Why is Linux desktop not popular among non-programmers?

[Chris Kelly]

 Regular users don't want to edit obscure config files using obscure syntax or work with the command line.

Another issue is that there are lots of apps for various things, but few are any good. For a tangible example, compare Geany to Notepad++. Geany doesn't even do basic things like remember the last directory you used. There are probably dozens of text editors for Linux. If a few of those devs had instead just contributed to Geany that would be far better.

Likewise with video editors. Decades ago I worked with Adobe Premier on an old Mac. I haven't seen a Linux video editor that's as good as that version of Adobe Premier. The closest is Shotcut, and it's pathetic by comparison. As with text editors, there are dozens of video editors for Linux and none of them are any good.

With Drupal things sort themselves out much better. Lots of modules have overlapping functionality, but the best projects tend to get the most contributions.

(I'm NOT looking for text editor or video editor suggestions, I'm just pointing out one of the perils of OSS).
     On Tuesday, January 28, 2025 at 02:39:22 AM PST, Amit <amitchoudhary0523 at gmail.com> wrote:  
 
 Hi,

I have been programming since 1998 mostly in C language and Linux. I
use Debian Linux and my user interface is GNOME Flashback Metacity (I
don't like the GNOME 3 interface).

Even Linus Torvalds was critical of GNOME 3
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME).

According to the following website
(https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/worldwide), linux
desktop has 4.13% of the desktop market share while Windows has 73.41%
market share.

So, it looks like non-programmers have not yet embraced Linux desktop.

Some people will say that it is because of marketing by Microsoft and
Apple but I don't buy this answer.

I am listing the no. 1 reason that I believe is behind the
un-popularity of Linux desktop among non-programmers (I know some
people won't like it):

I don't think Linux desktop development teams (GNOME, KDE, etc.) are
interested in increasing the usage of Linux desktop among
non-programmers. The main reason for coming to this conclusion is that
Linux desktop development teams don't ask people (non-programmers)
what they want, they just go ahead and do what they want to do. An
example of this is that the GNOME development team went ahead and
created GNOME 3 without asking the users (non-programmers) whether
they would want this kind of user interface or not. In my opinion,
GNOME 3 is less user-friendly than GNOME Flashback Metacity.

Recently, I opened a discussion on Discord to talk to GNOME developers
and I told them that GNOME Flashback Metacity is more user-friendly
than GNOME 3. They got hurt and closed the discussion thread. Then I
also got angry and forced them to delete the whole discussion.

But, if Linux desktop development teams are really interested in
increasing the share of Linux desktop among non-programmers then they
have to think from non-programmers point of view. They should also ask
non-programmers as to what will convince them to use the Linux
Desktop.

My analysis is - Microsoft Windows is insecure, Apple is costly, so
Linux desktop(s) should become very popular among non-programmers but
it is not.

It looks like there is not much will to make Linux desktop popular
because where there is a will, there is a way.

I am sorry if I have offended anyone. People don't like constructive
criticism these days.

Regards,
Amit

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