"Just use Linux" is much like "just ride a bike" or "just shop at a refill store" - accessing the non default option can be time consuming, expensive or unavailable locally. We need to recognise you need a certain degree of privilege to have the capacity to complicate your life voluntarily. We need to be trying to make the better, harder thing more accessible, not blaming people for not using it.
@afewbugs
People have been working on making Linux more available for decades now. It's at the stage where it's probably more intuitive, more usable and more friendly than Windows ever was.
Yes, it's different, and thus requires investment in familiarizing yourself with a different os, but it's no worse than going, say, from win10 to win11.
The "Linux is for nerds" meme has to die.
@Mux @afewbugs it's not about it being "for nerds" or not, it's simply less accessible because it's not The Default and it's not what people are already used to using
There's always gonna be an uphill struggle in cases like these, and blaming people for not essentially gambling away their time for something unknown to them just reinforces the idea that Linux is for pretentious nerds
@hazelnot
"it's not what people are already used to using"
That almost sounds, like everyone, who used Windows for the very first time (!) just "could" use it from one second to the next, knew all available settings, and didn't have any kind of learning curve at all.
I understand, that most Linux distros are not accessible for disabled persons and I really feel sorry for that!
@fasnix @Mux @afewbugs I first used Windows in 2000 when I was a young child and first used Linux in like 2012 and only switched to it full-time in ~2021.
There's a difference between learning how to use a computer and thinking Windows is How Computers Work and learning a new OS as an adult when your computer skills aren't that good to begin with
Even if they are, I've been trying to convince my friends to switch to Linux for ages but they keep finding nitpicks about things that are different from what they're used to or some random game/app not working which they decide is a dealbreaker
@hazelnot
Fair enough, then it's just not for them.
Mike Kuketz (Data Security Specialist) stated in one of his blog articles:
"Microsoft acts like a drug dealer: 'Give it [Windows] to them at an early age (e.g. elementary school) for free and they will stick to it, even if they'll have to pay for it when they study."
But everyone thinks, it would still be "for free", when they buy a new computer, that has Windows pre-installed.
It's a clever way to do business to make everyone think:
"That's how computers work."
