Skip Navigation

Linux is too hard

The indoctrination of windows is extreme. Windows is just as hard as linux, harder even with all the layers of obscurity.

And yet... linux is hard, and users decry RTFM as "not growing the userbase"

247 comments
  • RTFM is great when it covers the problem you're having, but I've seen multiple times in various forums, when the problem isn't covered by the manual or the solution isn't immediately obvious, the user is just ignored entirely. Some people have a really weird "linux doesn't have any issues, its the user's fault" attitude.

    • Last year I got told to RTFM and was linked to a documentation page that said

      STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION

      Which was very helpful

  • People don't have the time/will to research alternatives, that's why most of us follow trends. It's the old mantra "if is good enough for him...", and honestly, i don't feel to blame anyone. Computers by now are a necessary tool and people want an easy "switch an play" solution to use it.

  • Windows has the excuse of being preinstalled everywhere. It makes it very hard to break system or to use the system in a way not blessed by Microsoft.

    Linux is fairly easy to learn and gives you lots and lots of power.

    • It looks like everyone always forget about Chromebooks or kind of ignore them...

      • I super hate Chromebooks. My mom gave my kid one and it's ruining my life. I should have just binned it and gotten him a real laptop with mint or ubermix.

        He has a computer now with ubermix, but it's an uphill battle.

      • I like Chromebooks

        I would use one if it wasn't a privacy and freedom nightmare. I think it would be cool if there was a distro that was rootless by design and unbreakable as possible

      • I like Chromebooks

        I would use one if it wasn't a privacy and freedom nightmare. I think it would be cool if there was a distro that was rootless by design and unbreakable as possible

  • I mean, this is why I have been using Mac since 1984. It's not hard and it pretty much just gets out of the way and lets you do stuff. (Caveat: Gaming. It really doesn't let you do gaming without jumping through a number of hoops.)

    The fact Time Machine immediately hassles you to set up a drive and back up your stuff is so great for the average user. I'm sure both Linux and (I know) Windows have something similar, but it's not immediately active and trying to get you to save your stuff. TM has saved my bacon numerous times and I love that it's one click and a fresh HD for users to get it set up.

    • I will always remember my first experience using MacOS: I am comfortable with computers and a relative needed help with their recently purchased macbook. I had plugged in a USB stick to transfer some files and was done and wanted to eject it. I spent way too much time than I care to admit, trying all possible options, right-clicks, settings, everything imaginable, to eject the damn thing.

      It was impossible to me to find the simplest operation with a USB stick, something required to operate it. I capitulated and looked online. The solution? I had to drag and drop the USB stick icon into the trashcan!?!?!?

      To this day, I will never understand the absolute ridicule of this and I will never comprehend how anyone is expected to figure it out on their own. And this is from the OS touted as the most user friendly and intuitive. Go figure.

      Edit: this was a long while back, no idea how it is nowadays.

      • Yeah they have an Eject symbol by it multiple places, plus the trash can turns into an eject icon, plus of course the menu item you can use under the File menu now, so it's pretty well covered. Especially compared to the (to me) fairly inexplicable Windows "USB" blob that appears in the controls area to let your right-click and eject. But that was a definitely a thing back in OS 9 and prior, haha. I have no idea whose idea it was to make that the disk eject interface. I've heard the same rant multiple times for sure.

      • Anyone who uses Finder as a file manager is a masochist. That's the worst file manager I've ever used. And that includes shitty Android file manager which have more ads than file managing capabilities.

    • I'm sure both Linux and (I know) Windows have something similar, but it's not immediately active and trying to get you to save your stuff.

      Funnily enough, Microsoft does try to do this with OneDrive, prompting you during OOBE. A lot of the tech space demonizes Microsoft for exactly this.

      Which to be fair, a lot of that does come down to legitimate concerns (such as being far to eager about this even when you say "No" and not offering a "don't ask me again") - but at the same time, some of the push (likely) comes from a good place of trying to set up backups for users.

      It's definitely not completely altruistic - companies hardly ever are (cough cough, forced online accounts). But I also don't think it's as black and white as "Microsoft is bad for this". And though even I complain about this, the same goes for Microsoft being aggressive with Windows Updates.

      • AFAIK, OneDrive is very different from Time Machine? More similar to iCloud? It's not a backup, it's just an online sync.

        The MS equivalent of Time Machine is File History, I believe. (Ie, a versioned backup that fills the hard drive until it's out of space and then starts deleting the oldest copies of files.)

    • Shocker, you bought hardware with a compatible OS. That's the dudes problem. He didn't buy hardware compatible for Linux. 1984, so I know you are well aware, you have to buy hardware that is compatible with your OS.

  • Since you find some motive to rebuild the kernel in your own way or correcting bugs from 80s cli applications you'll be quite there...

247 comments