[Godel_unicode]

Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distro. If Ubuntu requires workarounds to get audio working, then Linux requires workarounds to get audio working. No whatabouts, no "it just needs one quick thing", if it doesn't just work then it doesn't just work.

[smoldesu]

PipeWire supersedes Pulseaudio. End of discussion. This position is like arguing that Windows 11 isn't the future because most people are still on Windows 10; it's most definitely wrong and relies on circumstance.

You really want to get pedantic? "Linux" isn't Ubuntu, nor is it Fedora nor Arch nor Debian or any of those distros. Linux is a kernel, and it supports several audio backends (or none at all). If we're comparing with Darwin/NT, neither of them "just work" with audio since none of them ship with it. If we're comparing OSes, then we're talking about Monterey vs Windows 11 vs Linux With The Latest Tech. Not Windows 10 just because more people use it. Not Monterey just because it was better.

That's a disadvantage for Linux in most respects since the new "solutions" for desktop Linux are pretty awful (Wayland, Flatpak, GTK4/Libadwaita, etc). Let it be known that desktop audio is not one of those issues anymore, though.

[Godel_unicode]

This entire post is completely missing my point. I am, and have been been for the entirety of this discussion, talking about what the situation is today. Today, audio is broken on desktop Linux. Other OSes might have the same problem or they might not. Tomorrow might be different. I'll even go so far as to say it will probably be different.

But today, if you download the most popular Linux distro from Canonical and install it on your PC, you are going to have audio issues out of the box. Saying anything else is gaslighting, and it is the main reason desktop Linux fails. People are told "it's good now, trust us!". So they install it, their headphones don't work, they roll their eyes and say "Linux gonna Linux" and go back to their previous OS.

[smoldesu]

You're also missing the other side of that coin: that's not my problem. I don't care how you're coping with getting things configured or set up correctly, I sure as shit don't care if people aren't getting it working on their box, and I definitely don't care about how "other people" view Linux. Why should I be afraid of anecdotal desktop Linux failures if it works fine for me?

Linux is not a desktop operating system. By default, it has no audio configuration. Distros package whatever software is considered "current" at the date of their LTS cutoff; Ubuntu is one of them. Ubuntu is using outdated software, and will be stuck that way for a couple years. Currently, Linux audio is fine. You're the one using broken software and blaming others.

[SSLy]

don't move the goalposts, commenter above was comparing situation to major desktop OSes, which require even more obscure stuff so they don't work even more than Linux "does"

[Godel_unicode]

I was replying to you. You said "...and you don't have to configure anything". That is incorrect.