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Comment by frollogaston | Hacker News Reader

This website is great, but the first turnoff a normal user will hit is that they don't know what "Linux distribution" means, and even if they do, it doesn't recommend one.

Even if it said go install Ubuntu or something... Very few people think of a kernel and OS as separate things. Hardware and software separation is already sketchy enough. Instead of people interjecting for a moment, can there just be a penguin-branded "Linux" OS already?

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No?

Nobody in their right mind would claim that they are building the official Linux OS without turning the whole community against them.

And it's not as if the average user need to use linux. If developers move from windows 10 to linux, the impact would be huge.

This website seems directed at average users. There aren't a whole lot of devs, but even then, many devs want things to just work cause time is money.

Nobody is upset that there's an official Linux kernel. Of course it takes Linus Torvalds to declare it, and he's understandably not interested in designating an official OS, but this is a consequence.

> Nobody is upset that there's an official Linux kernel.

Because he was literally the creator of the whole thing. And the word "official" means little in the open source community. Yt-dlp took the crown out of youtube-dl hands when it comes to downloading videos. Is yt-dlp official? What official even means?

And that's fine that many devs want things that just work. Little by little, everyone is noticing that windows not only not improving but taking direct action to make the experience worse. The balance is tilting in favor of linux not only because linux is getting better but because windows is also getting worse

It's not enough because there isn't something comparable in Linux. Microsoft will follow their MO of avoiding pissing off users just enough that they don't bother switching, been that way since Vista at least.

The website doesn't pretend it will catch all users.

But some people are more curious than others. And among them, chance is that a large fraction can understand what a distro is.

I wouldn't recommend Ubuntu, though.

One of the biggest faults of Linux is we don't have an easy, user friendly, idiot proof distro for normies, but Ubuntu is just broken corporate slop.

When I was wearing the various "save users from themselves" hats in my previous life, Ubuntu users were 100% the bane of my existence... since they were all server customers, the ones that took my advice and let me help them switch over to Debian suddenly stopped being frequent footgun fliers, no matter what their original issue was.

Ubuntu, to me, is simply Debian that has been aggressively turned into enterprise slop.

Honestly I like Debian more than Ubuntu too, but the problem is that just as many people might say Debian sucks and you need to use LinuxMint or something. Even more confusing and frustrating is the "it depends on your use case" thing, as if 99.99% of PC users aren't all trying to do the same basic things (server is different, but even then, 90%?).

There has to be some acceptable default that doesn't change too much, even if it's not the best thing ever. Ubuntu changed DEs twice even though the original was fine. Windows UI is intentionally bad at this point, but at least it's stable.

> Windows UI is intentionally bad at this point, but at least it's stable.

Windows 2000 to XP to Vista to 7 were big breaks in UI. 7 to 10 was a break. 10 to 11 was a break. When I now click the lower left corner, weather opens. When I'm pressing the Windows key, no applications menu to be seen, just some web search slop.

The only thing that's constant with windows are the lying percentages, where 99% and 100% take as long as 0-98%...

They're not very different. Last time I used Windows often was 2000, and I was able to pick up and use any of the later ones. Random IT departments publishing screenshots don't need to go change everything between Windows versions. Meanwhile I logged into my Linux desktop at work for the first time in a while (normally I SSH), and literally every button and setting was in a different place than before.

Unless I'm misremembering, Windows key still opens the start menu with your apps. It's just that they added tons of adware and crap next to it.

The key still works. But there is no more "Programs" submenu there, which was the first and most prominent thing back then. Now: Just search. And, if you are lucky and on the right version, maybe a tiny "see more" button next to some random program icons. If you can distinguish them from weather, advertisements and stuff.

Windows updates are a support nightmare. It's just that everyone accepts those and forgets about the pain they cause. Whereas some tiny change in Linux desktop environments is always a catastrophe when people tell about it.

Microsoft gets a free pass beause of Stockholm Syndrome I guess...

What I mean is, they changed the entire desktop environment, which was sorta the IT dept's choice but also a forced decision based on the Linux desktop landscape. I can see why other places prefer Windows. Ours doesn't of course because we're a software company that uh doesn't write Windows software, but even then, they're phasing out Linux laptops in favor of MacBooks because of driver issues.

I would totally use Linux on desktop if I didn't have a Mac. But it's only because I'm stubborn enough not to tolerate Windows treating me like dirt, not because it's actually a rational decision to use Linux.

Fedora is pretty much "ideot proof for normies" at this point.

Yeah, it says "go find linux suitable for beginners". I googled "linux for beginners" and Google currently gave me such a mix bag of articles with options including Kali Linux. Crazy.

Also, who googles now anyways? Ask your local ChatGPT haha.

Jokes aside, ideally would be to make a decision and recommend Ubuntu (or PopOS).

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