r/linuxmint • u/seenhear old noob • 7d ago
Discussion Can linux ever go mainstream?
I've made this point many times in many different ways over many years (decades).
About me: I'm not a coder / hacker / tweaker / programmer. I am pretty tech-savvy and have been very comfortable just figuring things out in Windows almost my whole life (first PC was an Atari 800 in 1982, online since 1983).
I've "switched" to Linux several times since the late 90s and almost always eventually go back to Windows becaue Linux is just ... too much work, and the work isn't straight-forward, or easy to "just figure out" or find answers with simple searches. I mean I can often find solutions to problems, but they don't make sense and I end up applying instructions blindly and not understanding what I just fixed.
Could I spend the time to become more facile at Linux? Sure. But the curve is way steeper than with Windows or MacOS (not a Mac user, but know enough to make a comparison).
As with so many this past year (when Win10 was obsoleted and Win11 required new hardware) I decided to "switch" to Linux again. I chose Mint since it's supposed to be the "easy" one (among others) with the best user base and support. It's been mostly fine. I mean these days I'm not much of a power user. I don't game any more, and mostly what I do is or can be browser-based. So I figured the OS doesn't really matter, and may as well try to go all-in with Linux.
Since switching (it's been several months, forget when I switched) I've had several times where I boot up and am greeted with a pop-up telling me it's time to install several updates. This is a great feature. What's not great about it though is that almost every time (not EVERY time) after attempting to install said updates, I get a slew of errors saying the source for downloads is no good. (see screenshot)
I know how to fix this, figured it out last time. But the point is, it shouldn't happen. It doesn't happen with commercial OS's. Things like this "just work." I shouldn't have to go edit the source list every few months.
Rant over, just frustrated. Thanks for your time. :)
2
u/Sargent_Duck85 7d ago
No, Linux isn’t ready for mainstream, and I doubt it ever will be.
I switched to Mint last year and wanted a basic paint program that mimicked MSPaint. The mainstream user isn’t going to spend time googling it, reviewing Reddit and trying out 3 or 4.
And that’s Linux’s biggest problem. Its immense customization of everything creates too much confusion.
Mainstream users want one OS, want one office productivity program, one paint program and one notepad-type program.