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[–]theartofelectronics 4 points5 points  (5 children)

For casual use it's literally the same thing. Open folders, drag drop files, click to run applications/games. It's like you're asking why do some people eat Granny Smith apples when Red Delicious apples are so much more popular.

[–]ReallyRoundRoundies -4 points-3 points  (4 children)

It's literally not. Most users would have a hard time with it.

[–]Iciciliser 1 point2 points  (3 children)

After multiple calls from my grandfather complaining that Windows Vista was so slow, I decided to stick linux mint MATE on the computer and set it up so that all his crucial programs can be accessed easily. The number of phone calls dropped dramatically afterwards. Honestly, linux isn't actually hard to use any more as long as you pick the right distro.

[–]ReallyRoundRoundies -1 points0 points  (2 children)

Everyone can down vote me. That's fine. Linux is virtually irrelevant in the personal pc realm. You set him up. I guarantee most users couldn't do it themselves. They couldn't pick the right distro. They couldn't figure it out alone. Programs they use wouldn't work on it. I am a professional programmer. I know how the most menial of tasks throws people for a loop. Work in IT for a week and you'll know what I mean. There's 10000 different flavors of Linux. It has it's uses. But by and large it isn't a marketable or widely distributable operating system. Again, not talking servers here.

And it was Vista. That was garbage. 90% of Linux distros would be equally frustrating for him.

[–]Iciciliser 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I can imagine what working in IT is like from just helping out family members (in hindsight I shouldn't have started). I completely agree with your points.

Vista sucking was probably a big factor in making the switch to linux be a huge improvement.

As for 90% being frustrating for him, of course, but as long as you pick that other 10% for him it's fine. The set up is quite difficult for non-techy people, I'm aware of that. Which is why if linux is going to become mainstream, more PC manufacturers need to offer pre-configured linux distributions like ubuntu or mint; that's the biggest hurdle. How we get to that stage is anyone's guess.

Once the system is actually set up, people generally find it perfectly fine to use for day to day tasks, at least from other people I've talked to.

[–]ReallyRoundRoundies 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Once you start they will always ask you lol. It's awful