Linux @lemmy.ml joojmachine @lemmy.ml 1 mo. ago

How the Media Treat Linux

Just sharing this really well produced video on Linux's public perception (since this channel has suprisingly not a lot of subscribers)

36 comments

I remember a post on reddit asking for a SteamDeck alternative because SteamDeck uses Linux, the guy never used the SteamDeck or Linux before... The way media treats Linux is really fucking important, maybe if Linux was from a big player like Android is from Google, people wouldn't make such a fuss about it.
- honestly the biggest problem with the media is. Linux represents the very thing corporate culture in those media empires just can't fathom. the idea of cooperation for the greater good that Linux represents and not being 100% profit motivated. They just don't get it and worse they see it as a threat. Microsoft can be a competitor to them but the idea of open source is a competitor to the whole system and that is a far greater threat to the people on top.
  
  Doesn’t stop people from using Android.
  
  The problem is that the Linux brand is tarnished by the Linux product. If you are making something for consumers, don’t use the word Linux.
- Well, steam deck os is from valve, a big player.
  
  The majority of users don't make any fuss about it.
  
  Steam OS is but part of the media as shown in the video, just call it Linux and Linux itself does not come from Valve.
- This is, sadly, accurate. Telling someone to use an OS/platform that isn't connected with a brand they recognise seems to send many people into a tailspin.
  
  I'll refrain from the obvious "They Live" cynicism...
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXJI-G7ulsg
  
  For those who got an immediate ear worm.
- Android is practically Linux (but is not GNU/Linux, somebody post the Stallman rant)
  
  Yeah and no one puts Linux as downside in reviews for a new android smartphone.
It is very well produced but there is very little actual content. He kept showing the same clips and saying the same thing over and over.

Bottom line is "in Steam Deck reviews, media is claiming Linux is complex without any proof or example." You don't need 5 full minutes to say that.
- Youtube in a nutshell
windows is a pain in my glass
- pane
  
  FTFY
I agree with most of it. But Linux can just be a pain, and is not always obvious. Specially if you have no real knowledge of Linux and just wat to use it like Macos or windows. I would say it just is not a drop in replacement. Just starting out and choosing a distro can be overwhelming
- This is sort of a self fulfilling prophecy Cause Linux is confusing because it's not used enough for people to make more user friendly applications
  
  I'd say just bite the bullet and hope for a better future
  
  exactly, i read histories from 2004, and was midbloggling how a pain linux was, today is 1000x easier lmao, and each day it's becomening better, more companies are growing because of it(system76, tuxego, valve) more money flowing in, hell we hit 4% market lmao
  
  Nah, Linux is confusing because it's software. I have a well-paying job in large part because Windows and macOS are confusing as hell, too.
- Can you tell us what you find difficult while using Linux? (After the installation).
  
  PS: Not a rhetoric. Just trying to understand the friction.
  
  Just annoying things like missing video codecs in fedora. Why the heck do I have to install something just to watch a video online?! Or the fingerprint reader in Ubuntu only works for the one session, after that it forgets all my prints again. Or using proton and missing dx11 drivers in pop os, I know they are crappy Microsoft software, but are required for some games. Or that Ableton, fusion360, affinity are not available for Linux. I know it's not Linux fault, we need big companies to invest in Linux in order for it to gain more traction. Or all the package managers. Which should I use? Snap comes with Ubuntu but people say it's bad and flat pack is better. Or that there is no sound output selection or mixer in the gnome top bar, I need to install an gnome addon for that. There are just little things compared to Mac or windows that Linux is missing or has difficulty with. Don't get me wrong, I use Linux full time on my laptop now and try to move to Linux on my desktop as well. Those are just things that tech savvy people would struggle with, and I can't blame them form calling Linux difficult then
  
  Permanently Deleted
This is a really good point - us "believers" probably don't glance at the negativity because we know it's (generally) incorrect, but how others perceive it can be hard to convince if all they read is negativity.

Consider that most people know a laptop runs an OS, so they can distinguish "Dell" from "Microsoft", so I'm often baffled why people stuggled when moving from WinXP to Vista / 7 (ie a whole new experience... and often asking where to get a hacked version for free), but when I suggest putting <insert distro here> then they run away.
Btw, is there something like fwupd, except to install drivers fitting your hardware, install packages and config for video acceleration, etc?
- Not quite the same thing, but nixos-hardware has community-support configs for non-self-built machines (namely notebooks & SBCs) as well as some generic configurations you can import for CPUs & GPUs. These tend to fix quirks or enable hardware that may have been seen as optional.
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https://redirect.invidious.io/watch?v=vPazJb0-gTo

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https://piped.video/watch?v=vPazJb0-gTo

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