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by acomjean 2959 days ago
Linux is great. But even with a strong personality leading there are just too many options for the average consumer.

Software and operating systems are a feedback loop. The more software for a OS the more people use that OS which drives more and better software. As a Mac user in the 90s we suffered from a lack quality software and almost the demise of that platform.

It’s always the year of the Linux desktop, but it can’t seem to displace windows despite being cheaper.. I want great options for computers with Linux pre installed.

But it’s hard sell. Which disto?

Which desktop to use? Gnome, kde.... filesystem? Want to install something non standard? Better hope that they build the software with the same libraries and the same distribution.

Choice is great, but after reading about the linux desktop in another post, people have their favorites, but it seems like there is a lot of work to be done polishing them. With limited developers volunteering we end up with 10ish ok options instead of 2 or 3 great ones.

You want as many people using your platform to keep it healthy and strong.

1 comments

The lastest Ubuntu LTS has been the 'standard' at least since 12.04. Others (like me) have favorites because we're free to do so, and we're nerds. It solves all of the questions that you have above very reasonably, and it runs on almost anything.

The main gripes with it are that it's 'bloated' (in Linux terms, yes, but it's way lighter than Windows/MacOS), or that it encourages the installation of proprietary binaries to make things work (also way less than Windows/MacOS).