The worst thing about Linux is its users

Really tired of "Linux user sucks" joke. We all know some obnoxious people exist and are annoying but they are small minority confined to their own space.
On the other side, everyday I see Linux people working on their free time or for little to no pay on accessibility issues, bettering software for everyone (including windows users). I also see community members doing their best to answer, document and work with newcomer to fix their issues. I see developers burning out because they received another report insulting their work because a feature doesn't work exactly like windows, etc...
Maybe I'm reading too much into this, sorry if that's the case.
- Yeah I was going to say something similar... I've only been in Linux for maybe 2 years or so, but my experience interacting with people has been nothing but positive. Everyone is very helpful.
- We all know some obnoxious people exist and are annoying but they are small minority confined to their own space.
  But why did that space have to be lemmy?
  
  I think the people who want free and opensource social media overlap with people wanting a free and opensource OS. But I don’t think everyone here uses linux and I don’t think most people that do are obnoxious.

Can’t we agree on both? I don’t want microsoft to spy on me and I would like people to switch to linux.
- Also, i can't do shit about microsoft. It's only gonna keep getting worse.
  I cannot make them not suck. An update will undo anything i do to liberate your machine.
  Literally the only solutions i have for 'ms please don't spy' are 'air gap' and 'linux'.
- The problem is no matter how badly we want that to be true, Linux just still is not stable enough or user friendly enough for the average user. Unless you're ready to be a system admin full-time for someone you're giving a Linux device to, it's pointless. Even the simple ones like Mint? It's too much for my elderly mom, she gets lost too easily. It's just too demanding of average users, simple as that.
  I want people to switch to Linux too, but this is exactly why this comic is dead-accurate, because it's just not ready for average users and likely won't be anytime soon. Why? Because Linux gives you control, and giving you control is actually demanding of your time and energy and effort. People like Windows or macOS because they don't have to expend time, energy, and effort, it just "works" well enough for them to use it passively.
  There are worse things in the world than regular people not being able to handle Linux.
  
  I switched my grandma to Fedora and she's been able to use it without issue once I got it set up for her. She only really needs a browser and word processor anyway.
  
  I think it mostly comes down to baby duck syndrome. People don't like using a package manager for programs on their desktop but are fine using an app store on their phone (which might literally be running linux). People simply expect a desktop computer to work a specific way and when things are in different spots and called different things they get upset. I think it's changing as more companies bake Linux into their product.
  Steam Decks running Linux changes people's impression of it. If a mainstream company sold desktop computers that came with Linux preinstalled I'm sure its use would skyrocket. It's not that it's impossible for the average user to understand, It's that it's not the default option.
  
  YSK that like all demographics, grandmas occupy a range of intelligence options.
  
  Both my parents use linux mint with 0 issues.
  my dad is abysmal at tech, never sent an email, hates the concept of passwords etc, etc.
  Other than resetting Facebook passwords and replacing a laptop battery, they have never needed a thing from me.
  Out of curiosity, what is it that you mom wanted from a pc?
  My parents only ever seem to use their web browser, which is identical to the windows experiance.
  
  I think windows also kinda sucks for older people and less technologically inclined people.
  Windows is what people are used to, doesn’t mean it is better. I think there are a bunch of linux distros that would work just as well for older people.
  
  This is false information
  
  average user
  So, while i first encountered this in software, because i was a nerdy little shit, I've found it in a lot of other things since gstting into otg activism:
  We infantilize the shit out of people, and as long as they're kept in a cradle, they will not outgrow it, only wither and die when their tike comes.
  Claiming agency for ones self is necessarily challenging. You will fuck up, casting off your chains and taking your first steps towards becoming an autonomous individual. It's just a thing. In politics/conscience, in software, in sexuality, in riding a bike; whatever. It's unavoidable, and, imo; usually fine. What i can do is help troubleshoot and make your ass keep backups.
  You'll be better and more capable for having surpassed the challenge.
  There was actually a major bifurcation in ux design around precisely this issue. Doug englebart on the not-evil side, steve 'toilet feet nevershower' jobs on the other.
  
  Have you used it since the 90s? Something like Ubuntu does literally everything for you - drivers, printers, the works.
  
  Eh, I think outside of potential language/accessibility/hardware incompatibility issues that I've read on blogs/comments, Linux works for the "average" user. It's the slightly "advanced" user like me who struggles, and the "truly advanced" who swim like a duck in water in any distro. Like the bell curve meme.
  I say this cause if I literally only needed some apps and the browser, I wouldn't struggle. But I do tinker with things and end up needing slightly uncommon software/features that require me to use the CLI (and my dumbass can't remember commands), even though I'm mid at using the CLI. Meanwhile, people born with a usb-stick in hand love the CLI and use it for everything, even things I would try to avoid unless I felt it was easier.
  A kid I know has put his grandparents on Fedora, and has no issues. It comes down to the person. If they can click some buttons and read, and only wanna use office, browser, and a app or two, they'd probably live. Yeah, you might have to tinker how it looks for them or put the apps on the desktop, but outside of that, it's simple.
  Windows definitely doesn't "just work", I had to figure out Windows decided to kill my Wifi adapter whenever my laptop would go in sleep (god... why???). OneDrive is an ass, devices not wanting to connect (Bluetooth controllers), printers, etc. I'll give you that Mac works pretty well for those who like it, but I hate Apple and never got used to Mac. I still can't remove some shitty old virus scanner that doesn't work anyway and it can't update anymore, so it just rots on our computer. So like, Mac has their off-days with me too (one time FF nuked itself...)
  
  I agree that Linux Isn't stable enough, but having recently been asked to use Windows again, I have realized that it's no better

- Now we know why they got tariff’d

"Complaint"
"Solution"
"No, only complaint 😡"

Windows isnt built for you its built for me, a Systems Admin.
It is so easy to get all my corporate logging and compliance software onto that thing. Its objectively spyware but the feds and the insurance companies said to do it so I do.
Oh and copilot, by the gods, its so nice to give Microsoft full access to all my emails, teams messages, and notes so it can so quickly answer questions for me on everything. Only works if it's ya know spying on you and you're spending hundreds a year to use it. But it is great.

"I want my partner to stop beating me daily, but I don't want to leave them"
They keep beating you as long as it's profitable for them - and you keep it profitable
- First of all, has your own experience with Windows been so traumatic that you actually feel it's proper to compare it to spousal abuse of all goddamn things?
  Secondly, using emotionally manipulative false equivalences like that do nothing to further the argument, it just shuts it down by spreading feelings of guilt in the other partly.
  Thirdly, people are allowed to ask for more privacy without evangelists like you crawling out of the woodwork to guilt-trip them into making a change they may not be ready for.
  
  First of all, has your own experience with Windows been so traumatic that you actually feel it's proper to compare it to spousal abuse of all goddamn things?
  Secondly, using emotionally manipulative false equivalences like that do nothing to further the argument, it just shuts it down by spreading feelings of guilt in the other partly.
  Might not have been the best comparison as another commenter mentioned
  Thirdly, people are allowed to ask for more privacy without evangelists like you crawling out of the woodwork to guilt-trip them into making a change they may not be ready for.
  Sure, you can ask but you're asking hammer to stop being a hammer. Modern Windows is not built to be private, but the opposite of it, it's a marketing platform.
  
  It's a little much to compare it to spousal abuse, but it's honestly not far from the truth. As for asking for more privacy, you're absolutely well within your right to ask for it, but it's well within Microsoft's right to say "fuck you I'll spy as much as I want because you agreed to be spied upon when you agreed to our EULA that you probably didn't actually read".
  Microsoft windows is an advertising platform now and nothing more. Windows as a home operating system is a drop in the bucket for Microsoft, they want you spending money on subscriptions for O365, Xbox gamepass, and Azure Cloud. They want enterprise SQL licensing and azure cloud licensing, they couldn't give fuck all about some butthurt dudebro who plays call of duty, they want copilot subscribers and to be the driving force behind LLMs and AI not Meta or OpenAI. Your privacy is the last thing Microsoft will ever care about, and if you don't take the initiative and stop using that piece of shit intrusive OS, then idk what to tell you.
- You (and the upvoters) thought that this was a clever statement. But it actually was not. It was very disrespectful.
  Victims of abuse most often can't "just leave". It's not always that simple. It just appears simple to people far outside of abuse, having neither experienced nor witnessed it. Or, the rare case, are victims of survivorship bias, because they were in the miniscule percentage of people successfully leaving abusive enviromnente AND be smug about it afterwards. As someone working with abuse victims, it's really never a "then just leave!"
  
  Fair enough, could have used better comparison

The thing is this: The safer Microsoft can be that Windows is the only thinkable OS for their users, the less risk there is when integrating Anti-User features.
To its users it is therefore important to know about alternatives. If you make Microsoft scared that users change OS, the product Windows will become better.
This is true even if you don't change your OS.

The well-dweller makes a valid point. I use linux mint btw

I am going to take the bet.
The thing is : microsoft won't stop spying, collecting data is a nice business, and also most people don't need windows:
Office docs can be open through onlyoffice, or you can also switch to libreoffice (the best option would be raw text like markdown or csv with a nice editor)
Who really needs advanced photoshop stuff that gimp can't provide ? AI ? (also gimp devs just revamped the project to bring modern features inside the editing core)
web browsers work on linux.
only kernel anticheats do not work on linux because kernel. Shame on the devs for needing a full fledge malware when it is purely cat and mouse (and if game devs could provide hostable private servers this would be nice). Also, I don't know if it works but this project exists
Finally, posting this on the fediverse is a bit ironic : why would you go on a small userbase social network when you can just go on facebook, X, bluesky or reddit ?
- I personally prefer Krita to Gimp, otherwise my real issues with Linux being:
  Lack of pro audio support. Sure, a lot of open source plugins are available on Linux, but only 1 usable DAW (Ardour), and even that has it's own "issues" (de facto paid, if you don't want to wrestle with exact compiler and make versions the devs won't tell you).
  X11 is kind of dated, while Wayland is still not up to the task.
  GNOME devs. After all the sabotage, probably done in order to force people to use GTK and their UX design sensibilities, they should be banned from any Wayland protocol discussion.
  Elitist users. They'll scream at you online for using a normal text editor instead of VIM, they want you to write little automated scripts for GDB instead of using something with a normal GUI, etc.
  
  Bitwig has a Linux version. It's proprietary and paid, but it's very nice to use and comes with a ton of devices.
  
  Wayland is not up to the task
  Curious about this one, as I haven't had any issues with Wayland whatsoever, and have been using it for like two years on a few different distros...
  I've never encountered anyone screaming at me for not using (insert FOSS software here). The most I've seen is just suggestions to try an alternative. And it's usually pretty polite
  Just my experience though

Those tribal linux-neckbeards need this to feel superior. Who cares for their opinion?
I use both as tools for the job at hand. One always fits better than the other. It's not a cult, it's an OS