Linux used to be for nerds, programmers and tech people.
Now, it’s probably easier to use Linux than Windows.
Defintiely! I recently bought a used Thinkpad and slapped Pop!_OS on it for my father-in-law. He’s 73 and he’s loving it! He proudly tells his friends that he is now “a part of a computer revolution”.
lmao, I wouldn’t call it a revolution. Simply different options, alternatives and/or values.
Why is it that people think Linux distros are for programmers or tech people only? This is the reason why we don’t get many people on Linux distros.
I dislike the paradigm that there are “techy people/programmers” and “tech illiterates/non programmers”. Anyone can develop the skills to properly use unix interfaces given proper training; and I know that’s true because the whole world used to run (mostly) unix on the desktop before corporate took over. Unix doesn’t need to be windowsified/macosified to get people to move over; people need to unlearn the interfaces corporate has brainwashed them with for generations. There are so many more interesting user interfaces than just what Windows and MacOS provide; graphical or otherwise.
I’m a video producer and writer, I only use linux.
Ooh, does Linux have good open source video editing? I remember back in the day that was tricky. (Or I am misremembering.)
I do video editing myself in Linux and Kdenlive does pretty much everything I need. The UI is a bit odd to learn but I’d imagine any new editing software is gonna have a learning curve of some sort.
I’m also not a programmer but here’s why Linux is my daily driver:
I like it.
Wait … is there a perception (or reality?) that most Linux users are programmers?
I’m an introvert, but all programmers I know use Windows (and badly in the sense they aren’t power users).
Linux, on the other hand, can easily boot up on a 10-year-old laptop with just 2GB of RAM, and work fine.
I’m not sure a modern day browser would be just fine with “only” 2GiB, unfortunately.
I’ve tried Firefox limited to 1 GB for a laugh. It’s usable. It won’t do many tabs at the same time but it’s usable.
You can actually go lower than that but you’ll start to run into limitations with YouTube videos etc.
There are also other browsers out there that are more light-weight but perhaps not as feature-full as Firefox. Giving up extensions alone reduces a lot of complexity. If you fire up the package installer on any Linux distro and search for “browser” you’ll find a ton. There aren’t many engines but there are a lot of browsers.
I’m not sure if this is part of the “frequency illusion”, but I’ve noticed a lot more mainstream media talking about Linux as a viable alternative.
I feel like Linux would be easier to pick up and use for a non power user starting from scratch like my mother-in-law. It’s so much easier to download programs with the package manager and settings are so much easier to navigate
And to use the computer without being bombarded by ads
Helped my SO fix Sims 4 on her W11 laptop recently; lock screen ads, start menu ads, pre-installed bloatware begging for money
I even asked how she deals with all of that and she basically said “I dunno it just does that, if you can make it stop that’d be nice ig but just get Sims to worl for now”
Needless to say I got Sims 4 to work (removing cachedir did the trick) AND uninstalled the bloatware and turned off ad-related settings
