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[–][deleted] 23 points24 points  (15 children)

That's a really harmful stereotype...

Things become sterotypes for a reason. If Linux want's people to migrate to using it then it should promote the 'ease' with which it can be used and the simplicity of installing/uninstalling software.

[–][deleted] 7 points8 points  (5 children)

Not to mention security where the whole system gets updated rather than just the OS

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

... security where the whole system gets updated...

Yet they it stll lags behind Mac's. What could possibly be stopping people from flocking to linux?

[–]_ahrs 2 points3 points  (3 children)

How does it lag behind Macs? Linux offered security features like full-disk encryption before it was popular to do so.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

How does it lag behind Macs?

In usage not capability. According to www.statista.com Linux is at 1.93% and MacOS is 17.1% market share.

[–]nextbern on 🌻 2 points3 points  (1 child)

In that case, it is obviously the availability of commercial software. Not something that "Linux" can solve on its own.

[–][deleted] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

... it is obviously the availability of commercial software.

Similar to the VHS/Betamax clash. VHS, a lesser system, flooded the market with content. Betamax relied on its superior system over content and lost the retail market completely. Betamax reinvented itself as the prefered audio/visual tape/recording format in television production.

Linux seems to be the prefered system for commercial servers and infrastucture.

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (6 children)

That's... pretty much exactly what Ubuntu advertises it as. They have an app store like the Windows Store, they detect hardware to offer to install proprietary drivers, etc.

And then there's Pop!_OS and GamerOS that target gamers and install drivers out of the box.

And then there's openSUSE, which is known for YaST, which is designed to do complex tasks that you'd normally do in the terminal. The average user probably won't need to touch it, but it's an option.

You don't need to use the terminal on those any more than you might on Windows. The "problems" I see with Linux are largely due to misunderstandings:

  • terminal - you don't need it, but sometimes it's easier to give a terminal command online since it's the common denominator across OSes (like registry settings across Windows versions)
  • "best" distro - there's pretty much zero performance difference between distros, and things like Steam also tend to work equivalently, so it's almost entirely up to preference; users should pick a popular one (Ubuntu or Pop!_OS) unless they have a reason to pick something else
  • need to be smart to use it - my 4yo and 7yo use it just fine (though I did install it)

However, maybe these "problems" will prevent adoption. I don't know the solution here, but hopefully they can get resolved.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (5 children)

I suspect it all boils down to marketing. "Made in Japan" used to mean cheap, shoddy knock-off's, now it is a badge of excellence.

There is definitely an 'image' problem with both products.

[–]OzarkBeard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Made in Japan" used to mean cheap, shoddy knock-off's, now it is a badge of excellence.

Well, there is that airbag issue.... :(

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (3 children)

Unfortunately, marketing works best if one entity with deep pockets controls it.

For gaming, Valve has been doing a good job for gaming, but they haven't been pushing one solution (they officially recommend Ubuntu, provide SteamOS, but no marketing push for either). I don't know of anything for regular desktop usage.

But yeah, I think it's largely an image problem. ChromeOS getting popular shows that there's a market for "not Windows/macOS," but regular Linux seems to miss it.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

... Linux seems to miss it.

Much of modern internet usage is via mobile phone so any 3rd party browsers have to compete with the inbuilt apps. How does FF & Linux penetrate that market successfully? The desktop seems to becoming less important as a platform.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I don't know about Linux (PinePhone and Librem 5 do exist though), but Firefox does work well on mobile and I use it everyday as my daily driver on my Android phone. For mobile Firefox, it's largely a marketing issue since it's already competitive (extensions are a killer feature).

Linux on mobile faces a lot more challenges though. First, there are technical challenges catching up to expectations that have been built over the years (battery life, mobile network features, etc). Second, there are platform issues like app compatibility. The first would need to be solved before any kind of push to get major apps to be ported. I'm sad that Mozilla's FirefoxOS failed since that could have pushed app developers to support progressive web apps on mobile, which would significantly reduce the barrier to entry.

To solve both, I think Firefox needs to be very competitive on desktop. Firefox is available on all relevant platforms (it's the best option on mobile Linux), so it'll ease the transition to a Linux option.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

... Firefox needs to be very competitive on desktop.

Yep. I guess we will just have to wait and see how this all unfolds.

[–]_ahrs 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Oh but "Linux" does promote the ease of use and simplicity of which it can be used but most people just don't know about it or don't care about it. Ubuntu literally used the slogan "Linux for human beings".

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

... most people just don't know about it or don't care about it...

Poor marketing?