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PSA: When people ask you "What distro should I use?", try pointing them here
(distrochooser.de)
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this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2023
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I kinda feel like this is better for folks who've been at it for a little bit. There are way too many distros claiming to be beginner friendly for a tool like this to be helpful.
I think it's better to just send them to an easy to install, up to date distro that will suit their needs that has a DE that's easy to understand but different enough from where they're coming from to keep them from expecting it to work like windows. Stable updates from a GUI, software availability, and easy to use backup tools are all a plus.
Which OS am I talking about? Hell, I have no idea. Fedora? Maybe Vanilla 2 when it comes out? Certainly nothing Arch based (sorry, guys, I love arch too but it's not for beginners...).
I honestly think it's Ubuntu. If we put aside the biases many of us "experienced" users have against Ubuntu/Canonical/snaps, Ubuntu seems like the best choice. Well supported, wide community, sane defaults.
I'd agree if it weren't for the Snaps bullshit. Because of that, I don't want to recommend it to anyone because I don't want to encourage Canonical.
If I'm looking it from a new user's perspective, snaps offer an easy way to install many apps. If people actually care about their downsides they will eventually find out and stop using them on their own.
Yeah, I'm not talking about the technical issues. Those are just growing pains. Snap is really no better or worse than, say, Flatpak. I don't like dealing with it, but that's not why I wouldn't recommend Ubuntu.
It's stuff like redirecting apt installs to snaps. It's Canonical I have issue with, not Ubuntu itself.