[mcpackieh]

Distros not shipping with programs like video players installed by default isn't the reason Linux hasn't found mainstream traction. The real reason is because Linux simply doesn't solve the sort of problems most users need solving; there aren't many compelling reasons for a casual computer user to use Linux in the first place. For normal users, not technical/power users, Linux could work fine but Windows or MacOS also work fine, so they'll stick with what they and most other people know already. Oh you get the source code? Most users don't know what that is, they don't have a reason to care. You get the power to customize things? They don't want to. These things are important and valid to some people, but not important to many more. And that's fine. I've been using Linux for about 20 years and I love it, but I don't recommend it to normies anymore because I figured out that it wasn't doing them any favor. If Linux gave normies some great advantage over the alternatives then more would use it, but that's just not the way it is.