• octopus_ink@lemmy.ml
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    7 months ago

    And this, folks, is why there will be no “year of the Linux desktop”. The technical difficulties, and the surrounding gatekeeping.

    Joke’s on you, we don’t need there to be one. Mine was 2007. Yours was whenever it was. I welcome new users, but my happiness doesn’t depend on Linux appealing to everyone, and neither does the survival of Linux as an option.

    The types who appreciate what differentiates the Linux experience from Windows or MacOS (in terms of the typical benefits we’d evangelize) will find their way here. It’s naturally getting easier over time, and the contrast (especially against the Windows experience) is only increasing in its attractiveness.

    You need a willingness to learn, and if you’ve never installed an OS ever before that will be true even for Windows. Why are we trying to lower the bar further than that? Not everyone has to start with Arch, or should.

    • folkrav@lemmy.ca
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      7 months ago

      This is merely one way to view it. The other is the one I gave. An OS is a tool for most people, they don’t even understand nor learned Windows, it’s mostly the gateway between them and their actual work, i.e. the software they use. They want a computer that runs their software, that’s it.

      The “we don’t need them as Linux users if they don’t want to RTFM” line of thinking you’re exhibiting was exactly my point. Why do you interpret making things better for everyone as “lowering the bar”? Unless you genuinely think it’s a good thing the technical barrier is there, I don’t know how you rationalize this opinion.

      Mine was 2007 too. Almost two decades later, and we still have the people playing gatekeepers.

      • octopus_ink@lemmy.ml
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        7 months ago

        Who’s gatekeeping? Why would a new user be pushed to Arch? There are many options where a user can probably get by without having to read a wiki, and certainly not the Arch wiki. It’s no harder than installing Windows to install those distros for a basic install - and no harder than an advanced Windows install for an advanced install. What problem are you trying to solve?

        My point is - there’s always this underlying “well it’s not easy enough for every last untrained child to pick up an iso and install it, so it’s failed!”

        My point is:

        1. Netiher is Windows
        2. Even Windows has a learning curve, but it’s so ingrained that folks don’t realize they’ve already traversed it and
        3. NOTHING appeals to or is suitable for every last person, so why does desktop Linux (edit: Or at least Arch for sure as in OP) need to be?
        • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Jesus, the self-entitlement of users these days… When saying you might have to RTFM is equivalent to, “that feature never worked or never existed and you should feel bad for wanting it”.