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1 • A couple of things Linux is missing (by brad on 2025-04-28 01:03:18 GMT from United States)
Although I think Jesse is correct by asserting that "Linux" needs to be pre-installed to encourage adoption, even when it is (Dell computers, for instance), "Linux" is missing "familiar" tools that Microsoft Windows users expect - Office (not Libre/Free/OpenOffice), Outlook, Photoshop, and the Edge browser.
Ah, but you say, "what's wrong with the substitutes"? Learning curve, mostly, as well as incompatibility - the rendering/publishing functions of the "free" Offices are not well-liked in the publishing/graphic worlds (see Dedoimedo for further details); who wants to learn a completely new app like GIMP for those used to Photoshop; even the differences between Thunderbird and Outlook are daunting.
I understand that Edge is available for "Linux", but I tried it last night on my distro (MX Linux), and the screen tearing was horrible.
Each of these thing, if not addressed, will prevent "Linux" from going beyond 2% adoption - better than 1% for sure, but trying to get my wife to switch from Windows 10 to Linux Mint (arguably the "easiest" to learn) was a no-go for her.
2 • Missing...? (by Arve Eriksson on 2025-04-28 01:32:46 GMT from Sweden)
Whether Linux is missing anything is a tricky question... I'd sooner say that there is *too much* to choose between that new people just get confused - what does it mean that one distribution uses RPM and the other DEB package formats? Should I use Nix or older tools? This distribution makes a big hey about using this or that init system, but what even is that?
I argue that the problem is that prospective users can never tell what experience they will get, or how one distro will be different from the next.
I agree that having Linux preinstalled will increase adoption. Maybe making distro-hopping easier could be another thing? (With VirtualBox, maybe distros could provide disk images with a "default", boring, standard installation that the user could just import, instead of setting up the virtual computer and then running the installer? This is a variant of the LiveCD/-DVD idea.)
3 • Mate Automation (by Guido on 2025-04-28 01:39:39 GMT from Philippines)
I've also had repeated problems with the Mate Panel, sometimes even crashing. This isn't unique to Ubuntu. It's best to leave it as it is or perform a reset. On the other hand, Mate is also relatively easy to learn for those switching from Windows. With Mint or MX, some things can be automated. You can have important updates installed automatically. MX Clean can delete junk on a scheduled basis.
4 • things Linux is missing (by sm on 2025-04-28 01:55:33 GMT from United States)
I agree that getting Linux pre-installed on computers being sold would be a game changer. Perhaps giving buyers a choice of Windows and having to pay for the MS Office and other MS products or buying a new PC with Linux and letting the customers know they can get all the Office products that are just as good as the MS products for free. Additionally, make it known that Linux is more secure and less prone to getting hacked. And also really no great need to buy anti-virus software and much less prone to malware and getting hacked when using Linux. If new PC customers were aware that buying a new PC with Linux gets you a safer, faster and more secure OS that the MS OS and is much cheaper to get the needed software most people need, many buyers may opt for Linux being pre-installed than MS. A little bragging about about all super computers running Linux and Linux requires less maintenance could sway some buyers as well. Just my opinion.
5 • Kind of off-topic, but... (by brad on 2025-04-28 01:57:40 GMT from United States)
I recently picked up a "cheap" Mac AirBook, and I can see that people who want to migrate from Windows10 would have a (much) easier time moving to Mac than "Linux" - most of the "familiar" tools are there already, and I found that I wasn't even really locked into a browser like Safari.
As an added "bonus", adopters would be using a system that is UNIX-like in its underpinnings, without needing to know anything about CLI.
I suspect that many more Windows10 refugees will opt for Mac than "Linux".
6 • Missing... (by puce on 2025-04-28 01:58:13 GMT from Canada)
This is wishful thinking but what Linux needs is for Adode to create/code/add their apps for Linux to be able to use. Just this would bring a major shift of people adopting Linux.
7 • linux is missing (by Gary on 2025-04-28 04:02:00 GMT from Canada)
Having migrated from Windows 7 to Debian, what I miss most is the far more comprehensive display of metadata Windows file manager offers by default!
Linux offers maybe 4 columns (including attribute permission). Windows offers many columns which are easily toggled on or off via check boxes.
This makes sorting my music collection easy by showing all the album artists or genre or whatever other terms interest me.
With photos, I can sort and organize my files by exposure or F ratio or location or just so many other choices that linux file managers don't acknowledge even exist.
I never encounter anyone else mentioning this in linux forums or linux news sites!
Certainly I'm not the only linux user to notice this? Anyone?
8 • Missing ? (by A vd Tweel on 2025-04-28 04:43:36 GMT from The Netherlands)
I thought layers in pdf pages were missing, but I found "Master PDF Editor 5" offers this. BTW the Thunar File manager offers 12 columns (13 if you include the name of the file)
9 • KDE to the rescue (by Jasper on 2025-04-28 04:51:31 GMT from Sweden)
@7 KDE's Dolphin offers a huge number of possible columns (just right click on the bar containing the columns). What desktop/file manager are you using?
10 • The missing link (by JOH451 on 2025-04-28 04:51:44 GMT from United Kingdom)
One thing that nobody is mentioning is Chromebooks. Tech-savvy Linux users might not like them but they are all the average man in the street really needs.
11 • Missing features (by Keith S on 2025-04-28 05:23:24 GMT from United States)
Completely agree that having Linux preinstalled on hardware that is readily available is the only way to increase adoption significantly. The only problem I see with improving automation is that doing so tends to reduce the ability to fine tune the system. There is very little that is changeable or customizable on a Windows system compared to a Linux or BSD system; same for Apple products. It is one of the many things that drove me away from Windows.
As for security being inherent to Linux systems, that is a fantasy driven by the fact that 98% of the valuable targets for scammers are running Windows or Mac computers. If Linux had a much larger share of the market, I am certain that many vulnerabilities would surface fairly quickly as more scammers would start to attack them systematically.
Linux servers are not immune either. Many of the big institutions that get hacked are running Linux or BSD servers. 4chan just got taken down because of terrible system maintenance, running FreeBSD 10.1 (EOL in 2019 I think!) and a version of PHP that hadn't been updated in over a decade. This makes Jesse's case for more and better automation very strong.
12 • libre boot (by Always_curious_about_FOSS on 2025-04-28 05:25:28 GMT from Germany)
I am mostly missing an open source substitute for UEFI like Coreboot or Libreboot. The actually UEFI are the must unfree part of the computer and bigest security gap.
13 • i never cleaned my log files (by Always_curious_about_FOSS on 2025-04-28 05:35:39 GMT from Germany)
I am nearly daily updating my computer. I put the settings of firefox, so that the cache is always deleted when firefox is closed.
But I have to admit, that I never cleaned up the log files.
Is that same important like an update ?
14 • Mate (by Devlin7 on 2025-04-28 05:40:53 GMT from New Zealand)
I don't use Mate but I would choose it over Gnome, KDE Plasma, xfce4 and Cinnamon. It feels complete, certainly lighter than other desktop environments, stable etc.
On the subject of missing....
I think distro variety is important but also its downfall. If you have a computer problem with Windows the IT support guy is going to ask you whether you are using Windows 10 or 11.
With Linux it is what distro are you using? What init system are you running? What desktop are you using? What file system are you running? Are you using X or Wayland? Is your authentication Local accounts, ldap, radius?
MS support techs are a dime a dozen, Linux engineers are expensive and specialised.
15 • never this kind of automation again (by always-curious_abou_FOSS on 2025-04-28 06:03:01 GMT from Germany)
There is something horrible that I never want to experience on my computer again: If you want to switch off your computer and then there is this window "don't switch off your computer, wait untils they updates are intstalled." And you are waiting and waiting..
I want to dicide, when to switch off my computer, no one else.
If I am going to switch off my computer, then it has to switch off at once.
16 • Linux is missing ... (by Felix on 2025-04-28 06:04:50 GMT from Germany)
Convenience is what automation really means. And I am not sure if Linux is missing this. Windows users are junkies - at home or at work. They need their quick fix. (I am no better in any way.) Linux users are mostly more mindful. And actually the whole world needs more human mindfulness. And if those "missing" things in Linux contribute to more mindfulness, I am all in for it. It's really the reason I use FreeBSD, because my mindless computer usage got a little less, because gaming or even watching DRM content is inconvenient on FreeBSD. :) Also this sites slogan is "put the fun back into computing". Mindlessness is not fun, it is actually suffering in disguise. Have a nice one!
17 • Hardware drives (by Shafiq on 2025-04-28 06:21:01 GMT from United Kingdom)
I want to buy a new laptop with the best specs. Unfortunately the ones I like don't work well with linux, due to the monolith nature of the linux kernel and how long it takes to attempt to get the drivers merged.
18 • Automation (by Wedge009 on 2025-04-28 06:30:30 GMT from Australia)
I agree automation will probably help with mass adoption, but for me, the automation in Windows is part of what drove me away from it. Any automation needs to be optional, have a way to opt-out of it so that more technically inclined users can maintain the manual control they want.
Forced updates and waiting for a restart that never happens because Windows is so broken... ugh.
19 • Automatic updates are bad sometimes (by Explorer09 on 2025-04-28 06:33:27 GMT from Taiwan)
I DO turn off automatic updates in my Windows computer at work. It is one of the examples that Linux should NOT learn from them. When updates are supposed to improve user experiences and/or security, they may also be harmful by introducing incompatibilities, bugs (regressions), and at the very least break user's workflow. Install updates only afters the user's consent. That's how Linux did it better in this part.
20 • Linux adoption (by A on 2025-04-28 06:42:29 GMT from United Kingdom)
Why do you want Linux to be adopted by people whose interest is so limited that they just stick with whatever OS is pre-installed by the manufacturer? Linux is an active choice, you have to actually choose to install and learn it, which is what makes the community so strong.
I for one wouldn't want to see the community's spaces overwhelmed by whiny "my computer no worky" tech support demands from non-technical users who bought a Linux box from a tatty big box store because it was 10% cheaper. Linux is for those with an active interest in how their computer works, often overlapping with other technical interests such as the maker community, science, ham radio, and so on. It's not a "consumer OS", it's a minority interest, and I'd prefer it to stay that way.
21 • @17 Tuxedo or Sytem 76 (by Always_curious_about_FOSS on 2025-04-28 06:43:55 GMT from Germany)
Have you ever had a look at the Tuxedo or System 76 websites? They offering Laptops with Linux drivers for Hardware.
Maybe there is something suitable for you.
Do you really need the best specs? If not, then buy a used Laptop, install Linux on it and save a lot of money.
22 • What Linux is missing is a friendly user base and less "religion" (by Karsten on 2025-04-28 06:53:20 GMT from Germany)
What Linux is missing is a friendly user base and less "religion"
If I have a question (in a forum) I am looking for *help* and not a *discussion* (close to religion):
If Linux is all about choice, I expect other users to respect mine and help me or quietly ignore my question (which is okay). This sets me and other users off. I hardly never had this experience in Windows forums.
You find these topics *everywhere* in forums:
- But why are you using Ubuntu, XYZ is better?
- You shouldn't use Wayland, X was better.
- systemd is bad for you, why don't you use XYZ?
- Your desktop is bad for you, desktop XYZ is better
- switch to application XYZ to avoid your problem
You might also have had this experience - I bet.
I like Linux as an operation system and not as a religion.
23 • Poll (by LuckyMe! on 2025-04-28 07:18:34 GMT from Spain)
I understand that some people need programs that are only available in Windows or some very special hardware that only works with Windows, but I don't need any of that, so for me the answer to the survey is "Nothing." Linux is just perfect for me. Lucky me!
24 • What is missing (by dr.j on 2025-04-28 07:19:23 GMT from France)
Of course you're right Jesse. Pre-installed Linux systems would spread Linux further. Goggle and Android have shown the way. Chromebooks show it for laptops.
But automation? No way. It's a complete capitulation. More and more, we are living in a world that nobody understands anymore. Computers and smartphones are only a small part of it. Cars, heating systems and much more. And “understanding” is one thing, but shaping and controlling is another. And in order to do that, I have to ask myself what I actually want and how I want it. Or hand all this over to amazon, google, apple, etc. It's not about “fun”, it's about control. Over our lives.
An automated Linux? That's the day I switch to BSD or wherever.
Linux is perfect. It may be that some people are missing something when they start a system out-of-the-box. But so far I haven't found anything that couldn't be solved in some way. And that's exactly what I love about Linux, this problem-solving process. Sure, it's annoying sometimes when an update has messed something up again. But I'll repeat myself: I've been able to solve every problem so far. Almost every problem, because of course there are limits. Not every proprietary software has a real replacement in Linux and that won't change as long as 98% of all computers run Windows. But it can stay that way, because when it changes, Linux changes and becomes Android (or something similar).
25 • see the missing as an advantage (by Always_curious_about_FOSS on 2025-04-28 07:26:43 GMT from Germany)
Windows have everything installed to do everything on every hardware for every purpose by everyone everywhere in the world. in other words: you don't need 80 to 90 percent of that installed on your windows computer.
And so could be security gaps in 80 to 90 percent of the installed software you don't need and you never going to use.
Linux distributions are going an other way: Linux has a modular structure.
There are Linux Distributions trying to be like Windows. But the real avantage is to take the core and only add what is really needed.
26 • The problem is not what's Linux is missing (by Ender on 2025-04-28 07:32:17 GMT from Italy)
The problem is we're being obliged to get any device with a pre-installed OS. I could buy PCs with nothing aboard so far in order to put Linux (and the distro I chose) and I hope I'll be able to in the future, but the more time goes by, the more it's hard to be able to avoid Windows and, above all, it's rather impossible to do the same for smartphones and tablets.
Any HW producer should be imposed by law to provide a device and a list of supported OSes, to let customers choose its own one or, even better, be given the opportunity to install their favourite one. Instead, apps approach is restricting more and more customers' freedom.
27 • Robust vector format for clipboard (by Luca on 2025-04-28 07:41:03 GMT from Italy)
On Linux desktop environments, there is still no robust and universal clipboard format for exchanging complex content, particularly vector graphics. In contrast, Windows applications benefit from native WMF/EMF support, allowing seamless sharing of vector objects through the clipboard. Meanwhile, on Linux, even widely used applications like Inkscape and LibreOffice often struggle to exchange vector graphics through simple copy-paste operations.
A natural next step would be to introduce a Linux-wide standard for object linking and embedding (like OLE in Windows), bridging this important gap.
Lastly, I believe Linux binaries should embed their icon as a resource.
28 • What Linux is missing for mass adoption (by benf on 2025-04-28 08:02:38 GMT from United Kingdom)
is MS Office
29 • What Linux is missing (caveats) (by Danny on 2025-04-28 08:09:20 GMT from United States)
The automation part wouldn't be a desirable trait unless updates were scrupulously tested over a wide range of hardware. Who would want to have an OS that consistently and automatically broke your machine ? Esp at random intervals and you just turned it one with a game of deadly Russian roulette, never know if it would boot without hours of repair work? Hey that sounds like Windows :)
30 • @28 spot on! (by anamezon on 2025-04-28 08:33:28 GMT from Finland)
exactly! a natively-run MS Office on Linux (without tinkering with WINE and suchlike) is the missing piece for wider Linux adoption; nothing else can convince the average customer to buy new hardware with pre-installed Linux
31 • What I did when my workstation died (by eco2geek on 2025-04-28 08:34:39 GMT from United States)
(This is off-topic, but DW is probably a good place to post it. Please don't yell at me, Jesse. :-)
My old workstation recently died. First the video became flaky, and the fan on the video card (in a PCIx16 slot) stopped running. I tried installing another, similar card, but got no video signal from it. So I plugged the monitor into the VGA port on the motherboard. (NVIDIA 7025, ugh, but it worked. Sort of.) Next, the system started having problems reading from the hard drive (a 2TB Mitsubishi SATA drive which has held up remarkably well). When both Windows and GParted started having problems seeing the partitions (of which there are many, since I have several Linux distros installed, plus Win10), it was time to shut it down and pull the hard drive.
I installed Linux Mint next to Win11 on my laptop so I wasn't stuck in Windows all the time. (I would have installed LMDE, except I figured the Ubuntu-based version would have more end user support.) This is the first time I installed Linux to dual-boot on a computer with a UEFI BIOS, and it presented a learning curve.
It turned out that, since I was dual-booting, I had to install GRUB in the same EFI partition that the Windows bootloader lives in, /dev/sda1. And every time I install a new kernel, I have to mount /dev/sda1, become root (because using "sudo" alone won't allow access to the EFI partition), and run grub-mkconfig manually. On the other hand, the BIOS menu gives me an exhaustive list of boot options, including setting "ubuntu" as the primary bootloader, so it runs GRUB at boot time.
The really cool thing is that I put my old hard drive in an external enclosure, set the laptop's UEFI BIOS to run in Legacy mode, and told it to boot from a USB hard drive -- and there was my old, familiar GRUB menu, booting from /dev/sdb. I'm not sure how to go about installing new kernels when I run updates, since I'm pretty sure the installation scripts will want to update GRUB on /dev/sda, not /dev/sdb. But for now it's nice to not only have my data accessible, but also my operating systems.
I will probably go on eBay and find a legacy motherboard to replace the one in my workstation (it's already been replaced once; I'm not sure yet why this one died) so I can put this hard drive back into it. It won't meet the hardware requirements for Win11, but I'm fine running only Linux on it. And it won't cost that much. For the price of a new motherboard/CPU combo that meets Win11's specs, I could probably just buy a new computer.
32 • Linux mass adoption (by A on 2025-04-28 09:14:47 GMT from United Kingdom)
Why does anyone care about "mass adoption" of Linux? If it works for you, then it's all good. I don't care what other people use on their own computers, and I don't see Linux as something that needs to "beat Windows", or that other people need to be converted into using. I use what works for me, others use what works for them, everyone is happy. What's the point of this obsession with Linux adoption other than "number go up brrr"?
33 • @14 • Mate (by Jake on 2025-04-28 10:25:01 GMT from United States)
I use Ubuntu Mate as my daily driver, and wouldn't use any other.
'MS support techs are a dime a dozen, Linux engineers are expensive and specialized'.
Ubuntu Mate has a forum, help is free and there are members that have worked their whole life in IT. I have used many Linux OS's at this is by far the best forum I have used.
'so trying to delete one unnecessary applet often ends up deleting other, necessary applets that are managed through that specific Ayatana manager. The Ayatana managers are even hidden in the startup manager, to prevent easy editing.'
You don't delete the applets. You go to System> Preferences> Personal>Start up applications and uncheck the the applets you don't want on the indicator applet complete or the single applet.
'If nothing else, I've never used Evolution, so why would I want to start now?'
You don't have to, I also don't use Evolution, but it is easy enough to uninstall and Thunderbird (which I use) is still in the repository.
'App Centre 1.0 handles most of the package management (though Synaptic is in the repositories)'
I also don't use the App Center. It works okay for Snap packages by Synaptic will be my go to apt package manager as long as it exists.
I am a total GUI guy and have successfully used Ubuntu Mate since is was started. I
34 • Poll: (by dragonmouth on 2025-04-28 10:35:01 GMT from United States)
Originally I answered that Linux needs to be pre-loaded on PCs available at WalMart/Best Buy and needs Windows-like automation. After reading the responses so far, I changed my answer to "Nothing". Do we want on every Wednesday, after every Update Tuesday, to be reading articles on "How to Fix the Things Broken by the Update"?
If there needs to be a change about/with Linux, it is a change in attitude towards it. The big criticism of Linux is that there is too many distros, too many desktops, too much choice. Those are specious arguments. Do the critics have problems with choice when they go grocery shopping? In fact, they EXPECT a choice. Do the critics have a problem with choice when they go car shopping? No, they WANT a choice. In fact, we DEMAND a choice in almost every area of our lives. All of a sudden, when it comes to choice in Linux, the critics are "dazed and confused"?! To coin a phrase, that is Linux Derangement Syndrome.
35 • What linux is missing (by kc1di on 2025-04-28 10:39:18 GMT from United States)
To me a long time user it's missing nothing but Jessie is right in order to gain market share it would have to be preinstalled on the hardware at the sales point. Not an after thought. Too many choices are what makes linux different from others but is also very confusing to newbies.
36 • Re- Linux Mass Adoption (by Allan Vázquez on 2025-04-28 10:44:59 GMT from Mexico)
@32 Linux is community driven and it seems to me that the developers of a lot of important proyects are aging, that is why adoption is important.
37 • @25: (by dragonmouth on 2025-04-28 10:49:59 GMT from United States)
You have it backwards. Linux is the O/S that comes preloaded with everything needed for a turnkey system. And 99% of the programs are free, as in NO COST.
To do any meaningful work on Windows, the user must install a bunch of programs, none of them cheap. In the Windows Universe most programs are Software as a Service, i.e you can only RENT them, you never get to OWN them.
38 • Mass adoption (by DachshundMan on 2025-04-28 11:02:05 GMT from United Kingdom)
There is a lot of good stuff above but if the year of Linux is to really come then shops selling PC's with preinstalled Linux is a must. It worked for ChromeOS which is not considered in any way controversial or unusual by the man on the Clapham omnibus..
In addition, if I buy a preinstalled Linux PC :-
-I do not want to find that some Linux progam I want to use is not packaged for my distro and so I have to install some other distro or snap or flatpak etc.
-i do want it to be secured properly and for updates to install automatically.
-I want a functional set of basic software to be installed and I do not want it to change to a different default just because I got an OS version upgrade.
-I do not want my PC to become obsolete or insecure because Bill Gates (or whoever) decides it should.
-Wide hardware compatibility and drivers for most/all printers, scanners, etc with easy installation methods. Ideally peripheral HW would come with a sticker saying it works with Linux and drivers are available.
-GUI support for everything that a typical user wants to use. No need to use the Terminal unless you want to.
Of course, this all starts to sound like Windows and it is because whilst some people, including me, like to tinker with the depths of the OS most people want the benefits of what the PC provides.
Look at the example of Japanese Motorbikes, they destroyed the UK bike industry by being reliable, efficient and fun to use with no requirement to do maintenance every weekend. That is how Linux for the masses would have to be.
39 • Reminiscing my switch to Linux (by DeepLurker on 2025-04-28 11:13:18 GMT from Switzerland)
Here is what I remember from my early days of switching to Linux (2017?). I guess these slowed my adoption.
- Difficulty of setting up a dual boot. I know beginners shouldn't do it and advanced users wouldn't do it. But I doubt I would have dipped my toes in the water otherwise.
- Too much choice. Choosing a Distro was manageable and fun in some way (Linux Mint was a good start and I am glad it was recommended). Choosing a DE, on the other hand, felt like a useless chore. I was lucky my laptop was weak so I defaulted to the lightweight XFCE spin.
- Not having my familiar shortcuts. I wish there was a way to automatically reassign them to windows' convention (winKey+Pgup to maximize instead of Alt+F10 for resizing etc). I am glad KDE has the same shortcuts.
- Not having my familiar softwares. (I was pleasantly surprised that many of Mint XFCE default software were very satisfactory, unlike in MS Windows.)
- Linux Mint didn't run "apt autoremove" automatically. So I was once stuck at the TTY because the system partition was full with older unneeded kernels. Solved the problem the same day but smart automation could have avoided the trouble.
- Last but not least, I wanted to switched but in the end I did it because I felt I had to. Windows was becoming unusable and buying a newer computer wasn't an option then.
@28 and @33
Agreed. I saw someone not long ago saying switching to Linux was out because the software he needed for work wasn't there.
40 • Could sane defaults be acceptable (by DeepLurker on 2025-04-28 11:32:45 GMT from Switzerland)
@34 I understand and agree to your points but I have already adopted Linux. These bugs for the familiar user can become features for a newbie interested in a new OS. Automatic updates could be a default setting to be toggled off once one is comfortable enough.
I am glad there are choices of DE as I don't have affinity with Gnome, a frequent default DE. But even today, I am not interested in studying the pros and cons of Cinnamon, Mate, Openbox, Fluxbox etc. I like what Artix has done. They currently have a two ISOs (KDE and GTK) recommended "for users that want a fully preconfigured desktop that Just Works™ and/or are too busy to set it up themselves".
So to sum up. Keep the choices and freedom but let newcomers have a sane default to rely on until they are familiar enough.
41 • Linux adoption and missing features (by Josh Smith on 2025-04-28 11:37:59 GMT from Australia)
I agree with Jesse on automation, but I do believe there are other reasons why Linux may one day become more widely adopted. That is if Windows really botches things on the desktop. One reason people switch to Linux is concerns over privacy and security. This is usually only a concern for tech-savvy people, though. If Windows manages to majorly alienate another significant segment of their user base, Linux adoption will likely soar.
I also believe that a universal installer for all Linux distros that can default to installing a beginner-friendly distro like Linux Mint for users too impatient to answer some questions but will otherwise try to determine the most appropriate distribution for a user by asking them some questions could improve adoption. I doubt it would improve adoption that massively by itself, but one major concern people experience when they look into Linux is which distro should they use? If there was an installer that could determine this with a decent degree of accuracy, it would probably make diving into Linux easier for new users. Especially if it also provided links to documentation in plain English.
42 • Automation (by Hank on 2025-04-28 11:54:33 GMT from Germany)
I have automated weekly disk checks, very easy to do.
My modern printer setup was automatic.
For wifi, I had to select a network and key in my password.
I have often automated workplace start and mail fetching, easy jobs including starting and placing daily use applications on different workspaces at a given size and position. 6
workspaces to chose from but more could be set with one line in config.
I do not want automated install, updates of OS or applications all of which can produce the microsoft effect and quickly kill my fully working setup. I keep home and root separate, always.
I select my desktop from a choice, Herbstlüft, a Tiling WM, Fluxbox, JWM or ICEWM.
After selection that becomes standard unless I change the setting.
Note: I use ICEWM because I want performance not flashy effects. My OS is Debian based sysd madness free antiX running on a fairly modern I5 system. It is lightning fast and totally reliable, power consumption way down compared to lumbering gnome or flashy KDE effect toy environments..
Power is a factor as solar energy is not always available from my be as independant as possible supply system.
43 • Re- Linux Adoption (by Allan Vázquez on 2025-04-28 10:38:33 GMT from Mexico)
@20 Linux as an active choice is very subjective. There are a lot of communities inside the Linux community, everyone with different levels of ‘active choice’. It isn't the same to use Arch or Mint. Slackware or Linux From Scratch. Build your own kernel, computer, electronics, power source, etc.
My point is that what matters to me now is to have a choice, and to choose what works for me. Whatever is too ‘active’ or ‘pasive’ to others. Automation and preshipping Linux could be another choice, the more the merrier.
44 • Adoption (by Jesse on 2025-04-28 12:30:55 GMT from Canada)
@32: "Why does anyone care about "mass adoption" of Linux? If it works for you, then it's all good."
Because things only work if there is adoption of a significant number of people. You might be new to the Linux community, but if you were around in the 90s and early 00s (when Linux users were measured in the thousands, not millions) it was a very different landscape. Software modems didn't work, printers often didn't work, gaming on Linux was almost non-existent, many websites didn't work properly with Linux-friendly browsers.
These days people tend to take for granted that their printer will work, that many Steam games will work, that the web-based office suite will work, that most web browsers will work. That is only because enough people started using Linux (largely thanks to Canonical's marketing push) that companies started to take Linux seriously. Without critical mass, almost nothing works.
@24: "But automation? No way. It's a complete capitulation. "
Really? Do you build all of your own software packages manually? Do you rotate all of your log files manually? Do you check each piece of software for updates by reading the upstream changelog?
Virtually everything your computer does is a form of automation. That's pretty much why computers exist, to automate tasks. What you are speaking out against isn't automating, it's more automation than what you were accustomed to when you started using computers. To you, what a computer was already doing wasn't "automation" it was just how a computer worked.
But, over time, computers get more complex, operating systems get bigger. It's not practical to keep the older, limited forms of automation. Operating systems need to evolve with the times.
Drivers don't hand crank their cars to start them anymore, it also doesn't make sense to manually check three package managers for updates on a modern OS.
45 • Linux doesn't miss much, computer users do (by Jeffrey on 2025-04-28 12:46:49 GMT from Czechia)
@1 Forgive me for saying you're view is pretty faulty. Edge is absolutely not needed, probably anywhere, and definitely not on Linux. We've got Chrome and Chromium (and then some other variants/clones of it) -- there's objectively no need for it. What users need is a decent web browser, and they _must_ learn the difference between a program category (e.g. browser, text editor, word processor) and a particular program (e.g. Firefox, Chrome, Edge; xed, gedit; MS Word, LO Writer). Helping beginners and less technical users is good; fostering ignorance and faulty thinking is actively harmful.
As for Photoshop: I'd bet actual money that around 90% of the time at least 70% of PS users only need a handful of functions that can be found in e.g. GIMP as well. (Hello, Mr Pareto.) And yes, there are other pieces of free software image generation and editing. Again, users mistakenly learning they need a particular piece of software (a proprietary one at that) and refusing to learn at least one other way of doing things is harmful. A few months ago a wannabe influencer and "social media manager" complained that their favoured video editing software (probably TikTok's built-in one) got closed down (or made payed-only or something), so they need something else to edit their videos (which are often shorter than a minute...). If learn to use any one of the many free software alternatives, you likely won't have this problem, and even if you do, you already have experience learning something new.
Outlook vs. Thunderbird? Again, you need to learn general skills, you need to see the general functions (e.g. emailing) as opposed to any particular product or service. If someone cannot do emailing without Outlook, they are doing something wrong.
So no need for the smear campaign, thank you.
46 • @37 (by Always_curious_about_FOSS on 2025-04-28 12:53:32 GMT from Germany)
Well, the last Windows I used was XP about 12 Years ago. Seems to be change3d a lot in windows then.
47 • What is Linux Missing? (by The Linux Revolution on 2025-04-28 13:52:00 GMT from United States)
Corporate and educational adoption. Having OEM versions of devices/PCs on shelves is simply not enough. People will still CHOOSE Windows or Macs because that is what their corporate jobs say to use. Teachers will use Windows/Mac because that is the platforms they use to teach students. Lets say an organization orders 50 Linux Dell laptops for their employees. Who do you call for networking support? How do you push default workplace or education apps on to the students/employees desktops/laptops/devices? It seems to me there are way more complexities for greater adoption.
48 • Re- What is Linux Missing? (by Allan Vázquez on 2025-04-28 14:14:54 GMT from Mexico)
@47 I think that Raspberry Pi is doing great work in that direction.
49 • What Linux is missing (by Name on 2025-04-28 14:15:14 GMT from United States)
1. Real security
2. Microsoft Office support
3. Adobe support
4. Support for most video games
5. Corporate and educational adoption
6. Lack of support in general
7. Freedom from Red Hat
8. Not having too many distributions to choose from
9. A consistent desktop (and people thought Windows 10 was inconsistent)
10. Wayland support across all desktop environments and window managers
11. Preinstalled Linux computers from mainstream manufacturers
12. Troubleshooters, help, and support when things break (reading barely eligible 'man' pages in your terminal and being told to rtfm)
13. Overall lack of user-friendliness (even the "beginner" distributions like Mint and Ubuntu are way harder to get working than Windows and when things break, you're done for)
Linux will never be mainstream. It's a wonder it even got to 4% market share because that's as high as it'll ever go.
50 • What Linux does not need... (by Bobbie Sellers on 2025-04-28 14:24:59 GMT from United States)
Unannounced kernel updates such as Windows has which in Dual-Boot systems
screws up the Linux boot. That is the cost of automation.
bliss- Dell Precision 7730- PCLOS 2025.04- Linux 6.6.73- Plasma 5.27.11
51 • What's missing in Linux (by Jack Slayter on 2025-04-28 14:29:51 GMT from France)
I've been doing distro hopping for more than a month now. I can't believe how many people think it's worthwhile to re-invent the wheel again and again and again. Why so many text editors? Why so many file managers? Why so many file viewers? From 10 distros only 2 recognise my NAS out of the box. It's very strange that these 2 do so with CIFS which is Windows stuff. NFS is native Unix/Linux, right? How come no distro can handle this without digging deep into the Linux guts? This is very disappointing, especially since doing NFS sharing in my NAS is very simple.
I've been trying hard to install NFS without success so far and I can't understand why in 2025 it's still so complicated. Editing fstab is supposed to be easy but I've tried 250 times entering the mount point including the pwd to no avail! They say Linux "is about choice". But since getting familiar with a vast "choice" I can't help but feel that I'm wasting a lot of my time.
Is it useful to publish a distro if only 10 people use it? Why don't the programmers agree to contribute only to the 15-20 distros which are the most used? Should a normal user care about systemd or no systemd? Just as an example, why did it take 25 years to replace X11 with Wayland? I really don't get it.
At the end there is my biggest disappointment : USB drivers for Linux don't exist. I won't be able to listen to my vast music collection on my NAS because Linux can't connect to my digital amplifier. What this means is that I can't get rid of Windows. And that I will do again Windows upgrades which break my printer.
52 • My (less than) 2 cents (by ForTheTux on 2025-04-28 14:25:28 GMT from France)
Well, I don't have anything new to say about the hypothetical "Mainstream Linux" but from what I've seen for 18+ years of using Linux (and, of course, talking a little about it with others) is that:
* Most people use a "computer" to browse "internet", they mostly don't know which OS and browser they use.
* They may even don't know what is an OS, a SSD or a graphic card, or why they would need to install a browser because it should already be installed (since computer are used for that).
* They always prefer what they are familiar with (which is true with everything, from a car to a coffee machine) even if they don't know a single percent about it.
* They don't want to change anything but if they have to, they'll be slowly and quietly adapt.
* They always use default settings (mostly because they feel lost in dozen of sub-settings pages) and expect the computer to know what they want.
* They accept there is an alternative to what they use, but not hundreds of them.
* They won't have even few hours to spare to learn something new if they don't have to.
* They think that IT professional fix computers, as bakers make bread, mechanics repair cars and doctors heal people, they don't how they do it and so pay good money to let them doing their job (but will retaliate if they fail).
* And, they mostly use their phone.
As for Linux on desktop, would it much better piece of software if many billions people use them daily? Is Linux really better thanks to Android? I won't say the Linux experience has changed so much theses last years just from that.
53 • What linux is missing (by vw72 on 2025-04-28 14:57:25 GMT from United States)
What linux is missing is hard to answer without clarification. Are we talking about business/enterprise users or home users? The answers make a difference.
For business users, programs like Microsoft Office and Photoshop come to mind. Yes, there is Office 365 and also Google Office. But many of those are lacking features. There are ways to run Office and Photoshop under Linux using virtual machines but that's kind of a kludge and you still need a windows license. Also, while there is LibreOffice and others that can handle most tasks of Microsoft's Office, change is hard. (I worked with a several public schools that changed to Linux a number of years ago and while they were still on Windows, we switched them to LibreOffice first, so that by the time we moved them to Linux, they were already familiar with it.) That said, there still is no real substitute for Photoshop.
For home users, the barrier isn't what is missing as many, many already use Office 365 or Google Office. What they need are end user tools to make system maintenance easy. openSUSE's Yast2, while long in the tooth makes it easier for people coming from Windows or OS X to maintain their machine. What hurts the home users is gaming. Yes, there is Steam but getting somebody new to Linux and then having to install it, etc., can be a put off for non-tech people.
Ultimately though, what linux is missing is nothing technical, it's perception. There is no linux, there are numerous linux distributions and they all compete with each other and make things seem more fragmented and complex. On top of that there are distro zealots that make disparaging comments about any other distro than their distro of choice. This hurts all distros.
The good news is that the days of applications not being available for one's distro of choice has been pretty much taken care of with flatpaks. (I don't include snaps as they are only really used by the *buntus so, they are just one more repository). On my test rig, I install flatpaks into my home directory, which is on a separate partition. I can load a complete different distro for testing and the flatpaks just work. Can they still be improved? Yes, but that is a different topic all together.
A perfect distribution, in my opinion, would be one with a long term release option like Ubuntu or openSUSE Leap, graphical management tools like openSUSE, and a more non-tech user installer that can walk the first time user through the process with plain language prompts and sane configuration options, things like do you want to install an office suite or do you want to install the ability to play games made for Windows, etc. Unfortunately, that doesn't exist.
Just my thoughts.
54 • whats really missing (by Larry Miller on 2025-04-28 15:23:43 GMT from United States)
1- commercial software like burning to dvd cd & Blueray
2- Printing software
3- software to burn mp3 cds
55 • whats missing (by GangSan on 2025-04-28 15:41:26 GMT from Slovenia)
The thing that is really missing is a good documentation and translations in some languages.
56 • What's really missing (by Mike W on 2025-04-28 15:48:17 GMT from United States)
If the Linux community wants Linux to be a viable option to consumers following the sunset of Win 10 support, it need to do one thing: have a laser focus on what the desktop end-user wants and needs. Figure out what they want now, and in the near future, and then develop a plan to deliver that.
This is not a criticism of the Linux community. It is, IMHO, the type of stretch goal that the Linux community would have a real challenge with. It would require a united effort, singular focus, willingness to compromise in some ways that don't impact the customer experience, but might require folks to shelve their strong opinions in favor of focusing on the end goal.
There are a ton of folks in the Linux community with great ideas that they're quite passionate about. But in a world where real schisms are created within the community over things that the end user by and large doesn't care about (the systemd debate comes to mind) its hard to envision a community wide collaborative effort driven almost exclusively by customer focus and feedback.
57 • What is missing? (by Robert on 2025-04-28 16:07:57 GMT from United States)
I think you hit the nail on the head for the vast majority of people.
I think it has been generally known that to significantly increase market share, Linux absolutely has to be preinstalled on off-the-shelf computers.
I hadn't really thought about the automation aspect, but I think you are absolutely right on this one as well. Automatic updates are a big one, probably the automatic syncing to linked cloud accounts, perhaps automatically opening up your phone when you plug it in via USB - and actually having it stay connected instead of disconnecting after 3 seconds (is this a Linux problem or an Android problem? I actually don't know.)
People can and often do bring up many other things that are missing - MS Office, Adobe, CAD. But most of these are relatively niche and/or professional software and having them would not swing many people.
58 • Butning tool (by Any on 2025-04-28 16:08:09 GMT from Spain)
@54 Did you try K3b?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K3b
59 • Support (by Flavianoep on 2025-04-28 16:10:47 GMT from Brazil)
What Linux is missing is not part of the system itself, but something that has nothing to do with software. The hardest thing to find to any Linux user is an IT technician who will not suggest installing Windows when you tell them you have a problem with your Linux machine. Gods! some will suggest Windows even if your problem is a hardware problem.
60 • Linux adoption (by Hank on 2025-04-28 15:55:24 GMT from Germany)
Teachers will use Windows/Mac because that is the platforms they use to teach students.
No that is not in many cases really true, They push windoze and apple because they get incentives. As a parents representative I found my daughters school was scheduled to change to rotten apple. Many of the kids were at the time using linux with my help and support. All teachers were promised a Mac Pro desktop, a pro Laptop a tablet and a phone. They really wanted those, parents would have been forced to purchase apple tablets. 700 Plus kids at the time..
The school concerned is south of Hannover Germany. I know the same happened in many other schools in the area. Business as usual...
MS Office was never asked for, kids eagerly learned to use Gimp and the old free Master PDF Editor and were busy converting friends and famiies.
When my daughter moved to University she was forced to pay for office 365. The people behind the move received huge incentives from MS reps.
There is with very little exception no commercial lobbying and incentivising for a change to Linux.
Laptops with Linux, Lenovo is another very good choice.
61 • @12 libre boot (by picamanic on 2025-04-28 16:53:32 GMT from United Kingdom)
@12 libre boot: these days I will only buy Coreboot [or Libreboot] computers with Linux pre-installed [starlabs.com, minifree.org amongst many examples]. I never like the flavour of Linux distro that is actually installed, but easily fixed.
62 • @45 (by Brad on 2025-04-28 16:54:17 GMT from United States)
My apologies - a smear campaign was not my intent - I merely wanted to point out some of the difficulties involved in getting "regular" folks to move away from Windows. Those of us who are tech-savvy enough to realize that Linux is *miles* ahead of anything cranked out by Redmond (and their co-conspirators) are still in the vast minority of folks (in my country, anyway).
If anything, I realize that weaning people away from Windows in the good ol' USA is *much* harder than it is in Europe or Asia.
My point was that few of us folks using DW, Linux, BSD, etc. don't seem to have much insight into the non-technical mindset - the only reason I feel like I understand *some* of that mindset is because I interact with those people on a semi-regular basis, at work, at home, and in social situations.
I would certainly *love* for folks to move beyond Windows, if only because I could see myself as an advisor to help them (and make a few bucks along the way in my retirement).
63 • Linux adoption - Marketing and Education (by John on 2025-04-28 16:34:40 GMT from Canada)
I agree some distros could do a better job at making their distros smoother to use, but overall I don't think this is what blocks Linux adoption - Out of the box, Windows is far from complete or stable. You need to add printers and programs and updates and (more updates) and user accounts and wade through endless ads etc.... Windows isn't better, or the "people's choice", it's just what they are used to.
I work with a lot of technically minded people but even they have the misconception that Linux is just for hackers, is all command line and difficult to use.
For Linux to become a bigger player in the desktop space, some serious marketing campaigns need to be built and properly educate the public. Valve is doing great with its push of Steam Decks and then releasing SteamOS to other manufacturers and even for installation on regular PCs. Properly managed, that could replace Xbox & Playstation consoles. People just need to be made aware of all of the great options that exist and shown that it's not hard at all to switch!
64 • What's missing from Linux? (by Corenti on 2025-04-28 17:58:26 GMT from France)
What is missing is a reliable kernel.
65 • Linux Proliferation (by Slappy McGee on 2025-04-28 18:57:35 GMT from United States)
If we feel that we need to promote Linux as an operating system, we need to first ask "why?"
Usually the desire to promote a product and get more usage is driven by the desire to make money and then more money: sales driven revenue.
A few distros out there have that model, but not the majority as far as I can see.
Microsoft has an OS that is driven by computer sales, not so much by OS sales. So does Apple. There are Windows computers and there are Apple computers, each with their installed operating system and that's that.
Yes we can cover their inherent OS with Linux or BSD or BeOS. But there goes the warranty; many are fine with that but as Jesse points out most are not even aware that they can do that and not even aware that the OS is something other than the machine itself. I find that sad.
Tiny companies out there are coming along with Linux as the default OS. Some run ads here at DW. Anyone here bought one? Tell us about it.. promote it? Heck I don't know.. I have machines with all major operating systems out there and I find them all to be just fine. I honestly see no superiority from one to the other. So if Linux has something missing it might be that Linux enthusiasts can't accept that their fave OS is a tiny portion of the OS market and... that's that.
66 • Linux? Missing? (by buckyogi on 2025-04-28 20:10:05 GMT from United States)
I am a retired hobbyist who doesn't game and loves working in a CLI (zsh) so Linux is perfect for me. The last two laptops I purchased had the option of shipping Linux preinstalled, but I chose the bare metal option. Between VMs and distrohopping I am experienced, comfortable, and confident installing Linux, in fact I even enjoy it. Every morning I update dnf, flatpak, gem, npm, cargo, and rustup from the command line, I like being active in the update process. I love the plethora of options and the ease of configuration, the time I spend tinkering with config files always brings me joy. I do a little coding in C, Lua, and Erlang; I'll never be more than a hobbyist programmer, but I derive great pleasure from it, and Linux supports it so well. I maintain some simple Web sites entirely from the command line with a text editor and Neocities' CLI. I create custom images and gifs for some friends who livestream, FFmpeg, ImageMagick, and GIMP meet my requirements perfectly. Most !
of the rest of my time logged in is spent in a Web browser. Personally, I don't care if the year of the Linux desktop never arrives, in fact if it gets too popular I worry that aspects of it may be taken over by for-profit corporations (although my experience with Fedora has been overwhelmingly positive). PS: I missed last week's opinion poll: If I may, my text editor is Neovim, and my seldom-used GUI text editor is Pulsar.
67 • What is Linux Missing? (by RetiredIT on 2025-04-28 20:33:07 GMT from United States)
The most serious thing: Quality Control. The story of the Linux desktop over the past 10 years is "lack of quality control". With a few exceptions, virtually every distro has become buggy. It is no wonder that Linux on the desktop has not made great strides in user acceptance and adoption.
68 • What is Linux Missing? (by Mark_UK on 2025-04-28 21:22:38 GMT from United Kingdom)
Across Linux distros there's a great deal of settings tinkering apps where a unified settings panel doesn't exist. At times it feels like another handfull of these instead of unifying anything is the prefered way to go.
Someone else mentioned the level of compatibility between MSOffice and the various Linux alternatives available. To say these are compatible is a bit of a liberty. For all but the most basic use, everything else needs considerable work. For instance, while the Word file types are accommodated by the alternatives, the layouts in documents are invariably wrecked. I realize this isn't an issue for home enthusiasts but for any kind of productivity within a work environment where one hopes to open existing documents without turning them into some kind of abstract artform, it's frustrating and time consuming.
69 • How a user successfully moves from Windows to linux (by Clarence Perry on 2025-04-28 21:33:15 GMT from United States)
My wife retired from accounting 5 years ago. Since she retired, she only uses email and a browser.
I put her on Linux mint with Thunderbird and Firefox. Both of them open when she logs in.
She no longer has to contend with weekend IT changes of the system. Her computer is the same every time she logs in.
She doesn't miss the work software she used, she hated spreadsheets. I gave her a simple easy to use word processor which serves her needs for letters to friends without the complication of WORD.
She really doesn't miss Excel. I have offered to set her up with a Linux spreadsheet and she has absolutely no desire for it.
She was a kind of different person who slipped into using Linux daily with no problems. I think there are probably many retirees that don't require a set of work software and are a good fit for Linux.
70 • Re: Do you think the Linux ecosystem is missing something? (by eco2geek on 2025-04-29 00:53:00 GMT from United States)
Jesse's right, the number one thing that would make Linux market share bigger is if it came installed by default on PCs sold by big retail shops like Walmart and Best Buy.
Another thing that needs to happen is a GUI that allows you to do everything you need to do on a daily basis to maintain and tweak the system, like Windows' "Settings" application, with no need to go to the command line except for more advanced tasks. Linux Mint comes very close to this idea, but even the app that lives in the system tray and alerts you to install package updates (aka "Update Manager") doesn't have an option for clearing out the package cache after an update's done. And, as Jesse pointed out, it lacks automation. Windows 10 and 11 won't allow you to put off installing updates (for more than a week anyway). This is a PITA sometimes but it gets the updates done.
Also, good user documentation is a must since a lot of people aren't familiar with Linux. Put it on the PC, with a desktop icon, so people can see it even if they don't have an internet connection. It doesn't take up that much space.
People didn't become familiar with Windows because they were innately born with the knowledge. They learned how to use it because it was on every computer they used since the time they were able to use a PC. Linux needs to be as ubiquitous.
71 • Commodore 3.0 Download size (by Chris on 2025-04-29 00:59:42 GMT from New Zealand)
The download torrent size of Commodore 3.0 looks excessive at 36GB ,asking is this correct ?
72 • Automated Linux computer (by Iron Duke on 2025-04-29 02:00:39 GMT from United States)
There is an automated Linux computer: WOW! Computer for Seniors.
It uses a a distribution of Tiny Core Linux. New programs and updates are provided automatically for the life of your WOW! Computer. However, it is crazy to pay $1300 US for an under-powered piece of junk. Just look at eBay and see how many are offered for $100.
It will take some corporation like HP or Dell to sell a complete pack of computer, printer-scanner, and monitor, and have complete control of a proprietary OS which is updated for new hardware as time passes.
73 • What is Linux missing (by Bruce5 on 2025-04-29 06:11:40 GMT from United States)
As you and others have suggested, having OEM computer makers provide computers with a Linux OS pre-installed would be a game-changer (IMO),
However one relatively little-known factor helps to PREVENT this from happening more -- Microsoft's licensing requirements. It used to be the case (known from articles and other sources) that Microsoft required the manufacturer to pay for one Windows license for every PC they made and sold, even if it had a non-windows OS or even NO OS on it. Microsoft got paid for every computer out the door regardless. If that is still the case, then only the largest OEMs are going to have enough resources to allow some segment of their computers to have Linux instead. If this licensing situation has changed, then maybe there's hope for more Linux OEM products.
74 • What is Linux missing (by Treen HQ on 2025-04-29 07:25:30 GMT from United Kingdom)
It may not be the best question? It's those little oblongs of plastic folks have become obsessed with that are the real problem. Not just worthless but 'spy-in-the-pocket' that seems to draw regular, decent folks away from the security of desktop and laptops. The 'instant' society, destined to sell stuff we don't need every second of the day, as well as logging where & when we are, inter alia..
75 • One important missing thing (by aRubes on 2025-04-29 10:39:23 GMT from Israel)
A better knowledge base that is more regulalrly updated, well written, concise, and most importantly: professionally translated to many languages. Don't forget that a huge portion of the world both can't read English with ease and can not directly pay for first-hand hardware and for Windows. That's a difficult task, of course, that would require a ton of work even when starting from one of the main distros' existing wiki / manual. Either money of fantastic organizational management has to enter the picture.
76 • missing or not (by th on 2025-04-29 11:52:37 GMT from Greece)
More respect from some devs to user space. I am running Libux only for 15 years now.
I use my box for writing novels and editing my photos so i do need things: applications and a specific workflow tailored to my needs and preferences.
I am not against changes unless they break my workflow.
So gnome is a no go for me. Or to be a beta tester for bleeding edge stuff. For example, there was a discussion amonf krita usets how early plasma 6 and wayland brought serious problems on krita (maybe now there are resolved, i do not know).
Plasma is great but it releases too often. If i stick with Devuan/Debian stable, for next couple of years, is Plasma 6.3 mature and stable enough?
What is the future of Xfce after X11 is gone?
Why on earth immutable systerms are any good for my use case? I need a destop not a tablet or a mobile phone.
Ps: automation or not is distibution;s call. I do not care like it, i perform maintenance tasks when i choose.
77 • What is Linux missing? (by Geo. on 2025-04-29 14:06:27 GMT from Canada)
Firstly, Welcome Zorin back into the top 10. You saved a lot of Win 10 refugees.
Second, I agree that automation can help distros become mainstream. Nowadays, there's no reason for a distro to be much less than 2 GB since that's the size of a standard capacity SD Card. That gives plenty of space for automation.
78 • Ubuntu MATE (by RetiredIT on 2025-04-29 15:14:59 GMT from United States)
For the year 2016 Ubuntu MATE was sitting at #14 on Distrowatch's hit list. For the year 2024 it was at #90. Do you call that progress? Ho, Hum. I don't think so!
It has become SO bloated with so many things it does not need, some of which Jesse pointed out in his review. I have used Ubuntu MATE in the past to my satisfaction. No more. It requires so much more memory than it did 10 years ago. I will stick with distros that have stood the test of time: openSUSE, Debian, Mint and Ubuntu with Pro Activated and notorious Snaps removed.
79 • What is Linux missing? (by chicco on 2025-04-29 15:33:59 GMT from Italy)
i am an old nerd... messing with pc and software from at least 30 years, maybe more...
i dont'remember when,but i discover linux, and was an interesting thing, i first tried it from a dvd from a magazine... and first try was a mess, interesting obscure science. i was armed with perseverance, and i acqured a good internet connection, and i discover distrowatch... so i began distro-hopping... and so on...
after so many years, i can say that form my point of view, Linux adoption is a mirage, it's impossible.
linux is a mess, full of bugs, with so many variant, impossible to fix and to mantain in the long run. commercial distro have good solutions, but for the most part for the server side of things, desktop is another thing.
i like distrowatch, but i like also dedimedo, and he makes very interesting articles, that describe well the state of the linux ecosystem at the moment...
even with his very good experience in linux administration, he says:
" You can do lots of cool things using the Linux desktop......The only downside in the entire experience is the relative inconsistency. Occasionally, things will break, randomly and for no good reason....." and you must search another way to do same things......",
wich is windows.... and for work i am forced to use it, for most of the time.
80 • Ubuntu Mate (by vmc on 2025-04-29 16:15:44 GMT from United States)
@78 Don't let the ratings confuse you. There just a popularity contest. People just clicking on the distro site is all that is.
I use Ubuntu Mate and liked it. No bloat. What I didn't like is Mate's file manager. The icons a way to far apart.
81 • @80 vmc: (by dragonmouth on 2025-04-29 18:28:15 GMT from United States)
"The icons a way to far apart."
There should a setting that allows you to change the icon spacing.
82 • @77 Geo from Canada: (by dragonmouth on 2025-04-29 18:41:53 GMT from United States)
Not everybody uses 2GB SD Card, or any SD Cards for that matter.
All distros could use to go on a diet. Packages should be "opt-in" not "opt-out". Because storage is relatively cheap, developers shove everything, including the kitchen sink into their distros.;
83 • What is Linux missing? (by AM on 2025-04-29 22:53:43 GMT from France)
A way to rollback to the state it was before the last update, directly from the boot menu.
Many users are scared to be blocked after an update, having to solve it themselves, searching infos here and there from forums (which are not support).
Next step would consist to be able to patch a system as of some YYYY-MM-DD.
84 • Rollback (by Jesse on 2025-04-29 23:53:51 GMT from Canada)
@83: "A way to rollback to the state it was before the last update, directly from the boot menu."
Some Linux distributions do this. openSUSE, for example.
85 • Linux perfection, storage and time travel (by Mr. Kibbitz on 2025-04-30 02:27:29 GMT from United States)
@82, @77 "2 GB since that's the size of a standard capacity SD Card" 2GB? That much?Sometimes, reading comments here I wonder if I'm in a time warp. I have a 256GB Micro SD card for extra storage in my phone. I could have gone bigger, but I'm getting thrifty in my old age.
What would I change about Linux? Not a single thing. There are distros I really enjoy, some I may put up with in a pinch, some that make me scratch my head in puzzlement: "What were they thinking?" And so on. Variety, as they say, is the spice of life, but one doesn't need to throw every available spice into every recipe. Whether they be misguided or prescient, I greatly appreciate the time and effort expended by the creators, i.e. developers. What do they get but the satisfaction of creating, and maybe having others use and appreciate their creations?
I don't understand the obsession of some with Linux desktop reaching majority use in the market. Why? There are no shareholders to fatten, no profits to invest in the next, newest thing. Some corporations make money indirectly, some independents (Ex: Linux Mint) make a living directly, but few if any billionaires are being created. So what is the point? Maybe some people believe that if they use something, everyone else should too? Spread the gospel, so to speak.
Sometimes, sitting in a coffee shop, someone will have an open laptop facing my way, and as they surf, I can see the constant ads, popups and redirects to the point that I want to go grab the laptop, install an ad blocker and say: "Now, isn't that better?" One time, an acquaintance stopped at my table to ask a favor. Laptop misbehaving. "Viruses", he said. I opened it. It was a Chromebook. He thought he had Windows. Are these the people who would be using Linux desktops in the ideal Linux spreader's world? What's wrong with Windows, or ChromeOS, or MacOS? Nothing! I've used them and would use them again if called for. Nothing wrong with Linux either, at 4% (latest) or 2%, or 50%.
86 • Linux preinstalled (by dr.j on 2025-04-30 10:25:42 GMT from Germany)
@65
I have bought a computer from a Linux-dealer once. Specifically built for Linux with Linux pre-installed. It was the worst computer I ever had. Completely misconceived. Lots of power, but with impossible power management. The fans were running at full speed all day (with the corresponding noise). A little bit more power (maybe two virtual machines runnning at the same time) and it ran hot; I had to shut it down several times a day to cool it down and after three years it was completely broken. Never again.
Since then I've bought standard hardware (Acer, Asus, Lenovo all run well with Linux), swapped the hard disk for my Linux hard disk and that's it.
87 • re. 88 (by Treen chief:Mekon on 2025-04-30 10:52:37 GMT from United Kingdom)
Brilliant! Folks don't realise just how easy it is to swap 'hard' drives, ipso facto - OSes. Laptop or 'desktop' - small screwdriver, remove drive (keep it safe in case!), pop in a new (or old!) unit, switch on and go. A few small mods may be needed to accommodate different BIOS (if BIOS still in use) settings - always shown on screen.
Those lucky enough to still use the proverbial 'tin' box can install a multi SSD slots permitting hot-plug-in for multiple (usually 2) discs/OSes - makes file transfer even easier. Put a couple of USB slots in the box as well and get multi-system/file access/transfer. Keen guys might run e.g. EasyOS from the USB making transfer/repair of SSDs, for example even easier.
A propos foregoing discussions, a 'computer' need never be a 'fixed' entity. Great technical knowledge is not required. Anyone who can reinstall an electrical fuse in a plug can just as easily extend the access ports/discs etc to ANY machine, proprietary, Windows or otherwise.
88 • Linux as OEM Computers (by Slappy McGee on 2025-04-30 14:14:21 GMT from United States)
@86 Yep the engineering of the machines is not there in the two I tried (both from the same dealer, different models). Heat! I don't get it. It's been 30 years and we can't have reliable or even decent Linux as OEM on a computer?
So, yeah, I finally gave in and just started making the investment in more machines, Windows, Mac, and two for messing with Linux and BSD (admitedly just GhostBSD). For years I swapped hard discs on the same laptop to test and to learn Linux distros. Did the dual boot for a while, but as I say, no reason to keep unscrewing the back and all that, just got more computers for all this silliness.
89 • @86, @88 Linux preinstalled (by Mr. Kibbitz on 2025-04-30 20:43:29 GMT from United States)
Lenovo and Dell sell computers with Linux pre-installed, or in some cases, no installed OS. I'm sure some of the smaller Linux PC sellers are fine. My problems is that the price is usually way too high for the specs. I can buy a decent machine for not too much, wipe Windows or dual-boot, and be running in a short time with little effort. Right now I'm on an Intel NUC which I bought barebones. Runs anything I cant throw at it.
90 • Linux Computers (by Friar Tux on 2025-05-01 02:30:06 GMT from Canada)
@89 (Mr. Kibbitz) I have to concur with your comment. When I was considering buying a new laptop, while I was researching which brand I would get, I can across so many articles on NOT buying any ready made Linux laptops o line or in stores. The reasons were the same as mentioned here - running too hot, glitchy, too high priced for what's inside (similar to Apple products), and such. I simply stayed with HP and wiped Microsoft's Mess off and put Linux Mint on. Yeah, I paid the "Windows tax", but it was still way cheaper than buying a Linux laptop.
Also, I agree with the folks that said we don't need to push for Linux to have a higher market share. Just use what you like. Follow the mindset of the BSD folks. They don't make a big todo about BSD. They just quietly use it and leave it at that.
91 • Linux preinstalled (by dr.j on 2025-05-01 08:04:58 GMT from The Netherlands)
@89
Right you are. Acer and Asus do the same. Either without any OS or with Linux or DOS (both cli-only) preinstalled. Much cheaper and of better quality. Getting them ready for our purpose is done quickly. My wife runs an Acer Aspire with Arch since 2016 without any problems.
92 • Mass Ad...option (by rhtoras on 2025-05-01 08:11:52 GMT from Greece)
I am not using Linux with mass adoption in mind. If it works because it mass adopted then i'd use windows. So i am not going to use it because it is mass adopted as a kernel. But -and here comes the BUT- if noone is using linux kernel then i cannot use it too. I am not Linux Torvalds nor living in 1991. So it is great to have a big community but not being the #1 choice of the people if that makes sense. I want things to work but i don't want to be on par with computer trends that claim to make life easier but sacrifising security and privacy. And this is why i am also using openbsd. This is also the reason i am not ready yet to use Tribblix although i like its ideas.
93 • Missing (by Scott on 2025-05-01 18:26:19 GMT from United States)
What's really missing is a zero tracker zero AI linux. For those of us not wanting spyware on our machines. I miss the old windows xp/7 simplicity of computers. When the human knew all it's secrets and computers where tools not spies for governments and companies.
94 • What is Linux missing? (by Up-to-data on 2025-05-02 00:01:26 GMT from United States)
Linux is missing the latest security measure - using microVMs to isolate computing tasks from other tasks, applications and network systems.
How long do we have to keep using outdated software, like sandboxing and firewalls?
95 • What is linux missing? (by Ganesh on 2025-05-02 03:04:09 GMT from India)
According to me corporate acceptance is the main reason why Linux is not becoming a force. We can talk of all the things missing in Linux, but once the corporate acceptance comes, I can assure you that those missing links will start to popup automatically.
I am forced to use Windows for my office work. The VPN's used by my clients are not available on Linux or extremely hard to configure. The Tools used by the corporate are all Windows based with no proper alternatives. I use Arch BTW for all my needs except office work.
96 • Do you think the Linux ecosystem is missing something ? (by eb on 2025-05-02 10:09:58 GMT from France)
No, the opposite !
The best reason for attracting new users is ecological : I love Linux for its fantastic ability to recycle old hardware and achieve a slim OS precisely fitted to my taste. So :
- new pre-installed computers (with bloated Ubuntu or Mint ?!),
- heavy (beautiful) desktop environments and automatic installation trying to ape Windows or Mac
seem to me already too much.
As written above, the adverse consequence of increasing the number of Linux users could be vulnerability, since Windows is a fantastic honey-pot for hackers !:-).
Thanks Distrowatch.
97 • @94 - Qubes OS? (by Uncle Slacky on 2025-05-02 10:45:21 GMT from France)
Isn't that pretty much what Qubes OS is doing, though? It does require a pretty capable PC, which many of us don't have. See https://www.qubes-os.org/intro/ for more.
98 • Buy Windows Machines, Cover Windows with Linux (by Slappy McGee on 2025-05-02 16:26:56 GMT from United States)
@89 Well yeah, that's likely what 90% of Linux distro users do. As we lament no good OEM machines for Linux. But is our logic sound? We're paying Acer or HP or Dell for the precious Microsoft Windows license and then we're trashing it, or ignoring it in varying degrees per user, as we dual boot a distro. Why not just (over) pay for a Linux machine pre-installed distro?
99 • @94 "..outdated software, like sandboxing and firewalls?" (by picamanic on 2025-05-02 16:44:28 GMT from United Kingdom)
@94: "How long do we have to keep using outdated software, like sandboxing and firewalls?"
I can understand wanting to replace Sandboxing with microVMs, but I can't see how Firewalls [eg iptables/nftables] are made redundant.
100 • GNU/Linux adoption. (by Tuxedoar on 2025-05-02 18:24:37 GMT from Argentina)
Foster and increase collaboration between distributions, about the way things are done and solved. Sharing more code, more patches, sharing how problems are solved in general. Having more "standard" (common, shared) ways to solve or implement things (the way apps are packaged, patches applied to solve bugs, etc).
This is not to say that every distro should use the same collection of software or that distributions should use the same app for each purpose. No. I rather think that there's tons of room for improvement in terms of cross-distro collaboration, sharing how they deal and customize upstream code, in general. This, most probably, won't directly increase GNU/Linux adoption in the Desktop market, but (overall) would improve the FOSS ecosystem quite significantly!. Thus, it would make it more consistent and appealing.
Cheers.
101 • Cooperation between distros: illusion (by Jan on 2025-05-02 23:58:42 GMT from The Netherlands)
I think there will never be cooperation between distro makers.
The distro-nerds will do everything to protect their "brilliant" distro from losing interest to other distros.
I have also seen forum discussions, which give the impression "Not invented by us" so not applied to "our" distro.
I have also seen forum discussions which took a bizarre turn to evade being clear on "open source code".
Number of Comments: 101
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| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
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| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
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| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
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| • Issue 1103 (2025-01-06): elementary OS 8.0, filtering ads with Pi-hole, Debian testing its installer, Pop!_OS faces delays, Ubuntu Studio upgrades not working, Absolute discontinued |
| • Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
| • Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
| • Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
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| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
| • Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
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| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
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| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
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Chapeau
Chapeau was a high-performance, cutting-edge operating system built from the GNU/Linux distribution Fedora Workstation with the GNOME desktop environment. In comparison to Fedora, Chapeau adopts a more relaxed approach to software licences and was intended to be just as useful for advanced users as it was easy for those new to using a Linux system. There was built-in access to third-party software and sources repositories not included in Fedora such as RPMFusion, DropBox, Steam, Adobe Flash and Oracle VirtualBox. Chapeau also includes pre-installed core packages to make the installation of new kernel modules pain-free, built-in remote and virtual system management tools, a selection of maintenance tools that come in especially handy when running Chapeau's live image on a DVD or USB drive to analyse and fix broken systems.
Status: Discontinued
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