I think it’s really easy for Lemmy users to assume that the general population has the same technological interest and literacy that they do.
The Windows 11 users they are talking about are from an /r/pcmasterrace thread.
The vast, vast majority of consumers don’t give a shit. They don’t care enough to even think about whether their computer is actually secure, they don’t care that they don’t own their OS, and they don’t care that AI is being shoved in.
Their computer is a magic box to them, and they don’t care to know more.
I am not a tech wizard. As soon as my new minipc got home with Windows 11, I installed CachyOS on it. I found out later that it’s based on one of the “difficult” Linux variants, but everything went super smoothly (I might have just been lucky. i don’t know, don’t take this as advice!).
Yes I had to follow a few instructions on creating an installation USB key. That was the hardest part. But my relationship with windows had become too abusive. I do want my computer to “just work” and let me do my stuff, but that’s not what windows is doing any longer
Arch and its variants(CachyOS, EndeavourOS, and Manjaro) are just “difficult” insofar as they usually need you to understand the basics of using the terminal, and how to look up documentation as needed.
With CachyOS, I haven’t played much with the others so I can’t speak for them, you could get away with using the GUI tools shipped by default for a long time and not have any problems.
If it works for you, that’s what matters! Difficulty is subjective, too.
I’m on EndeavourOS, which like CachyOS, is a derivative based on Arch. They smooth over a couple of the things that make Arch difficult: the installation, and initial packages.
Part of what makes Arch difficult is that it updates its repositories very quickly. That’s good in many ways, because you get new features and new drivers more quickly, but sometimes things are buggy or break. From what I’ve heard, it’s honesty fairly rare nowadays, but it’s still a best practice to check archlinux.org before proceeding with a major update.
Anyway, I’m in a very similar boat. I’ve bounced off of Linux for various reasons in the past, but between Linux getting better and Windows getting worse, Linux is the “just works” option for me. It’s not perfect, but any snags I’ve had have been smaller, less frequent, and more often fixable.
The general population isn’t even aware that Linux exists.
I’m not saying that installing Linux is something the general population is incapable of. My comment was in response to all of the people astounded that people still use Windows.
And I didn’t mean to disagree with you. I’d be sheepishly part of that general population too if Microsoft hadn’t actively tried so hard to annoy their users. Jumping ship to anything that is not “the default” that comes installed with your machine feels… refreshing after you’ve done it, but scary before.
Ah, thanks for clarifying. I didn’t think you were disagreeing, I just thought I didn’t make my point well enough (which I didn’t since I didn’t reiterate the stance I was referring to).
I’m well versed, been in IT for decades, and my only substantial gripes about 11 (when it launched) were the removal of taskbar features and the capitalism issues with the store, ads, and telemetry. And I suppose the unreliability of the OS to update itself is just fucking embarrassing.
Now with the AI BS and their fuck you, you’ll get nothing and like it attitude, I’m now actively against them. Except for farming and selling your data and not being able to reliably update eating hours of users time, I don’t really care all that much. They’re trying to be secure, they could do a lot better.
Win 10 was serviceable, apps worked, developers tested against it, it wasn’t hard to look after a herd of them. Updates were still shit, but it’s been that way since 8.
I do think the vast majority of users see things like copliot all over the OS, and then watch their PC run like shit, and assume it’s the new fandagled thing ruining their experience regardless of whether they care about AI or not.
I think it’s really easy for Lemmy users to assume that the general population has the same technological interest and literacy that they do.
The Windows 11 users they are talking about are from an /r/pcmasterrace thread.
The vast, vast majority of consumers don’t give a shit. They don’t care enough to even think about whether their computer is actually secure, they don’t care that they don’t own their OS, and they don’t care that AI is being shoved in.
Their computer is a magic box to them, and they don’t care to know more.
I am not a tech wizard. As soon as my new minipc got home with Windows 11, I installed CachyOS on it. I found out later that it’s based on one of the “difficult” Linux variants, but everything went super smoothly (I might have just been lucky. i don’t know, don’t take this as advice!).
Yes I had to follow a few instructions on creating an installation USB key. That was the hardest part. But my relationship with windows had become too abusive. I do want my computer to “just work” and let me do my stuff, but that’s not what windows is doing any longer
Arch and its variants(CachyOS, EndeavourOS, and Manjaro) are just “difficult” insofar as they usually need you to understand the basics of using the terminal, and how to look up documentation as needed.
With CachyOS, I haven’t played much with the others so I can’t speak for them, you could get away with using the GUI tools shipped by default for a long time and not have any problems.
If it works for you, that’s what matters! Difficulty is subjective, too.
I’m on EndeavourOS, which like CachyOS, is a derivative based on Arch. They smooth over a couple of the things that make Arch difficult: the installation, and initial packages.
Part of what makes Arch difficult is that it updates its repositories very quickly. That’s good in many ways, because you get new features and new drivers more quickly, but sometimes things are buggy or break. From what I’ve heard, it’s honesty fairly rare nowadays, but it’s still a best practice to check archlinux.org before proceeding with a major update.
Anyway, I’m in a very similar boat. I’ve bounced off of Linux for various reasons in the past, but between Linux getting better and Windows getting worse, Linux is the “just works” option for me. It’s not perfect, but any snags I’ve had have been smaller, less frequent, and more often fixable.
thanks for the advice on checking archlinux.org. I’m still fresh and in the honeymoon stage of this and I’m sure I’ll hit some snag at some point!
The general population isn’t even aware that Linux exists.
I’m not saying that installing Linux is something the general population is incapable of. My comment was in response to all of the people astounded that people still use Windows.
And I didn’t mean to disagree with you. I’d be sheepishly part of that general population too if Microsoft hadn’t actively tried so hard to annoy their users. Jumping ship to anything that is not “the default” that comes installed with your machine feels… refreshing after you’ve done it, but scary before.
Ah, thanks for clarifying. I didn’t think you were disagreeing, I just thought I didn’t make my point well enough (which I didn’t since I didn’t reiterate the stance I was referring to).
It’s somehow satisfying to get a brand new machine with Windows pre-installed and never let Windows boot even once. 😎
I’m well versed, been in IT for decades, and my only substantial gripes about 11 (when it launched) were the removal of taskbar features and the capitalism issues with the store, ads, and telemetry. And I suppose the unreliability of the OS to update itself is just fucking embarrassing.
Now with the AI BS and their fuck you, you’ll get nothing and like it attitude, I’m now actively against them. Except for farming and selling your data and not being able to reliably update eating hours of users time, I don’t really care all that much. They’re trying to be secure, they could do a lot better.
Win 10 was serviceable, apps worked, developers tested against it, it wasn’t hard to look after a herd of them. Updates were still shit, but it’s been that way since 8.
I do think the vast majority of users see things like copliot all over the OS, and then watch their PC run like shit, and assume it’s the new fandagled thing ruining their experience regardless of whether they care about AI or not.
Especially if they update and the entire computer is then broken, like with the recent bug where it would break particular SSDs.
That wasn’t a Microsoft issue. It was a bad driver from the company.
But the magical box has changed shape and change is scary.
That’s pretty much the gist of it. Human inertia is a hell of a drug.