[Discussion] My thoughts about the usability of Linux

2026-04-03 01:45 UTC

I mostly agree with the sentiment of this video, but it’s highly biased I feel. On a utilitarian level, everything Muta is criticizing about Windows is absolutely valid. But even as a very experienced desktop computer user, as someone who does not have coding experience or any formal education in the technical side of computing, there are parts of Linux that just cause me to get hung up. If you’re someone who likes to customize deeply and change a lot of really small stuff, you run into rocky patches very fast. Now, I agree that almost anything is possible on Linux, but it’s about the amount of effort it sometimes takes. For the average user, when they want to change some seemingly basic features, things that aren’t in the settings, eventually, one way or another, you have to use commands. You have to use the terminal for something or other. Some dependency, some change that needs a command to activate. And even if all of that is wrong, and you technically CAN change or acquire everything you need without ever opening the terminal, the problem is that a new user is not going to be able to find a simple answer in a few minutes. Even with the help of AI, it can still take a long time to troubleshoot what may seem like a basic issue. And like it or not, that matters if you’re trying to get people to switch. People, realistically, can’t be expected to always just “shut up and do the research”. Anyone who’s not a techie, or someone with a lot of patience, is going to run out of gas for this troubleshooting very quickly. I wish I had more suggestions about how to actually fix these problems, but I know that for me they are the main reason I can’t permanently switch from Windows at this point. We’re getting closer, but there is a long road still ahead.

Replies (14)

@just_another_person@lemmy.world 2026-04-03 02:39

Hoping this is scripted and a joke. Dude has zero idea how computers work, and is presenting as a “tech person”? Use whatever you want, but don’t be an ignorant asshole and put shit like this out of you have no concept of the topic aslt hand. What a dumbass.

Open ##964549
@Mordikan@kbin.earth 2026-04-03 04:39

The problem with this idea is that you could basically summarize it as being "difficult as a new user to make advanced changes". Your average non-technical user does great on Linux. There's nothing to unlearn from Windows. Its the Windows "power users" that crash and burn because they keep trying to force Windows logic into a non-Windows environment, get upset about it, complain it doesn't work, and then leave. I'm not sure what basic feature you're referring to, but if you are installing dependencies than that is not a basic feature. That is additional software that probably maintains its own configuration. I would also argue that a non-technical user, much like they would in Windows, is not going to be trying to make changes like that anyway. In the end, I think this is the real issue: But even as a very experienced desktop computer user... No, you are not a very experienced desktop computer user, you are an experienced Windows user. In Linux, you are a new user trying to leverage the non-applicable OS you came from and struggling because of that.

Open ##965302
@SwooshBakery624@programming.dev 2026-04-04 09:25

These comments are crazy. Did no one actually check the publication date?

Open ##968377
@toebert@piefed.social 2026-04-03 08:59

I never understood the argument of "if it's not in the UI you may need to use a command to achieve it and it's scary". On windows, if it's not in the UI you have to use either a powershell command or update the registry to change it - which are both a very similar experience. The only difference I actually see in this point is that Linux has a lot more options.

Open ##1178742
@monovergent@lemmy.ml 2026-04-03 04:00

It's fine to watch people critique Linux and compare it with Windows, but in my honest opinion, Mutahar is not worth your time.

Open ##1178743
@juipeltje@lemmy.world 2026-04-03 04:41

I can't help but wonder how those people you speak of use a computer at all tbh, when windows requires troublehooting as well, especially with how much of a buggy mess windows 11 is.

Open ##1178744
@chgxvjh@hexbear.net 2026-04-03 06:43

What's so bad about using commands?

Open ##1178746
@HubertManne@piefed.social 2026-04-03 16:56

I really feel like I should do a video of doing basic things in windows vs linux because its redic how slow my windows laptop is relative to linux and it is so not hardware.

Open ##1178747
@HouseWolf@pawb.social 2026-04-03 08:32

I stopped being a fan of Mutahar a while back...but am I really the only person who noted the upload date?

Open ##1178752
@ATS1312@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-04-03 04:58

Funny, did we see the same video? I saw a guy who recently switched to Linux do an "April Fools" as an excuse to complain about Windows more, and explain why he's sticking with Linux. >"Even with the help of AI" I see you're just shitposting. ***Muta is a basic dudebro. Is he good at technology? No. Is he a good baseline for "can most people do it?" Almost, yeah. And that's what his video is actually about if you bothered to watch it.*** Unless you have some Niche webcam or hardware MIDI controller, just about everything is supported out of the box. Unless you wanna dive into Gentoo to start? Its surprisingly simple here. For deep customizations? There's manuals. There's guides where you can do the advanced Gentoo-stuff in the terminal by just copying-and-pasting without a clue what you're doing or why. The community is something to be proud of - what we've built, what we've made. We're still working on audio composition type stuff for DJs, but we've come a long way. The free stuff you want works better here, and even Photoshop runs great in WINE.

Open ##1178757
@Marcomunista@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-04-03 08:17

Well, if you’ve always been a Windows user, I think it’s normal to have trouble with another operating system. You certainly can’t expect to just install it and know how to do everything. You probably learned to use Windows when you were young, when your mind was more flexible, which is why it seems easier to you. I’ve also noticed that many users tend to ignore problems on Windows, while highlighting those on Linux; I think this is because they expect errors on Linux. Linux actually has error handling that Windows can only dream, you can log everything and trace the root cause of the problem. With Windows, often the only option you have is to reboot and hope the problem goes away.

Open ##1178759
@FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 2026-04-03 04:56

I'm just spit balling here. Is it possible that the intent of this post is not to have a discussion about OSs but to boost the YouTube views? It's just a vibe I'm getting. New account, very eager to reply, posting this out of the blue. If the video is on YouTube, they make a thumbnail pulling a dumb face, and it gets presented in a forum like this with a whiff of controversy about it, personally, I'll refuse to look at it.

Open ##1178764
@DimFisher@lemmy.world 2026-04-03 18:32

I switched to Linux because of Blender and because the program behaves way better on its native OS, so practically speaking if you don't have any serious reason to switch to it then don't do it, I know Windows 11 is not very good, no problem go back in windows 10, many people ask about switching on Linux as if they really have to!

Open ##1178765
@BlueSquid0741@lemmy.sdf.org 2026-04-03 05:14

Should anyone care what a lying, youtube-drama scumbag thinks of Linux? I think no.

Open ##2724081