An honest look at the state of the Linux desktop going into 2024

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Timecodes:
00:00 Intro
00:51 Sponsor: ProtonVPN
02:21 Standardization and cohesiveness
05:31 Packaging formats and app distribution
07:17 Display, Wayland, HDR, and scaling
09:27 Drivers, graphics and firmware
11:40 Gaming
13:06 App support
14:31 More challenges?
17:02 Sponsor: Get a PC made to run Linux
18:00 Support the channel

#Linux #desktop #operatingsystem #linuxdesktop #linuxdistro

Unified theming between desktops is pretty much abandoned as a thing that should be pursued, but we're also seeing an accent colors standard emerge. And that's complimented by the work being done on portals. With portals for settings, screenshots, remote desktops, printing, sending email, creating shortcuts or transferring files, there's now a solid abstraction layer between your desktop and the apps it runs.

But, for now, we're not there yet. These standards are progressing, but they're not all encompassing, and they're not implemented equally across all desktops. The big ones, like GNOME and KDE, sure, but other smaller options aren't there yet.

Packaging formats, at the end of 2023, are in a bad state. Linux packaging has never been messier. As neither flatpak nor snap are fully ready for 100% of applications, some stuff simply can't be packaged using these, and they still have drawbacks that some users don't want to deal with. Which means a lot of app developers still can't say "hey, this is what we should be using now".

The display situation is much better though. X11 is now clearly abandonware, and work on Wayland has been stellar in 2023. Mostly all desktops now have plans for Wayland, everyone is in agreement.

Added to that, work on supporting HDR has moved by leaps and bounds, and we'll see a fully working implementation in 2024. Fractional scaling is now properly implemented on Wayland as well, meaning we can finally do non blurry scaling, with different scaling per monitor, and different refresh rates per monitor as well.

As per drivers, we've seen some solid progress as well. AMD now has solid drivers on launch day for their GPUs, Intel has finished their Xe driver, Arc GPUs are now well supported, and nvidia drivers have progressed a lot. We're also seeing very strong efforts for open source nvidia drivers.

As per firmware, the linux firmware vendor system, or LVFS has also seen broad adoption, letting you apply firmware updates on the fly and easily. This already supplied 100 million firmware updates, and Google is even pushing manufacturers to support that for their own Linux based Chrome OS.

Gaming has been incredible in 2023. Not only did Linux pass macOS market share for Steam, but we've seen great support for the Steam Deck, which, in turn, means great support for Linux. Sure, it's all driven by Proton and Wine, it's not native Linux ports, but my opinion is that it doesn't matter: if you can click install, and then play, and run the game with the performance you'd expect, things are good.

Non steam gaming has also progressed immensely, with Heroic becoming a really fantastic launcher for Gog and EPic Games, and Lutris still handling most of the rest.

Now for app support, I'd say we haven't seen many improvements in 2023. Sure, our own open source apps have progressed this year, but the usual suspects are still missing, that would let a lot more people move to Linux. Still no Office, Adobe apps, a lot of content creation software, or CAD software are still missing, with no indication that it will change.

The big challenge I can see is AI integration in the desktop. It's a move Microsoft is making with Windows 12, adding AI powered search, and automations throughout the desktop. Whether we should chase that trend on Linux, I'll let you decide, but what's certain is that once users have had a few years to get used to one click buttons that save 30 minutes, it will be hard to go back.

[TensaFlow]

I just want apps to respect display scaling regardless of desktop environment.

[burninorable]

In summary, improvements with display, hardware, GPU, and gaming; package management and theming is fragmented; no progress on apps.

[whaleboy]

I'm still a Windows user. I want to switch to Linux, but can't because of app support issues.

[klevkaisetsu]

As the end of the year is near, I want you to know that it's a pleasure to watch your videos about our favorite OS. Thank you very very much for your work!

[cameronbosch]

We need more preinstalled Linux laptop OEMs in the U.S. Slimbook & Tuxedo, as good as they are in the EU, aren't really cost effective in the U.S. and System76 is pretty much the only one, and none of their laptops are really that competitive...

We just need one major OEM to make more Linux laptops that are competitive, like with 16 : 10 screens and more recent CPUs and GPUs...

[lucddaemon]

Never seen an advertisement for a Proton product. I've been using it for 6 years with very little issues.

[zerotymn]

Personally I find KDE much more easier to use after moving over from window 11. Currently I’m running Kubuntu and Flatpak is easy to install for me.

[SilkCrown]

What's really frustrating for me as a Linux user is when an app I've been using through wine/proton goes from working perfectly to not working at all because of an update. Sometimes I go months with everything I need working no issue. Other months I start wondering if I need to switch back to Windows because more and more things stop working. The state of Linux app compatibility is always in flux.

[oldm]

I switched to Linux a few months ago and all my damn games are running! My software development experience is liberating!
When it comes to specialized software (which i don't need) it's not there yet. However, I believe that the success of blender can be a model for other programs.

[pikminpro]

Can't wait for Wine to support Wayland natively, I'd ditch grandpa X11 in a heartbeat

[voteDC]

The biggest issue for Linux to hit the mainstream is also its greatest strength...there's too many damn versions of it. Even Linux Mint, which I use, has four different versions on its download page.

[Blackfatrat]

Glad to here there is standardisation going on in atleast the major areas. Linux being so divided will always be both a great strength and weakness to it. It comes with the nature of Linux open source license, but it can certaintly get better than it currently is. I hope Steam OS comes to desktop, to install anywhere you want. That might become a sort of trend setter for linux and what developers might actually care to optimise and release for.

[tuanht]

I really like this video. The complexity of current Linux eco system make more harder to welcome newcomer. As a veteran Linux user, I feel disappointed as well. My Gaming PC running exclusively on Linux since 2021, but still I have to think about Mac & Windows for my daily driver, since now I don't have much time to invest into Linux to troubleshoot the problem, just like I don't have time to list-out them in this comment.

[liarus]

Absolutely amazing video, i recently switched to dual boot windows on nobara linux (fedora fork by Glorious eggroll, creator of proton-ge)


It has been the best Linux experience i have ever had now with all the KDE improvements as well as wayland and proton.

I totally agree with the issue of having 10000 different packaging formats, it's an absolute pain to have all my apps being in different formats, and some working with my distro with ease, or not, flatpaks are amazing for that, but just like you mentioned, the browser that i use, which is only available as a flatpak on linux, doesn't work with password manager extensions.

Your video recaps a lot of my experience, it's way better that it was before, but everything is very much WIP but the overall usability has drastically improved

[PostalHeathen]

Gaming has been the one thing holding me back from embracing Linux on my desktop machine. I use Arch on my laptop, since it's not a gaming machine, but that's not my daily driver. I'm glad to hear that gaming support is still improving and I might take another shot at it after I can afford to upgrade my video card.

[temari]

BTW Gnome has a little bit of a drama regarding the accent color standard. The desktops have basically devided into 2 camps: one that wants only pre-defined accent colors to be supported and another one that wants users to be able to choose absolutely any color as their accent. Gnome devs said that the latter is not even in the question and they barely agree on pre-define accents. So far it seems like the open standard will allow any accent color to be set, and more restrictive desktops will just clamp this color to their closest pre-defined one.

[teklife]

i gotta hand it to you nick, just love your integrity. even on a sponsor for a vpn, you say "i don't (usually) recommend vpn services", and include chapters to skip it. i didn't tho just because i want ur video to get the full playthrough and help out your sponsors too. if i ever do need a VPN i'll definitely go with proton

[WolfiiDog]

AI is the exact same thing as smart assistants, as in, it looks cool in concept, and can do some specific things really well, but it's wide usage is very limited. It's not the revolutionary thing some industry enthusiasts claim to be. Linux desktops should definitelly focus in making the best and most user-centric possible desktops.

[pcallycat]

Loved the “almost done” comment. Linux desktop improvements have been “almost done” for 20 years. They’ll never be done because there’s always the ‘next big thing’ someone comes up with that takes the next 10 years to migrate to, just in time for the next ‘next big thing’ to come around the corner. Just look at init systems, the sound subsystems, hell…gnome in general changes everything every few years just to be different.

[AGRACUTA]

its not quite there yet, BUT significant leaps in progress made and i am quite excited, keep going everyone!