this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2023
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FWIW, my (non tech-savvy) mum and dad have been running Zorin for years (and Xubuntu prior to that), without any issues. The only times I've had to intervene is for doing an OS upgrade, which was a manual process, but Zorin now includes a GUI upgrader which should make things even more easier.
Folks who claim Linux is too unstable or complicated for home users, and think you need to use the commandline for every small thing, should check out Zorin (or talk to my mum and dad!).
I wish the myth of Linux being a scary place would go away. I run Tumbleweed as a daily driver, and I only go into the terminal when I want to, but I definitely don't have to for anything I can think of off the top of my head - even if it might be easier. I think most distros do a good job of creating a user-friendly experience these days.
This might be an unpopular opinion here, but it’s not a myth. If you have hardware that isn’t widely supported it can require some serious technical chops to get things working. Open source is wonderful and a net positive but it can also lead to quite a bit of abandonware, which leaves novice users in a tricky position when things stop working correctly.
I love linux, I use it every day—and it’s way more approachable than it used it be. However it is still very much rough around the edges.
I agree with you.
Linux is awesome. And the big modern distros have come leaps and bounds in terms of accomodating novice users. And in OP's example where they are doing X and Y tasks on Z hardware where the software used for those tasks is popular and the hardware is well supported it's great for that! But on the whole, your average user is less likely to encounter issues they can't resolve with the big proprietary commercial OS's.
I think Linux usability for the average user will continue to improve, and adoption will continue to increase. But just by it's nature I don't see Linux and the open source ecosystem as a whole ever being as easy as commercial offerings. And I think that's ok. I do wish that people as a whole would put more effort into understanding at a high level how their technology works and what it's doing. It's a vital part of our daily lives afterall. If they did Linux usage would skyrocket. But it is what it is.
I wasn't intending to get up on that soap box when I hit reply. I'll step down now.
Well put! I really like your point about acceptance of the fact that it may never compete with commercial OSes in terms of ease of use…and that’s okay.
My mom, 80+ years old, has been running Debian for well over a decade with damn close to zero problem. My grandmother ran Debian until she passed away at a bit over 100 years old. I don't get the Linux is so hard plot lines. Maybe 30 years ago it was a bit much.
thanks for mentioning the upgrade. I keep on looking for something even easier with linux but keep on coming back to this one.