There are more people who only browse and use cross platform apps that don’t realise they could switch easily, than there are people for whom a switch would be problematic.
Windows has more supported software, but many people use a small range of common software. Gamers are just one niche. Just like you think Linux users are an echo chamber here, you are not considering the echo chamber of gamers you’re in that dont represent most windows users.
Honestly I’m waiting for a small company to license a Linux desktop to companies with support. It would need to be desktop focused and designed to be indestructible.
My concern isn’t gaming. If you do read what I wrote above, I actually say explicitly that gaming improvement is one of the more solid improvements on Linux recently.
The real problem isn’t PC gamers, who are typically tech savvy (although the issues with anticheat and display hardware compatibility are relevant for a big chunk of many millions of casual gamers). The problem is with people who use their PCs for work using unsupported software in Windows or Mac. Those people have no time for troubleshooting. One key piece of software doesn’t work or isn’t available? That’s a dealbreaker. One area of the setup has a problem that needs tinkering for troubleshooting? That’s a dealbreaker. I am using my computer to make money, I don’t have time for posturing. Either all the stuff I need works or it doesn’t.
Gaming is a problem, but it actually has a lot of people working to support it because at least one major company is betting on that to make money. Software and hardware compatibility doesn’t have the same corporate backing and it makes Linux impractical.
I’ve even known gen z people who would prefer a laptop because they are easier to reliably type on and have bigger screens, yet here you are denying that anyone wouldn’t just settle for the crippled experience of a shitty phone or tablet if they could opt for better. As if there aren’t millions of people who would prefer a desktop OS, because of several reasons, but having grown up with them as just being one of them.
That is barely a sentence, let alone a cogent argument.
We do have data on these things, we know how the market breaks down. For the record, the experience for tablet devices is way less crippled than you may remember if you haven’t used one in a while. The tablet my parents use has a very nice detachable keyboard and a dedicated desktop mode. For web applications there isn’t much difference from using a laptop, and they do appreciate the ability to use it as a screen with no keyboard for media consumption.
I have tried to get Linux running on a few PC hybrids and tablets, but most of them are a bit too quirky, and even the ones with some attempt at dedicated support from the community are a bit of a hassle, unfortunately.
Great, my grammar is somehow imperfect so you win. /s
Popularity is far from an indicator of preference. Tablets and phones are cheap and thus popular. Unfortunately I use both often for testing work stuff. It’s never fun. Typing on a touch screen is trash.
Yes, presumably that’s why they put a physical keyboard on the one I’m describing, along with all those other magnetic detachable keyboards they tend to ship these days.
Look, if you’re going to furiously argue with people on the Internet, it helps to read what they write to at least keep your responses vaguely consistent. It’s not a problem of grammar, this is barely a conversation now.
Well, yes, I have. That’s why reading what I say is important.
Most computing happens on a browser. Browsers, as it turns out, run on Windows and iOS and Android and Mac OS and everything else.
So if you do 80% of your computing on a browser and 20% natively, then you still have no reason to be on a OS that doesn’t do what you need for the other 20%. The right answer for light usage is whatever came preinstalled in your device (likely Windows, Android or iPadOS, if Chrome browsing is all you do).
So if nothing else is relevant that still doesn’t make Linux THE go-to or suitable for mainstream usage. It’s not preloaded in most devices, it is hard to get working well on the types of custom setups most mass market laptops ship with, it’s less convenient or outright incompatible on the mobile hardware casual users prefer and it’s extra work to set up in any case, which you’re not going to do if you’re a normie, because, again, all computers have browsers.
It’s a bizarre argument to begin with, and it’s definitely not the only thing that’s “relevant”.
Also, this is getting in the weeds, but I’ll point out that all my mobile devices will spit out HDR media out of a browser with little drama. Even Windows got there eventually. Seriously, how is it still so finicky in Linux? It’s been standardized and mainstream since 2016, at least.
There aren’t many people who need native. That’s what you’re refusing to acknowledge. You’re a weird one. Live up to the tag name months ago for sure. “Jerk angry at Linux”
There are more people who only browse and use cross platform apps that don’t realise they could switch easily, than there are people for whom a switch would be problematic.
Windows has more supported software, but many people use a small range of common software. Gamers are just one niche. Just like you think Linux users are an echo chamber here, you are not considering the echo chamber of gamers you’re in that dont represent most windows users.
Honestly I’m waiting for a small company to license a Linux desktop to companies with support. It would need to be desktop focused and designed to be indestructible.
And those people have phones and iPads.
My concern isn’t gaming. If you do read what I wrote above, I actually say explicitly that gaming improvement is one of the more solid improvements on Linux recently.
The real problem isn’t PC gamers, who are typically tech savvy (although the issues with anticheat and display hardware compatibility are relevant for a big chunk of many millions of casual gamers). The problem is with people who use their PCs for work using unsupported software in Windows or Mac. Those people have no time for troubleshooting. One key piece of software doesn’t work or isn’t available? That’s a dealbreaker. One area of the setup has a problem that needs tinkering for troubleshooting? That’s a dealbreaker. I am using my computer to make money, I don’t have time for posturing. Either all the stuff I need works or it doesn’t.
Gaming is a problem, but it actually has a lot of people working to support it because at least one major company is betting on that to make money. Software and hardware compatibility doesn’t have the same corporate backing and it makes Linux impractical.
I’ve even known gen z people who would prefer a laptop because they are easier to reliably type on and have bigger screens, yet here you are denying that anyone wouldn’t just settle for the crippled experience of a shitty phone or tablet if they could opt for better. As if there aren’t millions of people who would prefer a desktop OS, because of several reasons, but having grown up with them as just being one of them.
You really have a rage boner for Linux.
That is barely a sentence, let alone a cogent argument.
We do have data on these things, we know how the market breaks down. For the record, the experience for tablet devices is way less crippled than you may remember if you haven’t used one in a while. The tablet my parents use has a very nice detachable keyboard and a dedicated desktop mode. For web applications there isn’t much difference from using a laptop, and they do appreciate the ability to use it as a screen with no keyboard for media consumption.
I have tried to get Linux running on a few PC hybrids and tablets, but most of them are a bit too quirky, and even the ones with some attempt at dedicated support from the community are a bit of a hassle, unfortunately.
Great, my grammar is somehow imperfect so you win. /s
Popularity is far from an indicator of preference. Tablets and phones are cheap and thus popular. Unfortunately I use both often for testing work stuff. It’s never fun. Typing on a touch screen is trash.
Yes, presumably that’s why they put a physical keyboard on the one I’m describing, along with all those other magnetic detachable keyboards they tend to ship these days.
Look, if you’re going to furiously argue with people on the Internet, it helps to read what they write to at least keep your responses vaguely consistent. It’s not a problem of grammar, this is barely a conversation now.
You still haven’t addressed the only point that matters. Most computing happens in a browser full stop, nothing else is relevant.
Well, yes, I have. That’s why reading what I say is important.
Most computing happens on a browser. Browsers, as it turns out, run on Windows and iOS and Android and Mac OS and everything else.
So if you do 80% of your computing on a browser and 20% natively, then you still have no reason to be on a OS that doesn’t do what you need for the other 20%. The right answer for light usage is whatever came preinstalled in your device (likely Windows, Android or iPadOS, if Chrome browsing is all you do).
So if nothing else is relevant that still doesn’t make Linux THE go-to or suitable for mainstream usage. It’s not preloaded in most devices, it is hard to get working well on the types of custom setups most mass market laptops ship with, it’s less convenient or outright incompatible on the mobile hardware casual users prefer and it’s extra work to set up in any case, which you’re not going to do if you’re a normie, because, again, all computers have browsers.
It’s a bizarre argument to begin with, and it’s definitely not the only thing that’s “relevant”.
Also, this is getting in the weeds, but I’ll point out that all my mobile devices will spit out HDR media out of a browser with little drama. Even Windows got there eventually. Seriously, how is it still so finicky in Linux? It’s been standardized and mainstream since 2016, at least.
There aren’t many people who need native. That’s what you’re refusing to acknowledge. You’re a weird one. Live up to the tag name months ago for sure. “Jerk angry at Linux”