Ah. True. Thanks. Yes dark times with hardware compatibility back then.
Yes, but once again, the fanboys will hail it as an Apple invention.
On my home PC everything is FOSS. I'm a serious hobby user of Inkscape and GIMP. No advantage to using commercial alternatives.
Work PC is all commercial software. For me FOSS CAD doesn't come close.
Yes. When I use particularly badly designed software, where you know it's from a lazy, cost cutting money grabbing company, and you know you need 8x more clicks, and where any miss-step, means you have to start again, I have great trouble motivating myself to use it.
I guess, if I'm on Android, this will make no difference to me?
I use the Plasma app store Discover to update, upgrade, install and uninstall apps. Everything is easy. Even unpacking files and permissions are easy in the file manager. No need for CLI as I'm a home PC user.
The CLI is not faster for everyone. Especially non IT users who don't know any of the options and would have to search the web every time. And there are so many commands the CLI is useless at. Graphics and presentations a big fail. And few people use CLI for email or spreadsheets.
GUI users have a chance to work out how to use a new GUI 99% of the time, as it is all familiar. No exact syntax to type perfectly or it will fail. On other occasions, web help tells you where an option or command is. There is no need to entirety change the way you work, just for a few times when learning new software.
Memorising does not need to be precise with a GUI, as you are given visual cues and can see the next step to click. You don't need to remember precisely every letter or it fails. You don't even need to remember the name of an application. The desktop app launcher shows you which apps you have installed. I often pin apps to favourites as a reminder. Some Appimage apps don't appear in the launcher. I forget I have them installed and they don't get used.
Differences between Desktop Environments are easily found when you change. As GUIs are in many users comfort zone. We use them all the time. People know their home environment, and differences need only just that discovering. Not a whole new environment.
As a user, I can't choose, if a dev only releases an appimage. Then it's a real pain or I skip the app.
Yes. Then the newb is typically happy to learn the Arch ways. Showing that "arch bad for new users" is a bad choice of words.
But, for a non IT person, installing Linux, using the typical GUI tools is not specially hard to do. Write an ISO to a USB stick. Boot the PC. Answer the installer questions like language etc. And if something doesn't work, try a different distro. The problems come when people suggest users use unfamiliar UIs, such as the command line or fiddling with config files, where, if you don't know the exact magic words, it fails to work.
ian
joined 1 year ago
I setup and use Linux on my home PC for the last 12 years, as a non IT person. I don't use the command line or any IT tools. It has to be user friendly. 99.9% of the time, me, and many others, enjoy a very good, modern experience. I'm happy with the Linux apps for home use. Installation, partitioning, app store and updates are all graphical. There might be the occasional glitch. Where you need online help. Ignore those who say the command line is the only way to solve it. They know nothing about GUI solutions. Nearly all issues are solvable. If you are unlucky, at worst, a reinstall is quick, and GUI based. Your learning can be confined to discovering the easy tools and GUI alternatives. I find Kubuntu good, because it allows me to solve things due to its flexibility.