[throwuxiytayq]

No, it’s because people approximate the costs badly. Pretty much everyone I know is biased towards inaction even if the action provides immediate as well as long term benefit. Especially when it comes to technology. Even the technology oriented people.

[cortesoft]

I am not sure how you can be so certain that it would be an immediate benefit to those users… how are you measuring the cost of having to learn something new and the benefit of knowing how everything works?

[PhasmaFelis]

> No, it’s because people approximate the costs badly.

"Why doesn't everyone switch to Linux? They must be stupid" is just as short-sighted now as it was 30 years ago.

Linux is great, but there are and were plenty of good reasons why it's not optimal for the average user. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41283651

[consteval]

If we're talking purely about the average user it's perfect for them. They use a browser primarily, which work great.

The trouble is the slightly above average user who is not technical. They think they know computers because they can click around in some random Windows GUI and get something to work. But they don't actually know much in a general "how stuff works" way.

And then there's the highly technical like SWE who thrive under Linux.

So really it's just the weird middle ground that struggles. You know, your MBAs who can use Excel but get scared at plaintext files.

[throwuxiytayq]

I didn’t say it’s stupid. Everyone’s assessment is inaccurate every once in a while. Or pretty much always, when it comes to certain biases.

You say “average user” and then point to a comment where someone’s disappointed that they can’t get their professional software to work. The average user these days needs a web browser, and doesn’t care which one.

[PhasmaFelis]

> I didn’t say it’s stupid.

You're claiming that the main reason most people don't switch to Linux is some sort of deficiency of judgment rather than anything practical, and that's not true and it's never been true.

You dismissed the costs of getting used to a new OS right off the bat, and that's a real thing. In my link that you dismissed, the first sentence ("while Windows is very hostile ... to its users, it's rarely broken or buggy") is relevant to most users. Professionals may have trouble getting their apps to work, gaming has gotten better but still has the same problem. If user literally only cares about running a web browser, then yeah, Linux would be fine; but Windows is already fine, so why bother switching?

I like Linux. I've used it at home and professionally. I'm a huge fan of FOSS principles, and I think it would be better for everyone if more people used open systems. But Windows works well enough to satisfy most people, and they're not going to change purely for ideological reasons. Maybe it'd be a better world if they did! But it's not reasonable to expect them to, or to cast that as a failure of judgment.

[brookst]

What was that about respecting users?