[reddalo]

Linux Mint is super easy to use. I've personally battle tested it with my elder parents.

Given all the nagware present in Windows 11, I'd even say Linux Mint is easier than Windows.

The most difficult part is probably the installation itself.

[scorpionfeet]

Not if you are coming from windows and are not a tech nerd. I don’t want to end up being tech support for some non techie I coerced into Linux. It is nowhere near as seamless as zealots like to believe. Been having this discussion since 1997.

[inetknght]

> It is nowhere near as seamless as zealots like to believe.

Perhaps not. But it's still more seamless than Windows these days. Microsoft keeps lowering the bar.

[array_key_first]

It's not just that Microsoft keeps lowering the bar, although they do. Linux desktops have also improved A LOT, especially in the last 10 years.

We're at the point where UI-wise they run laps around Windows, and often even MacOS. They're intuitive, simple, and powerful.

The problem is that they're not windows. People know how to use Windows, including how to work around the layers of jank. When you remove the layers of jank, expectations get broken and users get confused.

[reddalo]

Have you actually tried a modern distro like Linux Mint?

Seriously, you don't even need to touch the terminal, everything is neatly organized in a single control panel (unlike the messy >2 control panels situation of Windows).

You can easily install all the applications you want; even games thanks to Steam and Proton.

It's easy to use, there are no ads, no preinstalled adware, no nagware, everything is fast and clean.

[esseph]

> modern distro

Let them cook...

> Linux Mint

Oh. :(

[4k0hz]

Modern != brand new shiny hipster thing. Unless you're a devotee of rolling release or unconvential things like Nix, Mint is not obsolete.

[esseph]

Depending on your age, "brand new shiny hipster thing" could be Enlightenment Desktop, Mate Desktop, or it could be Cosmic or Hyprland+.

Mint is a steady distro like Debian is. It certainly hasn't changed much in the last 15 or so years. For better or worse, depending on your POV.

[hparadiz]

Mint lags upstream by years. Lol

[surgical_fire]

I don't know the last time you tried - I made numerous attempts to migrate to Linux since 2003, until I finally made it for good in 2022.

Modern beginner friendly distros are genuinely more user friendly than Windows nowadays.

[scorpionfeet]

I”ve been installing Linux desktops for decades (mostly Ubuntu, but in the day: Suse and RedHat, and Qubes, and FreeBSD and NetBSD, Nix, Arch, etc…) I always check out the latest LTS release of Ubuntu. I tried Mint and didn’t see a huge difference. Same sort of belly flops into the shell to make things work, but with a difference skin. It is not fundamentally different than any other distribution with a desktop in my opinion of staring at this for 30+ years.

[justinpombrio]

Honestly I've had more technical problems installing Windows than Linux Mint recently, not to mention the multiple hours spent hunting down and disabling all of the telemetry and ads in Windows. Still can't believe they put ads in File Explorer.