With Windows getting progressively worse every day, Linux is slowly becoming a better option for the average user. However it’s still seen as a foreign operating system used only by techies, but I’m here to tell you that that’s not the case, and in fact, your dad could start comfortably using Linux right now.

And in fact, my dad is running Linux Mint at the moment, and has been for the past 6 months.

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Why use something other than Windows? 🤔

But before we talk about anything else, let’s talk about why your dad might even consider using something other than Windows.

If you dual boot to Windows or still use Windows as your main OS, you’ve probably noticed a few forced updates here and there, as well as a few awkward bugs, ads, and more.

For instance, my 2nd monitor randomly disconnects for no reason. Every time I go to open an app, I’m greeted with some random news that isn’t relevant to anything that I’m thinking about or doing. Oh and also Windows takes 30 seconds to connect to my internet on boot.

Heck, even Pewdiepie uses Linux now.

Then why is Windows still the most widely used OS? 🥇

As we all know, Windows offers a lot of features that make it very appealing to someone like your dad. It’s easy to learn, easy to understand, and generally simple, and that’s why it’s reigned as the most popular operating system for the last two decades.

So Windows isn’t inherently bad, but it’s not good either. It’s just kinda “eh”. And even your dad will get bored of “eh” at some point.

Talking points to avoid ☣️

Ok so with that, let’s talk about what I don’t wanna talk about concerning Linux. In other words, all the talking points that your dad doesn’t care about.

Open Source Software (OSS) 💽

Let’s face it. As much as you might be an open source advocate and as much as your laptop might look like a modern day Woodstock, your dad doesn’t care that Linux is open source.

Nor does the average user. They also don’t care that the software they use on Linux is open source, or that their data isn’t being farmed as much as it is on Windows.

Linux is SO much faster! (kinda) 🏃

Secondly, another really common talking point that I see is that Linux is so much faster than Windows. But look, your dad doesn’t care that Linux is a bit faster than Windows (but they might care that it’s smoother – and we’ll talk about that later). That 10 second boot time? Forget about it.

The average user wants a machine that consistently works in a reasonable amount of time, and Windows is reasonable enough for most. They don’t care if their machine takes 30 or 10 seconds to boot (that is, if they know what booting is), and they certainly don’t care if it takes a few seconds to connect to their wifi.

AI 🤖

And look, even when it comes to the AI slop that we all hate, we have to accept that the average user really doesn’t care about AI. As long as it’s reasonably helpful with summarizing that annoying coworker’s email, most users love it.

I asked for an image that "exmplifies AI slop", but...

The "average user" 😊

But wait, hold on. What is this elusive average user (AKA your dad)?

Think of your neighbor Mary that you see every now and then. She works at the local Walmart as an accountant. This is your average user. Not someone who spends 12 hours a day behind a screen on Arch Linux – just someone who wants their computer to work when it needs to work.

I’m going to make a wild guess. If you’re reading this, you’re probably a bit of a tech nerd. And as a fellow tech nerd, I feel that we often forget that we are extremely disconnected from the average user of the software we create or promote.

The average user:

• Does not use the command line
• Does not worry (too much) about what happens with their data
• Does not dream about what format the Session Description Protocol should be in based on RFC 4566 (true story, unfortunately)

So when we’re making these comparisons, we have to be wary that we are not the average user. And consequently, the average user is a lot more common than us, and when we’re trying to get them to do something, we have to market to them, not to us.

Linux itself 🤵 (tux, get it?)

Ok. Linux itself. What’s better about it?

Updates 🔃

Firstly, as you’re probably aware of, updates on Linux (in this case Mint) are a lot easier to handle and manage than updates on Windows. There’s nothing forced, it’s just “oh, there’s a new update: you wanna get it”? This varies based on distro of course, but most average users would likely be using Mint or Ubuntu.

Installation ⏬

Secondly, this is something that I don’t think a lot of people really think about. I’ve installed Windows on a brand new machine twice in the last 6 months. And both of those times, it has been a pain. However when I installed Mint on my dad’s computer, it was… painless. It was really simple, and it felt welcoming.

Ads 💲

And finally, I know I already mentioned it, but ads. Because there are a LOT of ads on Windows. And guess what? Linux doesn’t really have ads.

Software on Windows/Linux 🖥️

Ok, next, let’s talk about software on Windows compared to software on Linux.

The Web browser 🕸️

Now most people, both power users and the predefined average users, tend to do 90% of their work from their web browser. This is debatable, but with tools like Canva, Google Slides, and more, custom software for each and every program is becoming less and less common. And if it can’t go in a web browser, insert profanity of your choice it, just make it an Electron app.

Generic software 🫥

The one thing that we can talk about is WordPad and other generic Windows tools compared to something like LibreOffice or OpenOffice, and honestly, there’s not much to say here. I mean, OpenOffice can do what WordPad can do, and more.

The full suite (which is free, of course) comes with software for documents, spreadsheets, and even presentations. In other words, everything the average user would need. It doesn’t look great, but that’s fine.

UI of Windows V.S. Linux 🏜️

On that note, we should talk about the general UI of Linux in comparison to Windows

This is something that I’m personally very picky about. Take a look at the file manager that comes with Linux Mint compared to the Windows file manager. Is it bad? Absolutely not.

However, Windows certainly has a theme that makes everything feel really familiar to most people, so the change in UI is definitely a little bit weird. For obvious reasons, this change is also reflected elsewhere – the taskbar, the app menu, and really anything else.

Past that, most of Linux (or in this case, Linux Mint) is pretty similar to Windows.

You can have an app menu just like Windows, a desktop just like Windows, and a settings menu just like Windows.

Additionally, Zoom, most web browsers, and even specialized software like Unity or Unreal Engine works just fine on Linux.

A few things that don't work ⛔

There are a few things that don’t work though: Any Adobe products, and Google Drive. But let’s be honest – unless you’re a professional, there’s no reason you need to be using Photoshop when software such as Canva and Gimp exist. And not being able to sync files locally with Google Drive is a bit of a pain, but honestly, I don’t know that many people that actually do this.

But wait, actually... 🖐️

Finally, I want to make one concession.

You have to actually debug Linux. If you have a problem on Windows, the standard debugging process is as follows:

• Google it
• Restart computer
• Reinstall Windows

If you have a problem on Linux, the standard debugging process is as follows:

• Dig through journalctl and dmesg to find the source of the error.
• Utilize grep if needed.
• Research and implement a fix to the problem, likely using the command line.

It should be noted that there are a lot of amazing resources out there that don’t involve scrolling through documentation, and it’s totally possible to solve some of the common problems of Linux with these resources – and in my opinion, these resources are a lot more useful than the “Have you tried unplugging it” forum posts you find on Microsoft Support.

But that being said, as much as I despise the Windows debugging process, the fact of the matter is that it works for the majority of users.

Linux Mint & my dad

And this is where I want to bring up my dad again.

My dad has used Linux Mint for the last 6 months, and has had about 3 problems with it, 2 of which weren’t even directly Linux related (printer and browser issues).

However, the one problem that was Linux related did involve me having to dig through journalctl and the logs of a few other programs. Is that the biggest issue in the world? Absolutely not. But it did mean that I had to take 30 minutes to figure out what was going on – something that probably would not have happened on Windows.

But again, you must consider the alternatives. Either debug Linux every now and then, or reinstall Windows when it magically decides it’s time to implode.

To conclude...

And that brings me to my conclusion. Because of what I just said, Linux will likely never be the de facto standard in comparison to Windows.

In my opinion, there’s too much manual labor that goes into running a Linux distro and that completely hampers the marketability of Linux to the aforementioned average user.

However, I do think that there is a strong possibility that a large portion of average users will gravitate towards Linux after getting tired of Windows. And those users will likely accept the fact that Linux takes a little bit more effort. In other words, Linux will reign superior not because it is better, but because Windows is worse.

Take my dad for example. He spent two years with Windows constantly freezing or forcing updates (on an i5 11th Gen, mind you). So after a bit of discussion, he agreed that, while it might take a bit more effort, he would be happy to try and use Linux Mint. And 6 months in, he’s quite happy with it. He’s even installed some software through the command line.

So to conclude, yes, Linux would work for your dad, and frankly, I think that your dad might start using Linux in the next few years – or at least consider it. But there is, as I’ll affectionately label, a bit of an acceptance process.

Let me know what you think in the comments, and of course, as in years past, this will be the year of the Linux desktop.