Probably should be posting this at my Linux Newbie – since 1996 blog, but am liking this new Self-Hosted Blog so much that ‘Newbie‘ may be headed for ‘semiretirement‘ as a Linux Google search & reblogger blog. 😉
Have worked hard, for almost four years, promoting Linux at the Linux Newbie – since 1996 blog, i.e., primarily promoting it to Windows users as a Special *PURPOSE* Linuxes, a ‘Portable‘ OS, and a great ‘Secondary‘ or ‘Companion‘ OS to Windows 11 & 10 users.
However, Linux is primarily a Global Enterprise focused OS, which was valued at “USD 5200.0 million in 2021,” and “desktop” Linux (@ 2.6%) barely beats newcomer ChromeOS (@ 2.4%) at Usage share of operating systems. How popular is Linux as a “desktop” OS? I’ve had Linux posts make it to Google’s Front Page wid less than 150 views. 🤔
Being an Enterprise focused OS, Linux has always focused on Business & Commercial OS users first, and “desktop” Linux users usually get stuck wid that archaic Enterprise mentality insisting that normal home computer users must deal wid annoying “Authenticate” popups or other ‘Pesky Passwords’ demands. ‘Think‘ – Passwordless is ‘The Future of Authentication‘. Throwing more than one password at normal home OS users is not going to attract new users…one password or fingerprint or facial recognition during a startup login is more than enough.
Dave McKay
Just came across an article by Dave McKay this morning, and found it quite interesting. I don’t agree wid some of it, but he makes many great points about Linux.
7 Mistakes New Linux Users Make (and How to Avoid Them)
Learning Linux can be a frustrating experience where everything little thing feels like a battle. Avoiding these common mistakes will make your introduction and adoption of Linux much easier and less stressful.
He offers a great Table of Contents…
Welcome to Linux, Here Be Dragons
Picking the Wrong Distribution
Forgetting This Isn’t Windows
Not Engaging With the Community
Fearing the Terminal
Ignoring Cybersecurity
Giving Up Too Soon
Being Afraid of Making Mistakes
Gotta ‘LOVE‘ the – Here Be Dragons! 🙂 Some other snippets…
The challenge comes when the user tries to use their computer and become productive. How badly that affects them is related to the type of user they are. Some users have simple needs and only want to open a browser, and word process the odd document. They can transition to Linux with no problem.
At the top end there are power users. These are the people who are happy to tinker with PowerShell on Windows, and can usually find their own answers to any issues they run into. They’ll fit right into the Linux world.
Everybody else falls into the middle tier. They’re the users who do more than browse, but they have no interest in learning about computers and operating systems in any great detail. They want to accomplish something, and the computer should facilitate that, and not get in their face. They don’t want to fight the computer to achieve their end results.
Dave McKay likes Fedora, and Fedora 36 Cinnamon SPIN is my 2nd rated Linux OS on the Karmi’s Top 10++ Linux Distros page.
In the “Picking the Wrong Distribution” (out of some 600+++ choices) section he makes some great suggestions to avoid that mistake ‘n here is one…
If possible, set up VirtualBox and install different distributions as virtual machines, or go and check out the distributions used by people you know.
He sums up the article like this…
Being Afraid of Making Mistakes
You’re going to make mistakes. But every mistake made is a learning experience, and every problem you overcome is something that won’t be an issue next time you encounter it.
Welcome to Linux, dragon-slayer.
Excellent article! Much more at 7 Mistakes New Linux Users Make (and How to Avoid Them).