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this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2023
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Windows. Linux as a desktop just isn't stable enough for me. Too many bugs with GUI settings. I don't want to look up multiple ways to do things just to be eventually kicked into the command line and hopefully run the right commands to get some basic settings working. I'd love for Linux to be more stable and to have a cohesive GUI.
On the more cosmetic side running KDE apps in Gnome or running Gnome apps in KDE is just a further huge mess that can essentially ruin how your system looks which could potentially soft-lock you on screens that you can't read. The DE on Linux just should do the Windows and Mac thing of requiring hooks to allow them to set important color and theme settings.
Windows is terrible but it's still leagues above Linux in some real basic ways. Linux is going to need to step it up if it ever wants a serious "year of the Linux desktop" to happen before the death of the desktop computer altogether.
I'm curious what "basic settings" require you to touch the command line. My elderly mum and dad - who aren't very tech savvy btw - have been running Linux for nearly a decade now (Xubuntu previously, now Zorin) and haven't had any major issues in all this time. Admittedly their requirements are pretty basic, but they do all your tasks a typical basic PC user would - surf the web, check emails, work on documents, print and scan stuff, backup files from their phones/USB drives, video chat etc. In fact, the entire reason why I got them onto Linux in the first place was because Windows wasn't really stable for them - I got tired of having to troubleshoot or reinstall Windows for them all the time. They'd complain about how an update broke something, or how the system was becoming slower etc. But no such issues with Linux. Occasionally I might get a call asking "how do I do this", but after a few years, these support calls have all but vanished. Linux "just works" for them, it's rock solid, the GUI is intuitive (at least for Xububtu/Zorin) and they never had to touch the command line.
The best example that comes to mind is mouse acceleration. Fedora has a setting in the GUI for it but it didn't work. So I literally had to set it in my bashrc to get it to work.
Another issue I saw was os theme being multiple settings depending on gtk or qt apps.
Another issue is video card driver. I've had Ubuntu auto update and brick my install, dropping me down to grub because grub was set to use my Nvidia proprietary drivers but the kernel module wasn't installed despite me setting it in the GUI to use the Nvidia drivers.
Multiple issues with peripherals and having to install a random GitHub Python script for watcom drivers or Xbox controllers.
Oh, also vpn settings on the os level didn't work on debian recently. I had to configure it via command line.
In my experience most problems with linux are at the intermediate level, i.e. things like setting up university/work vpn, installing games (with wine), getting used to different applications for office stuff. This is all stuff that many people have to do that can be hard to achieve if you only have guides for windows/mac
If you haven't checked out Pop!_OS I'd recommend giving it a try. While I'm using a system76 laptop so they guarantee hardware compatibility, it's been one of the smoothest and most functional DE/guis I've used. Ive never had to resort to a command line* and aaalllmost everything you'd expect to find exists in the gui.
*caveat. Except for some really esoteric problems, which are usually a result of my own tinerking
Pop os has constantly been recommended to me. I'm certainly putting it on the list to try this year. I'll probably load up a ventoy USB with a ton of oses and report back eventually.
Basically the longstanding issue of having "total control". There needs to be a middle ground between having total control and being forced to use it (while for the most part having no limitations but are either not very straightforward or are far too straightforward) and being given the illusion of control (while for the most part not having limitations until you do, then you can't get around them).
The Steam Deck has been the most accessible Linux desktop and it still has been frustrating at times.