[ghusto]

Funny sentiment to me, because I switched my parents and in-laws over to Linux exactly because of what a hassle Windows is to support.

> and wondering why the newly bought xyz Bluetooth device doesn’t work on it

It's not the early 2000s anymore, things just work now.

[akaike]

What exactly is such a big hassle with Windows? Sure, it’s bloated with trash, but again, it’s good and simple enough for everyone to use. Try explaining to a casual user that they can’t execute an exe file or use Photoshop or whatever on Linux without specific workarounds.

[cholantesh]

Neither of those scenarios are typical for 'casual users' of the 2020s: at work, most have Windows laptops issued to them that they can't install things onto anyway, and elsewhere they are liable to do most of their computing on a tablet or a phone. There's almost nothing an exe file could do for a casual user that couldn't be done in a browser or mobile app, and most of them understand what an operating system is and that, on some level, there are cross-compatibility issues between them that they may be able to resolve with a tool.

>Photoshop or whatever

No one who _needs_ Photoshop is a casual user.

[akaike]

That’s not true—these scenarios absolutely apply to casual users, like students or hobbyists who do things like video editing or photo editing. Students, for example, often need Windows-specific software for schoolwork.

Even if we ignore Windows-specific software entirely, there are still other pain points: DRM support, HDR support, certain drivers, and even the variety of package managers and ways to install things. You know what I mean—these things are nothing special for us, but for someone who’s just casually gaming or doing some creative hobbies, being forced to use the terminal to, for example, update Nvidia drivers or find a workaround to get an unsupported game launcher to work, can be a total dealbreaker

Even something as basic as swapping out PC hardware as a gamer isn’t as seamless on Linux as it is on Windows. That’s a lot of friction for someone who just wants things to “work”. And you know I’m right because if I would be wrong with all these points, we already would have a year of Linux desktops … as it’s being said every year.

You underestimate how most people just value ease of use, familiarity and don’t care about freedom and control over a system. Most don’t want to spend their time tweaking or figuring out why something doesn’t work and that’s totally fine.