Comment by mbgerring
4 years ago
Linux is also like the United States in that you are in some sense free, but everything just barely works, sometimes things don't work at all, and there is no hope of many well-documented problems ever being fixed. If you have a problem, you are "free" to fix it yourself, on your own, without support.
Have you used Linux in the last few years? Seems like all standard use cases work seamlessly, such as web browsing, streaming, videos, text editing, creating artwork, presentations, installing any random Linux binary, programming, ...etc ; only problems I've run into are by doing something stupid or doing something really really off the wall.
And even when I've created a problem or chosen to do something way outside of standard usage, there has been a WEALTH of documentation, stack overflow discussions, and live Linux community support. I've never run into a problem that hasn't already been chewed over by the Linux community, solved, and the solution been posted in a clear, educational, and technically descriptive manner.
I've NEVER has that kind of support from Apple or Microsoft. From them, it's always some half baked, high level / middle management overview type of solution, usually outdated, that discusses why it's a problem, why fixing it is dependent on the system (their system, that I've paid for), and how I should contact my system administrator, who's going to go read through the same page, then spend the afternoon sipping Pepto and dreaming of having a more sane job. Using their OS's is like wading through mud.
I have — Linux was my daily driver for three years ending in 2018, and I tried to use it for everything from print design to video editing to software development. I was even using it on two different generations of the Dell XPS machines that officially support Linux. I still eventually gave up and went back to macOS. I want my tools to work, not to work on my tools.
I find Linux issues easier to debug than windows or Mac issues, but that’s as a technical user. It would be frustrating as a newbie. I hear elementary is good for new users