Issues "Linux" has on gaining mainstream usage, and how to address them: https://sunlight.makeitlinux.org/
Definitely resonates a lot with me, curious to hear others' thoughts.
@alcinnz There's a lot in this manifesto about how Linux isn't normie-friendly (and to be fair it isn't) that could be condensed to: "You still have to become your own sysadmin. Ain't nobody got time for that."
All this about getting together a commercial consortium for selling Linux to the masses doesn't interest me. It might mean better hardware support in the long run, but as long as I can throw Slackware on a secondhand Thinkpad I'm pretty much set.
@desdinova I understood it as saying that's just a perception.
I don't need to sysadmin my Linux any more than I would a Mac or Windows. Perhaps less.
I'd support the effort.
My personal experience also contradicts the "you need to be an expert to use it" stigma. I'm the "techie" of the family, and when using windows I had to service their computers several times a year for various reasons, and the process was very time consuming, sometimes having to resort to reinstalling/resetting the whole system. After switching to an LTS linux desktop there hasn't been any issues for years. They only occasionally need me to install or configure new software, and it's usually quick and painless. To my surprise I could often help them remotely, thanks to terminal interface of all things. It turns out it's much easier for both them and me to focus on just one window and copy paste some text around, instead of trying to describe what's happening to various GUIs and what should be done about that. It just takes admitting that if you don't know how to do something, you need to ask someone who does, instead of aimlessly poking around the system until it "works".
Of course not anyone has a relative that is more or less a software specialist, but neither does everyone have a plumber or an electrician in the family. You have local independent affordable service providers, that can help you, and this is an area where software industry is lacking. Most such affordable service providers have earned a bad(scammy) reputation, since even the specialist are often powerless to properly understand and fix proprietary closed source systems that dominate the market.
I believe this kind of service is the only ethical thing you can "sell to the masses" in this context. Something like "We'll rework your entire system to suit your particular use case, and even give you warranty on it". Today this would still be an uphill battle though, since proprietary software still has a firm grip on certain areas of the industry.
