You see many people use Windows or have used because of one issue, education, those damn schools cannot get away from it so children have grown up around Office and Windows. Yes times are changing due to the onslaught of some great new devices like tablets and smart phones, which has given access to more choice with regards operating systems and programs (apps included) that we use.
Sounds great so far, now introduce yourself to the world of Linux and its deriatives, it's truly a remarkable thing, it does lots of jobs that Windows does, it even guards large companies from security threats, our internet provides use some forms of Linux to provide a service to our homes and business. One of the most frequent places Linux is found is the backbone of serving websites to us.
Despite this level of market share (still very modest) it cannot take over the Mr & Mrs Average home computer operating system, there are some good reasons for it, well 2 really, which we should look at. One is there is still not a fully fledged novice friendly Linux system (called distro's), yes there are so many different ones, many people will say there is puppy, elementary, mint, ubuntu, fedora, debian blah blah. Trust me I have seen many of these and tried them, but the problem is the language or layout used on many of these systems is too complex for a windows convert like Mr/Mrs Average. They really can't be bothered about problems, incompatibility or workarounds and probably wouldnt get through the installation stage without wiping their existing data, their windows partition.
I know many people will disagree, for me Mint has been my number one choice since around 2010 and loved it, never crashes, i can do everything i need too and worked out the box. So hell yes I just contradicted myself, but all is never rosy, after a recent purchase I have come across the dreaded wifi driver issue that seemed to plague older Linux installs. Of course this is not Linux Mint or the fault of any distro or their programmers, it's an inherent issue with Linux in general. Support is generally good across many peripherals and devices, but you have to research about compatibility and features available through Linux drivers.
Okay so complaint 2, the GUI, i'm moaning in general really, my main point is there is an apparent lack of user interface design among open source products. It's quite obvious in some because of small groups creating software for free, which is truly selfless compared to the paid rivals, but to really attract another generation of users or the common user so much more thought it needed. Recently I went with finally switching to Unity (Ubuntu), yes it's fine, probably stick with it but I hate the fact I can't easily remember how to browse the applications installed - it's ridicolously complicated for what reason?
Ubuntu is hated by many too, since it's actually backed by a large company. Even more recently I tried Edubuntu in the hope I could use this for my daughters when they are old enough. I was actually shocked to find the home screen/desktop is just like Ubuntu - why would you actually spend time labelling this product as educational but have no applications ready from the desktop? I was thinking this would be an aim, design for a different type of user and perspective. Now i just think i will have to spend time researching what apps are installed and how useful they are for the kids and alter the settings myself. Maybe I should look at the Ubuntu software center, but let's face it, it's a joke of an app store really, not enough information on packages, not enough reviews, search is not always relevant.
I could go on and on about other software, but it's just my opinion and I'm still a complete novice. I have tried all sorts of packages like remote desktop, video recording, file browsers, image editing, ide packages etc and seen many of these fail my patience for actually successful use. However, let's be clear, I still LOVE Linux, it's free, it does not claim to be anything, it's also far more secure than Windows, it's just damn complicated at times.
But just like life is hard, their are many things to learn, take your time and your patience is rewarded, you will never go back. I use Windows at work, I have no choice, every day I look forward to using Ubuntu when I'm home, despite it's issues. The best thing we can do is work with Mr & Mrs Average and spread the good word, after all education is the key - if schools used Linux would any child know what Windows is? Stuff of dreams?
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