• Federico@mastodon.uno
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    14 hours ago

    @ChairmanMeow @Garbagio this is a fair comment. But except for gaming and some niche software (Photoshop, Cubase), I don’t think windows is really better than Linux. Nowadays you can easily use windows software via winboat or Gnome Boxes, and this works well for 50% of the windows-only software. 90% of the activities are in the browser. Many software have valid and usable alternatives. In the end, anyone could use Linux with the same easiness if just it was pre installed, at least in dual boot.

    • Yeah but that’s precisely the thing isn’t it: you need to know Winboat, Gnome Boxes, VMs etc… exist, you need to know how to configure it and how to use it.

      I’ve installed Bazzite a while ago for my sister after my old gaming PC didn’t support W11 which I donated to her. Took 2 reinstalls because apparently it’s very easy to mess with hard drive mounting in a way that bricks the OS into an unrecoverable boot loop. Then, I needed to get her games working through Lutris, which did eventually work but updating those games then became an issue. I know how to do it, but she still has difficulty getting the steps right. Had I left it to do it herself, she would’ve been far too intimidated to even get started properly (and she’s above-average when it comes to computers). And of course 90% of computer work happens in the browser, but people are unlikely to switch if that remaining 10% doesn’t also just work out of the box.

      Arguably this all isn’t Linux’ fault, but that doesn’t magic the issues away. Windows is just a lot more familiar and harder to brick beyond repair. Of course it’s less powerful and more bloated, but managing to get a Linux install to that point is often still quite hard for many people. And the average person has very little patience to make something work.