So I got hit with Microsoft's Windows 11 nag screen...
So I got hit with Microsoft's Windows 11 nag screen...
... as explained here.
Basically Microsoft presents this "incredible" product, and then says in the same breath: "Oops, not for your current setup. Maybe you should consider buying a new PC?"
Really!? 😠
If only Linux were ready for mainstream use...
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What are you trying to do that you don't think you can do on Linux? Also there's ways to install Windows 11 on unsupported systems.
Tbf, I work with Linux regularly and it's great for me. But for the average user who wants basically zero learning curve like your average Android provides? Linux is a hard sell. To repeat what has been said so many times here:
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Games. It's better than it used to be, but Windows just does it better. The same goes for general software compatibility. Windows Store apps, for example, generally don't run at all.
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My surrounding never wants to open or see a command line. Ever.
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Driver & hardware support. Windows still beats Linux here. And this is an important one.
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Easy compatibility between distros. What works on one may not work on another. That's a problem.
Like that.
Really, for someone willing to learn how their PC works, Linux is a good choice, maybe even a great choice. I love my Linux PCs. Am on OpenSuse at the moment and its been a fantastic experience. Couldn't avoid some of the problems above, of course. But this isn't about me.
For someone who just wants to click and install games, plug in random hardware and start using it a few seconds later, never touch an update interface and basically wants a system that just works intuitively because that's what they've known for years... Windows is a better choice. And I say this with a sad heart, because I really wish that Linux was the competitor that Microsoft fears.
Edit: thanks for the reminder; I will likely install Windows 11 (the unsupported version as it were) for my immediate surrounding, apart from some techies. 😄
I hear ya. I bought a AMD CPU+GPU laptop to run Linux on, but a month later I'm back to Windows.
While the default graphics driver worked most of the time, I had random graphic card crashes on a 20 year old Wine-ran game. Even the official amdgpu driver had issues (PITA to install as its not being maintained). No issues with newer games through Steam (Proton is amazeballs) fortunately. I also had random issues with a second monitor not being detected that were probably graphics driver related. Some random UI focus issues were likely a window manager issue (KDE).
Sleep/hibernate doesn't work 'out of the box' and I couldn't get it working reliably after screwing with grub. It was a gamble if it would actually power down or just go back to the lock screen. I don't know why its so difficult for a basic thing that's been around for decades.
So now I'm back on Windows, everything works as expected. Honestly I love Linux and its leaps and bounds better from what it was, but Windows is a still better choice for hardware support reasons. I'll give it another try if AMD gets it together with their driver support.
I’ll give it another try if AMD gets it together with their driver support.
As an AMD GPU linux user this is confusing. There is no driver needed. There is nothing to do with AMD. Must be the laptop? A unusual variant, or early adopter?
https://amdgpu-install.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
You're probably using the open source driver.
I want Linux to succeed, and be the competition to Windows, so I deal with these "downsides" honestly, the limits in my theory, cause me to only purchase good hardware and software.
Is the mainstream even what should be targeted? I'm reading comments on how people are actually getting worse at using computers.
To answer your question, I think Linux absolutely should target the mainstream, as it already does in some ways.
For example, by making Linux more accessible to the average user, the community grows, which will probably lead to more support, more software development, and so on.
It is true that not all users have the same level of computer skills. Especially for that reason Linux should become even easier and even more intuitive to use.
In short: the more people use it, the more support it will get.
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