Why isn’t the Linux Desktop more popular?

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Linux is an awesome system. It's fast, it's full of various choices, it's stable and powerful, and it runs most servers in the world.
But on the desktop, it's been stuck at 1 to 2% market share for ages. We're seeing a lot of progress on the various desktop environments, on gaming, and on user experience, but it's still not really moving forward. Let's go over a few reasons why Linux should really have more market share on the desktop and a few more reasons why it isn't all that popular there, right after this !

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## Not a good image

Ok, so Linux is super popular and is starting to be well known. Developers all know about it, everyone using Android uses Linux as well, and it's really the only choice for any "internet of things" device.

Servers running something other than Linux are in the vast minority, and even Microsoft has their own distro for Azure. Valve is focused on bringing gaming to Linux as well, and Microsoft, of all people, is porting software to our OS. Surely it means that Linux is already the biggest OS out there, all devices included, right ?

Well, sure, if you're talking in terms of "shadow presence". Because no one knows that Linux exists apart from tech people and a few enthusiasts. An Android user has no idea that Google servers run Linux, or that Android uses the Linux kernel. Microsoft has ported 2 main applications, and they are based on technologies that already run on Linux, so it wasn't too difficult for them.

For the few non-technical users that know about Linux, they mostly have a terrible image of it. They still all see it as a command line hell, where there is no graphical tool for anything, where hardware doesn't work, and that could brick your computer, or will give hackers their data.
So sure, Linux is reaching far and wide, but it's also something of an unseen puppet master: it's there, but people have no idea that it is.

## Manual install

It is undeniable, though, that Linux is now one of the most powerful OSes on the planet. Graphical environments have gotten a lot better, with easier to use interfaces, a ton of simple applications, and some very complex ones for more advanced users.

The command line might be scary at the beginning, but it really makes using Linux something of a dream, a mix of graphical user experience, and some super powerful tools right at your fingertips.

GNOME, KDE, Pantheon, Cinnamon... They are all very user friendly these days, even if you have to re-learn a few habits from your previous systems. Graphical tools are everywhere, there are welcome screen to guide you through the experience, and cohesiveness and UI guidelines have made them really, really consistent and predictable in use.

The problem is: no one knows that, because most tutorials are still command line based! It's still an image problem: what use is it to have super powerful GUIS, if people can't find help describing how to use them. It's all "sudo" this, "apt install" that, Arch wiki and stuff. No one understands that.

## Retail and sales

More and more manufacturers have Linux devices preinstalled though. We have Dell, Lenovo, being champions of Linux these days, and many, many smaller retailers and manufacturers. Purism, Tuxedo, Starlabs, System76, Juno Computers, SLimbook...
You don't necessarily have to install Linux manually anymore, you can just buy a computer with Linux on it. Pretty easy.

The only problem ? No one will line up on Dell's website to pick the version marked "with Linux" instead of choosing the windows one, and save a magnificent 30 bucks in the process.

## Choice is awesome

Ok, but once people see how much choice they can get on Linux, how much customization awaits them on their computers, there's no way they're ever going back to Windows.
This choice also scares users away. People don't know where to start, and each distro pushes for their own user base instead of pushing Linux as a whole. Look at our mascot: it's still that cartoony, fat bellied penguin. Do you think people will take that seriously? Marketing matters, man, how much I hate to admit it. As long as distros keep pushing for their own version of what they think Linux should be, we'll never reach anywhere near the market share Mac OS has. Our communication work is diluted, unfocused, and our official logos are just not enticing at all.
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Why Linux desktops aren't more popular?
Linux Expert: "Go to (Insert Linux Distro) and download the image file."
Non-tech User: "Okay... is the image file jpeg or gif?"

dealchemist
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The main reason, according to Linus Torvalds: "nobody wants to install an operating system"
That's all you need to know.

JJSloan
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Another problem we have is, that a lot of big Linux "influencers" on social media still pretty much push the command line only sentiment.

kuhluhOG
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Thank you, Nick. "Linux is user-friendly. It is just choosy about its friends." - ancient adage.

AnzanHoshinRoshi
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They always tell beginner to install Gentoo or Arch, making fun of them using Ubuntu....

bestledisthe
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As someone that has used Linux on and off for over 2 decades, I can tell you the two main issues holding Linux back from popular adaption are: fragmentation and you can't run popular apps that are available on Windows/Mac on a Linux machine.

IamBrianDickson
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petition to create a weekly podcast for Nick to complain about the ecosystem.

itskarudo
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You are the only Linux expert who dare to understand that CLI is for system administrators, not for an average user.
I know hundreds of users they even don't change the default wallpapers, forget about any other customisation.
Keep it up bro.
Keep posting.

VirendraBG
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I think the number one problem is that Linux doesn't have a "killer app" in the desktop. There should be something where Linux is just way better than any other operating system. Running Docker is actually one example of this: for every developer using containers I will say: switch to Linux and your containers will run way faster.

HeikkiKetoharju
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I think one of the major reason is "gatekeepers". Instead of promoting linux, people usually act arrogantly towards newbies. People should start talking about linux with there family and friends.

Unclecoconuts
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A couple of years back, I was using Linux Mint. I dropped it and went back to Windows. Recently, I decided to try moving not just myself, but my wife over to Linux. Since I doubt she'll ever grow a neck beard, I had to look for the simplest, easiest to use, best for gaming, etc. distribution. That took days. I decided on Pop!_OS and thought I'd set up a dual boot system for me to test things. I spent a couple more days researching the best way to install and how to partition the drive (and don't get me started on the videos showing that the graphical installer wasn't good enough and that the best way to do it was at the command line). When I was ready to proceed, I went to download the media and was presented with: "Disable Secure Boot in your BIOS to install Pop!_OS" on the download page. Sigh. Guess what? There aren't many people who are going to disable Secure Boot on an existing Windows installation just to try something out via dual boot. Too much risk. So, that whole tale of my fruitless attempt to just try a Linux distribution on my existing hardware is pretty much why Linux on the desktop isn't more popular.

And, the vast, vast majority of people don't even know how a light switch works, why water boils, what an antibiotic is, or how to press the Start Button. I knew one woman who needed help turning her cell phone on: she said her son would remove the cover and rub its back. We're a Stone Age people in an Information Age society. So, expecting people to do ANYTHING with a system whose adherents blithely spout the words "command line" is silly.

nommindymple
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"You put the fat penguin in the middle" haha xD You got me there :) Awesome points you've got there, we as a Linux community and devs should really find a way to unify and push linux together

pxl-tech
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Also...one cannot deny that there is some toxicity in the open source community. There is a "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" attitude towards noobs in many places. It really ticks me off, as if these people just magically learned how to be self-reliant and research with no influence what-so-ever...until you ask what their parents admin...". Everyone learns from something. No one is born self-reliant.

geometerfpv
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I'm currently in the process of slowly migrating from windows to Linux right now. The reason why I haven't moved completely it's because I'm a graphic editor/artist, and Linux lacks any professional software like Adobe but the softwares that Linux offers is good enough and I'm slowly getting there. I'm just making sure that I'm ready so I will never turn back after I switch. Right now, the only main Linux Distro that I use is Tails OS it's because I love to surf the web anonymously.

dtswwvz
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Thank You, Bang on the money!!! Well presented and very detailed with spot on points!!! New Linux user who switched from windows, struggling with all the points you mentioned but hanging on to see the light!

RetosSpace
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Back when XP support ended, I helped a lot of friends and family with their PCs. The people who didn't want to pay for a Windows 7 license got offered a Linux instead. You should've seen the suspision in their eyes when I told them that it was free. Some people didn't want it because it sounded too good to be true and instead decided to get rid of their PCs (and a couple tried talking me into pirating Windows 7) but a few went ahead with it.

I installed Ubuntu, made sure everything worked (even their ancient cheap printers), transferred their data, found Linux counterparts to their Windows software and showed them how it worked.

All three ended up throwing their PCs out less than half a year later. They weren't even that old PCs. I don't know what more I could have done to give Linux a fair chance.

Things have to be very bad for people to look for alternatives. Chrome got ahead because Internet Explorer was the way it was. There are a lot of questionable things about Windows 10, but nothing deal-breaking to the casual user.

ugh.idontwanna
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I am an Admin of a decent russian discord server. I mentioned Linxux few times and people there still think terminal must be used for everything

MickTheRus
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Marketing and branding guy here. You are right about choice being an obstacle for the general user. There's something to be said about feeling of simplicity, convenience and comfort of going for a monolithic corporation's simplified product mix rather than a branch of desktop computing where the act of choosing alone can be overwhelming due to frankly crazy levels of fragmentation. If Linux is a brand, then it's strength - choice and openness - are its biggest weaknesses.

I got into Linux the last year because curiosity and lockdown-enforced boredom. The Linux youtube community made it so much easier for me but most people don't want to sit and tinker around their machines for hours of end. Having gone through that process, there's something to your idea of a distro picker for the general user. You probably won't get any support from the teams behind the various distros, but it would be an ideal community project - by Linux users for Linux -curious users. I'll be happy to bring my branding experience to the table if anyone is interested in collaborating.

Thanks for the work you do, Nick.

theena
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I was introduced to Linux in 1999, I was told it would be the future. Ubuntu at the time had a 1 CD-ROM install process while Redhat and OpenSUSE had up to 4. I have used Ubuntu as a secondary OS for the past 21 years.

SweetHoneycode
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Unfortunately this is so so true and i feel so so sorry that my OS of choice is not even getting the 10% market share on desktop.

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