Here is my problem with it. While I get by its most likely the biggest problem.
Day 1 So I install linux and have problems. We all do.
Day 1 cont I'm a smart guy and can google search and then refine the searches to last month or last year. Most of the results are from 2012 and other stupid dates where my distro did not exist.
Day 2 I get a semi stable system and shit is getting good.
Day 15 Steam, my games, everything just works now. My effort has born ripe fruit. My PC is a beast now.
Day 167 I have to reinstall my OS and all the tweaks I did day 1 have to be relearned. Not a problem, Im a smart guy I start again and often trigger old memories where I did the same thing. /CUT Now my family if they listened to me are totally dependant on me to fix all problems.
If Windows was a nightmare. Supporting Family on linux is hell.
All said and done I'm still happy on linux. I setup my machine and the bitch works like a mule on steroids never complains.
When I have to start from scratch I need to learn again. no problem for me but I have to leave my family on Windows for my sanity.
A new OS always has its learning curve. Or with any software really.
What issues do you have with family? My mum runs Linux and I've had two calls from her in a year about how to use a new price of software she wasn't used to. Took 5 minutes . which is good I think
What distro is your family on? Surely an ubuntu derivative should be stable enough barring any unsupported hardware or critical software for their workflow, dunno what to tell you about your personal situation though.
I fell guilty about this. When I built my Linux gaming build I choose older hardware over cutting edge stuff (8320e w/GTX 770) Choose the most boring Distro ever (mint) Googled "ACHP Probe not found" since that was the only hiccup I like boring, I even like the "press D for overclock":)
I did the same test with my family some time ago shifting them from Windows to Linux...I wasted exactly the same time to support and solve their problems with both OSs. I was amazed much of the same it was. It just in Linux I had many weird ways to solve the issues.
i guess the most obvious question is, why would you feel the need to try switching them? if they want to learn about linux, that's a thing they'll have to do themselves. if they're happy on Windows, then why worry?
My father has actually been using Lubuntu 14.04 for probably about 2 years now. He has no problems with it to access Youtube or Facebook. Unfortunately, he has started to run into some weird problems that require just a new install. It fails to run any updates and Google Chrome is super broken on it. I reinstalled it and it just gives me an SSH error for most websites. Firefox works fine.
Another reason I wanted him on Linux is he clicks on every click bait article on Facebook lol sooooo no viruses
Probably gonna upgrade him to OpenSUSE Leap LXDE and call it a day since I have been having a good time playing with it. I think the key for family members who aren't computer savvy is to make sure its an easy desktop environment like LXDE and a long term release so it just doesn't randomly break.
Linux has it's issues, but it has issues for the dumbest of things. (Which yes most of it is not the OSes fault or Linus torvalds fault) but come on, these should not be a problem.
Flash (yes it's going away, but some sites still use it.. most browsers on Linux don't support flash out the box unless you use Chrome. NOT Chromium.. Chrome)
If you use a laptop.. sleep issues. (which while yes are minor and can be fixed in a matter of 5 minutes if you know what to do, this should not be a problem at ALL to start with. if you use Linux on a laptop. Hybrid-Sleep is the best thing to ever hit the earth..
Depending on who you talk to, GPU driver issues. are a hit and a miss.
This is embarrassing in my opinion, Steam Controller is next to broken on Linux.
Like I said, none of these are necessarily the fault of Linus Torvalds, but more on the distro maintainers... and these little things will drive you mentally insane.
Often if something breaks it will tell you what broke where, when, and what you need to do to fix it. In wi dows case it tells you to reboot for eternity and nothing is ever fixed.
@Marten@PreGameOut I can sympathize. My go-to solution for friends and family members who wanted to hang onto aging pc hardware but couldn't keep up with Windows was to switch them to Lubuntu. It works brilliantly... until one day it doesn't, and then you get the calls, and it's your fault that their data is gone, yadda yadda yadda.
Have you looked at Cloudready? It has magically answered my prayers, at least in the few months it's been since I started installing it for people. It's 99% Chrome OS, except you can install it on any pc you like. I've found that it runs well even on the crappiest hardware, the OS auto-updates invisibly in the background, there's no software to install or maintain, it's the easiest OS I've ever used, and all of the user data is by design stored in the cloud. Worse comes to worst and you have to reinstall, it's literally a five-minute process (excluding the download), and they're back up and running with no data lost. Say what you will about Google and their all-seeing eye, they're onto something here.
If your family members' needs are modest enough, Cloudready could be a great solution. The people I've turned onto it love it, and I haven't gotten a single support call. The only potential issues I see are that it's run by a still-unproven startup, and that there are a couple of proprietary (though still free-as-in-beer) bits. If the company goes belly-up or Google changes its mind and locks Chromium OS down, it's game over, but for free, that's a risk I'm willing to take, especially because you can get Chrome/Chromium up and running on any other distro subsequently. If you're a FOSS purist, the proprietary bits and Google integration may turn you off.
I think another part of it is that devs have 0 correlation between hardware working different and then their standardized hardware. I love linux, I really do, but I am willing to put XP on my machine to avoid the stupid shit and to have my game just work. I doubt saints row 3 will run at 30 fps clean for me EVER let alone 60. AMD breaks their drivers, nvidia doesn't really care all that much, and I mean what the fuck are devs doing releasing games and saying "Oh well me have 60 FPS on OUR hardware" not telling people they have like 4 380's and a 12 core proc and going on steam like "LOL UPDATE YOUR HARDWARE 10 FPS SKRUBZ"
That and some companies that have a legit fanbase in linux just going to work SURROUNDED BY COMMERCIALS AND SHIT FOR LINUX DEV WORK (hi germany and china) and when they look at user feedback they're like LOL WHATS A LINUX THAT SOUNDZ DUMM LOLOLOLLOLO (riot games is garbage I'm about ready to never play league again).
For video work, audio, internet, WORK STUFF, I love linux. But until a more consumerized level of shit comes in and slaps some game devs and half the internet around and gets everyone to shut the hell up I don't think linux will be a big player within 10 years. 50 maybe, after M$ kills itself and gaming LITERALLY has no where else to go unless IBM or Risc comes back in 50 years, which I also doubt.
Unless you can remote in and they just need Firefox or Chrome, I wouldn't try supporting end users. If you do try to convince them to use Linux, just say it's like a chromebook with more features, but less accessible features than Windows.
That said, I'm having a good time with the late Ubuntu Gnome 16.04 Beta, the upgrade process was almost flawless with the only hickup was the dash dock extension being "broken" and I just reinstalled it even though it wasn't updated to use this current version of gnome 3.
Haha, so true. I'm a little bit more bullish on the timeline, though, at least as far as gaming goes. Even five years ago, many people were saying that native gaming on Linux would never take off, and look at how much things have changed since then. Ten years from now, who knows? No, it likely won't top Windows. But a major player? Maybe.
The interesting thing to me is that there are several conceivable avenues by which this could happen, and I don't know which one will win. I think you're definitely right in that it unfortunately needs to be more consumer- and corporate-friendly. Linus Torvalds always says that the reason Linux hasn't been more successful on the desktop is that it never will be without pre-installs, and he's right. Unfortunately, Linux won't ever reach that mass user base if it relies on users installing their own OS, because the overwhelming majority of people both cannot and do not want to do it.
Valve have really been shooting themselves in the foot lately, but if they can ever turn this Steam OS thing around, that might do it. If Steam OS really takes off, the rest of us Debian-y desktop folks should also reap the gaming benefits.
Not just debian though. A lot of the arch users do the porting process for apps to other OS's, steam being an example but probably vivaldi browser and a whole bunch more than that. I also don't think preinstalls really matter. If a person had the mind to say "Huh, my G3280 laptop is slow. What works better than windows?" googles that question, finds research, and as I have said to many linux newbies here simply does some research about what it is and how to use it, then we may have better footi g. However as computers stand to a stupid obsessed country like the usa, if it isn't done for me, I don't wanna. Thats how the usa works from government to a homeless individual. Everyone wants a by and no one gets them so no one tries. From policy makers to me. And hell even if they got a buy you have to pay them to actually pay attention. This applies to everything nowadays.
So if we wanted ubuntu laptops at bestbuy we would have to pay exorbidant amounts of money to get some guy to go on google for 5 fucking minutes and actually learn what it is first.
I have also said windows has been grandfathered in. Logically and statistically if apple hadn't become IBM's annoying fanboy and switched to business only machines they would be on top! Think how annoying linux would be then? BSD would be normal so maybe windows would be in that position lol. Since apple left the main market M$ got to do whatever they wanted for 20 years till now where they're fucking up.
If linux gets its desktop day, I'll eat my hat. At this point it isn't fruitless to keep going, its just a war of attrition that gets more annoying as this shit carries on. I mean we can all agree w10 is taking ideas from unity and gnome right? Thats a pretty good thing there.
I think where linux will end up on desktop is making shit change. Pushing the boundries of what we think a desktop should look like, feel like, and how the changes make the over all applications change in speed and relevance. A stomping grou d if you will. Past that we'll just have whiney hipsters and nerds who bitch at game devs and adobe for ports, get them, and no e of them work.
I'm thinking that in 10 years or so, the majority of desktops will be mobile like. Microsoft has been trying to change their OS to be more mobile friendly since 8, and Apple is now taking a step with the iPad pro while seemingly giving less and less attention to Macbooks.
I feel that Windows is struggling to stay relevant in this though where its value is in compatibility with legacy desktop applications. I see Android and iOS taking off further as desktop OS replacements and Windows going away everywhere but in slow moving businesses. I don't think Linux desktops will ever be a thing.