then again, who says the OP was for average person

Nobody, the post is to aid us who are assisting other people to switch. I’m saying people here vastly overestimate the average persons ability AND willingness to actually switch, by themselves or assisted.

Linux is not all that horrible compared to Windows.

It is, in part because Linux is not beginner friendly but mostly because everyone is used to windows. Almost every program they’ve used is exclusive to it, which is why this post provides a path to eventually introduce them to Linux. Using Linux isn’t hard, using it the same way people are used to is. As is troubleshooting and installing 3rd party applications.

So when you’re done building strawmans, go touch some grass

Couldn’t have said it better, and I’ve seen the same article as well!

Funny story a coworker told me is his father kept breaking his windows install in the weirdest ways, so he asked him if he’d try Linux and was very reluctant. He showed him his laptop and he said “Oh yeah I used this at work for 30 years!”

Your point is proven by the adaptation of chromebooks, kids have no issue using them and neither should anyone else. It’s not a Linux thing, it’s a “what did you use the most”-thing. Some distros are ready to be shipped to consumers, bought a laptop with Linux pre-installed in 2018 (XPS 13).

You’ll see mainstream use if stores are selling them in-store to consumers. You’re up against the likes of Google, Microsoft or Apple when you try to pull that off.

PS: I believe in mainstream Linux use because money has a tendency to ruin everything, just think it will be much slower than us enthusiasts would want.

Exactly, in reality people will use what’s given to them. Just like windows, introduce it now and people would lose their fucking minds about how convoluted it is.

Transition costs are what we should be looking at, right now to install or use Linux you need someone with experience explaining it to you. Just like it was when PC’s were becoming a thing. Don’t have that person? Only alternative is MacOS or ChromeOS for them.

It’s actually hilarious how disconnected some Linux folks are lmao

The average person

• doesn’t know what an operating system is
• can barely work with windows, has had many struggles learning windows
• is scared of change
• doesn’t know about the existence of a BIOS
• will never be able to boot anything else but default by themselves
• doesn’t know how to troubleshoot anything about computers
• literally does not know or care about the existence of Linux

I know these things are changing, but anyone saying people are able to switch to Linux by themselves and its easy and doable for the average person is fucking delusional, this post is one of the most reasonable takes I’ve seen on the sub