Giles Orr via Talk wrote on 2026-05-19 14:17:
It became a trigger for a rant about a personal frustration.)
I share this frustration and am happy you chimed in.
In the age of Microsoft continuously (and possibly deliberately) degrading their OS, I'd like to see Linux as an OS that's welcoming and relatively easy to use.
Indeed, could not agree more. There's an undercurrent of "it should be hard to keep the riff-raff out" mentality that's just bonkers. The more users of FLOSS software, the less the stranglehold of proprietary software, the more users switch to FLOSS, ... It's a virtuous cycle.
Configuration files to change minor settings are a GOOD THING that save users' time.
Excellent point and so obvious that it seems "harder is funner" is the goal for some, which is okay but kind of embraces the unflattering Linux nerd memes. It needs to be countered with "It's not that way for most of us".
We'll always have small clusters of people who are in favour of being exclusionist - people who think hard-to-use Linux is good. And that's their right - although I feel like the only reasons they want it that way are A) so they're a member of an exclusive club, and/or B) they get to feel like wizards because their knowledge of Linux is more obvious. But I disagree with the exclusionist attitudes that go with this - for reasons both broad and personal. I want Linux to be welcoming, and I don't want to spend hours of my time recompiling. I can't elaborate further, this hits the nail on the head perfectly.