decide between 2-3 options of the same app, as one is flatpak and one is something else you've never come across before) and when that works, it's great. But it's far from comprehensive.

I'd rather press 'next' or 'ok' a few times than have to learn an entirely new and non-intuituve language and interface just to add an app or driver that is among the 20% of stuff that still won't just work out the box.

I wonder if he had anything to say about his employed but still chancing free-loading twatbundle political colleagues? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67417013

In my newbie experience, the answer is: No.

There are still random snags and blocks to things you will probably expect or want to be able to do.

That being said, it's sooooo much better than is was. If those snags are minor and not irritating for you, you'll be able to work around them, I think.

And the wider community can be friendly and helpful, though not always empathetic / fully understanding of the lack of Linux knowledge you might be starting from, (again) in my experience.

Haven't tried to print anything yet either...printers always seem to Bork on nearly every OS...

Edit: first installed Linux mint this week on a dell XPS laptop.

I agree, and that 80% was surprisingly pleasant and smooth experience, compared to my last stab at Linux, about 10 years ago. At least this time I didn't git any driver issues.

But, that last 20% can be kind of a big deal if you need anything from within in...

I'd like to have the time to learn how to use Linux properly, but between a full time job (unrelated to an OS), young family, and other commitments it's just not a priority.

I had a play out of interest, and it's pretty good, but still not 100% usable "out of the box" for me. And how to do that remaining 20% is completely out of many Linux-naive users experience (using the terminal / command line). 20 clicks is easier, as all I'm doing is confirming yes or no on something, that I'm usually given enough information and context to be able to evaluate.

And I suspect that's true of many many others. Which was the point of my original reply (which I'd hoped to be more humorous than insulting to people, but c'est la vie...).

To try and put it in another context:

It's really nice to be offered a lift somewhere I need to get to, but if I get kicked out the car and have to walk the remaining 20% of the way, then next time maybe I'll just get the bus/train/taxi. It might cost more, but at least I know I won't have to worry if I'll get there or not.

Also, as a new user, I didn't know why I was seeing multiple versions of the same packages to install (flatpak etc). Googling to see which is best leads to the inevitable answer of "It depends", which a new user might not be able to answer...

(I'm not so much speaking to you directly, and I know this is a meme post, but I'm more thinking about the handful of people in the community who seem to always reply along the lines of "people should switch to Linux, because [reason here]. And, yes, people need to learn how to x", without demonstrating any understanding of nuance around other people's competing priorities / skills / abilities.)

Aaaaanyway, gonna go Google "Linux 101" lessons...

It's the advertising model of funding. (IMO)

Earn less...

Exactly. It seems people often completely miss the human behaviour element of this whole issue. Just saying 'LeARn to TEcH N00b' isn't helpful or realistic in the real world for most people. I have family that still won't touch a computer, or only use one for the most basic of browsing and email, but they can use a TV remote without issue.

My main question, that I admittedly haven't been arsed to look for an answer to, is; would subscribers still have the same algorithms as non-subscribers controlling what 'content is surfaced' to them? Since it's been kinda optimised for engagement and advertising for sometime... If that makes sense...