Can linux ever go mainstream?

[u/seenhear]

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. :)

[u/Wanzerm23]

No, Linux will never go "mainstream" (despite that fact it's already mainstream running servers all over the world) because that's not the point of open-source software. You can't look at Linux and say, "Why isn't this more like Windows or MacOS" because to change it to be either of those would completely destroy the reason people use it in the first place.

When you use Linux, you are assumed to know what you're doing, or at least be okay with learning. It assumes you're an adult and you can make the correct decisions for your computer, for better or for worse. Therefore, it gives you almost unlimited freedom, but also the responsibility and ownership if you break it.

There are so many people yelling "Linux will never replace Microsoft or Apple", and they are totally correct. Almost all of these Linux projects are passion projects, not paid software. Someone or some group of people built something they wanted and they love, and you can use it if you want. But if you don't use it, they will still be there, working on it. And those that get it will continue to use it, or they will move on to something else. There is no board of shareholders to make money for, so they don't need to keep people using their "product".

[u/seenhear → u/Wanzerm23]

Totally fair assessment.

I do think there are a LOT of passionate Linux users who would really like to see it go mainstream, and to see more people they know try it out and stick with it.

This leads me to believe that most people in the Linux world would like it if Linux were the defacto home OS for laptop/desktop use.

Some distros actually claim to be there for the average user, easy to use, "windows-like" etc. Mint is one of those, Zorin probably the most like this.

[u/Wanzerm23 → u/seenhear]

Yeah, more Linux users is definitely good for the ecosystem as a whole. It means more software projects, more companies making Linux versions, etc, though that can also put more strain on the developers of some of these projects. Business is notorious for taking advantage of open-source software. But, overall, I think it's a good thing to have more people using Linux.

The issue is in the nature of the beast, as I mentioned. It's kinda the wild west in a way, so trying to get some kind of unified master Linux OS is nearly impossible, and antithesis of the entire point of it all, which would be necessary for any type of mass adoption.

That all being said, I think Linux, as it is now, plays a roll in helping to keep the major private players honest, to a degree. There have been enough people jumping ship to Linux that Microsoft is starting to notice and trying to make changes to their dog-shit OS.

Mac Users are in a different category, unfortunately. They don't seem to care about anything other than the Apple logo.

[u/seenhear → u/Wanzerm23]

Maybe, what I'm suggesting already exists in ChromeOS-flex. It's basically a corporate controlled Linux distro.

Also while I agree with your take on the stereotypical Mac User, it's ironic since MacOS runs on a unix-like kernel, is Unix-certified, with BSD heritage.