The biggest hurdle by far is that you need to compile the software you want to use from source more often that is acceptable for the average user. There is also a serious lack of proper hardware driver support.
Linux is way too fragmented and trying to get up and running with basic apps requires way too much technical skill.
I really do hope that SteamOS will finally solve these problems by having the backing of a foundation (company) that has years of UX experience (with multiple failures and successes under their belt) that targets a wide range of audiences. This should give hardware manufacturers confidence that developing drivers for that OS will not be a waste of time.
That doesn’t mean that others don’t have to. I installed Debian on a partition and couldn’t get the WiFi USB stick to work. The manufacturers drivers couldn’t be installed because they were ancient, and installing a generic one for the chip didn’t work. Had to give up. In windows it’s plug and play.
Dude, your wifi dongle manufacturer obviously inbox’d their driver with MSFT and didn’t mainline their driver into the Linux kernel. When drivers are inboxed, MSFT will maintain them for as long as they are able to. Linux kernel maintainers will do the same when drivers are mainlined into the Linux Kernel. Your dongle manufacturer is the one to blame. Things aren’t plug and play because it’s “Windows”. That’s like a Mac enthusiast saying, “My Mac, It just works”. It better “just work”, there is only handful of devices that are even compatible with Mac. There are plenty of Windows compatible devices that don’t have inbox drivers for Win11 and Win10 and guess what, they don’t “Plug and Play”.
The solution was to just buy a Linux compatible device for the newer kernel you were running. Or, downgrade to a kernel that has support for your device.
If it’s Windows that doesn’t have the inbox driver, you’d have to downgrade the entire OS. Most people don’t do that, they just buy a newer device that’s compatible with the newer Windows version they are using. Why would things be any different for Linux. Or Mac for that matter. And really, you couldn’t just buy a 15 dollar USB Wifi dongle that was compatible with the OS you were using???
If a Windows user buys a Mac, they will just assume they have to buy Mac devices and Mac software. If a Windows user installs Linux, suddenly everything had better work out of the box or the entire Linux eco system is a failure for everyone in the world.
I had the same experience with an old printer: Linux recognized it directly whereas Windows didn’t. I wouldn’t say that Linux has a strong disadvantage at these things.
compile the software you want to use from source more often that is acceptable for the average user.
Wut? I’ve been using Linux in some form or another for years and that is greatly exaggerated even for back then
Linux is way too fragmented and trying to get up and running with basic apps requires way too much technical skill.
Um. WHAT. most distros are just some flavor of one of the handful of major ones, like Debian (Even Ubuntu is based on Debian). If it’s a Linux application, it’ll probably work on your distro. There’s some other cases, like FreeBSD which isn’t a Linux kernel, so things differ there, but it’s unlikely you’ll be running it at home unless you’re venturing out of “average user” domain, like Arch for Linux.
The majority of users won’t even touch the command line if they’re on a noob friendly distro. Been that way for a long time. Only Gentoo users are compiling from source, and even then, not that frequently
The biggest hurdle by far is that you need to compile the software you want to use from source more often that is acceptable for the average user. There is also a serious lack of proper hardware driver support.
Linux is way too fragmented and trying to get up and running with basic apps requires way too much technical skill.
I really do hope that SteamOS will finally solve these problems by having the backing of a foundation (company) that has years of UX experience (with multiple failures and successes under their belt) that targets a wide range of audiences. This should give hardware manufacturers confidence that developing drivers for that OS will not be a waste of time.
The 90’s called and want their specious cliché back.
Wtf, I use Linux and have never compiled anything.
That doesn’t mean that others don’t have to. I installed Debian on a partition and couldn’t get the WiFi USB stick to work. The manufacturers drivers couldn’t be installed because they were ancient, and installing a generic one for the chip didn’t work. Had to give up. In windows it’s plug and play.
Dude, your wifi dongle manufacturer obviously inbox’d their driver with MSFT and didn’t mainline their driver into the Linux kernel. When drivers are inboxed, MSFT will maintain them for as long as they are able to. Linux kernel maintainers will do the same when drivers are mainlined into the Linux Kernel. Your dongle manufacturer is the one to blame. Things aren’t plug and play because it’s “Windows”. That’s like a Mac enthusiast saying, “My Mac, It just works”. It better “just work”, there is only handful of devices that are even compatible with Mac. There are plenty of Windows compatible devices that don’t have inbox drivers for Win11 and Win10 and guess what, they don’t “Plug and Play”.
The solution was to just buy a Linux compatible device for the newer kernel you were running. Or, downgrade to a kernel that has support for your device. If it’s Windows that doesn’t have the inbox driver, you’d have to downgrade the entire OS. Most people don’t do that, they just buy a newer device that’s compatible with the newer Windows version they are using. Why would things be any different for Linux. Or Mac for that matter. And really, you couldn’t just buy a 15 dollar USB Wifi dongle that was compatible with the OS you were using???
If a Windows user buys a Mac, they will just assume they have to buy Mac devices and Mac software. If a Windows user installs Linux, suddenly everything had better work out of the box or the entire Linux eco system is a failure for everyone in the world.
I had the same experience with an old printer: Linux recognized it directly whereas Windows didn’t. I wouldn’t say that Linux has a strong disadvantage at these things.
Wut? I’ve been using Linux in some form or another for years and that is greatly exaggerated even for back then
Um. WHAT. most distros are just some flavor of one of the handful of major ones, like Debian (Even Ubuntu is based on Debian). If it’s a Linux application, it’ll probably work on your distro. There’s some other cases, like FreeBSD which isn’t a Linux kernel, so things differ there, but it’s unlikely you’ll be running it at home unless you’re venturing out of “average user” domain, like Arch for Linux.
Things have never been easier
The majority of users won’t even touch the command line if they’re on a noob friendly distro. Been that way for a long time. Only Gentoo users are compiling from source, and even then, not that frequently
I’ve been using Linux as my main OS since 2007 and not had to do that once.
> open app store
> search
> install any flatpak you like
If anything Windows is the complicated one in this regard.
@TheGrandNagus @Shirasho I remember doing that in high school in 2018 but I forgot all about it because I never again after class did that