#because right now it is only accessible to fedora wearing neckbeards and IT security specialists

[dandelyle]

listen. i like linux and i have it on my laptop and use it. but heres the thing, windows is USER FRIENDLY. linux's main audience is computer nerds who understand way more than the average person about how computers work.

i like to think of myself as a techy guy. i like hacking and modding and shit. but doing basic shit like installing graphics card drivers on linux is fucking confusing. now am i software engineer with 30 years of experience writing code from the top of my head? no. but on windows, it's just 2 steps: click download, click install. that's it! and if you want to play a game on your linux laptop that was made for windows (like 90% of games or more) good fucking luck! I can't even get Elder Scrolls Online to run on linux and it's a very popular game. there are some reports of people getting it to work on linux, but the steps to do so are so technical I don't understand, and I'm literally a technical writer.

"oh just switch to linux it's free and open source" yeah uh huh, and like 10% or less of things work on it. just to use exe files you have to install multiple packages and let's be fuckin real, no one is going to do that. they will simply destroy their computers because they have no idea what they're doing and linux lets you do literally anything. there is something to be said for locking vital files down. little timmy destroying their $900 family PC because they thought some vital system file was a virus so they deleted it.... yep, real smart.

you can argue that people should understand how computers work if they're going to use one, and yeah i agree for the most part. a person needs to know the difference between an executable file and a pdf and a jpg. but the terminal is confusing for most people, which is why guis exist. yeah, ubuntu has a gui, but it's poorly made and you can't do everything using the gui. there will be errors. things don't work as expected on linux. you will have to be comfortable doing "weird tech shit" to troubleshoot even simple programs. should the average person be comfortable enough to do that? I think so. but that's not realistic.

people have other stuff to do besides troubleshooting. they have to walk the dog, clean the house, get the kids to school, go to work, repeat ad nauseam. when you get home from a long day, you want to play your favorite video game because you finally have 30 minutes free, do you wanna spend that 30 minutes tinkering around with the system files and the terminal to try and make it run, only to not be able to enjoy it because the one comment in the thread you were following was deleted? or do you want to just click "play"?

we have to be realistic: the vast majority of the population will not be switching to linux because linux doesnt care about the vast majority of the population. not to sat that windows does, but windows cares about money so they have to make it as easy as possible to use and not fuck up.

windows is accessible. it's familiar. it's everywhere, and every program that exists can run on it easily. the same cannot be said for linux. if window's goes subscription, people will buy it because they will have no. other. choice.

i say "if" windows go to subscription, but what i really mean is "when." subscriptions are good for business. it's a reliable, continuous cash flow. people need computers. people need windows. it's only a matter of time.