Listen, I understand the appeal of recommending user-friendly, beginner-oriented distros like Linux Mint or Zorin OS that may feel very familiar to long-time Windows users. They provide a familiar desktop environment and try to ease the transition. However, by doing so, we risk perpetuating a mindset that Linux is merely a free alternative to Windows, rather than a fundamentally different (and we’d probably say superior) approach to computing.
Linux’s true strength lies in its open-source nature, flexibility, and adherence to the principles of free software. Recommending distros that emulate the proprietary, closed-source look and feel of Windows subtly undermines these core values and does a disservice not just to the Linux community but also to the new users coming to these operating systems. We are essentially trying to promote Linux without the caveat that your muscle memory is going to be challenged by a new environment, which … it definitely will be, in one way or another. We cannot keep trying so hard to accommodate those that prioritize the familiarity they have with Windows as something that needs to remain in their Linux experience; people need to be willing to try something new when they try Linux.
Instead of promoting “Windows-y” distros, we should encourage newcomers to embrace the diversity of Linux by recommending distros that exemplify its unique philosophies. Distros like Fedora, openSUSE, Arch Linux, and others are a good start; maybe GNOME’s desktop paradigm is what someone’s been missing all their life, and they don’t think they hate the start menu desktop paradigm, but they begin to! Maybe an unbreakable immutable/atomic distro is exactly what your elderly relative needs, and their needs are met by Flatpaks! Maybe getting down and dirty with the command line is uncomfortable for your techy friend at first, but they begin to love it in no time!
By exposing newcomers to a unique Linux from the start, we not only provide them with a potentially superior computing experience but also foster a deeper understanding and appreciation for the principles that drive the open-source movement. There is no Linux distro that is EXACTLY like Windows, and people asking for this or something close to this should simply continue to use Windows!
Additionally, recommending unique distros that aren’t based on Microsoft’s paradigms ensures that the demand for non-Windows-y Linux experiences remains strong, encouraging developers and communities to continue innovating and pushing the boundaries of what free and open-source software can look like.
Let’s take pride in Linux’s unique identity, and promote distros that embody its essence. By doing so, we not only enrich the newcomers’ experience but also strengthen the entire Linux ecosystem, ensuring its continued growth and relevance. There is no “better Windows” in Linux-land, because in order to be entirely better than Windows, Linux is often very different!
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Been using Linux longer than many Gen Z have been alive. I use Mint and prefer Cinnamon. I like not spending my free time doing system administration anymore, but I enjoyed that for a long time. I can effectively use any graphical environment but I like that Cinnamon is pretty boring and lacks a ton of swooshy flying effects, also customizable without a crapton of customization menus like you find all over in KDE. And I haven’t had to open the dconf editor once to enable hidden options that someone thinks would clutter the settings menu. I do other things on my own computers than play with the computer, that’s what someone pays me to do on their computers.
I think the need to be unique and special is overrated, we have Linux environments that look like they do and they are no less Linux and open source than GNOME and spinning cubes.
I suspect this will generate a lot of discussion and opinions on both sides but what I think we lack is a culture of longitudinal data and study. Maybe you are right or maybe dropping new users in the deep end puts them off forever. It would be nice to see some quantative study on the Linux user experience. Does it shift wider tech beliefs or political beleifs?
GPT-ass post. If it doesn’t have apt I don’t have time for it.
My take: I don’t recommend distros like mint because they’re windows-y, I do it because they’re good ‘shit just works’ starting points and Linux newbies probably don’t need to be spending 2 hours figuring out why audio doesn’t work or whatever. Once they get their feet under them and learn their way around a shell, etc then they can start playing around with other distros if they like.
This text sounds… ChatGPT-ish. Especially the last paragraph.
AI text checker https://gptzero.me/ says it’s likely written by a human.
I feel like there is no way that site can be accurate
Like all distros, they have their place. And sometimes if you want to boil a frog you have to heat them up gently. 😅
Any distro can be a steep learning curve and sometimes something to lessen that curve will be a good thing. I wanted my dad to try out Linux and I knew that it had to not look different as he would immediately get confused, he’d seen my setup and I tried to gently show him around and he said he liked it but it was all a bit too different and he would get confused. My dad’s late-70s and apart from programming on the ZX Spectrum in the 1980s he’s always used a PC with Windows and is at the point where if something is too different he knows he’s going to have trouble with it.
I do get where you are coming from, for people who are more mentally agile I would prefer to try something a little less Windows-like but in some cases I don’t think it’s a good idea and it is nice to have a more Windows-like alternative available.
I’d say: do recommend those windows like distro. Most people don’t really care about their OS. In their eyes the best OS US one they don’t have to think about/spend energy on. Hence the appeal of OS X for example. I think probably 80% of all users haven’t even fully understood what Windows is nor do they care in the slightest. They want to be able to browse the web, maybe game some, and maybe watch streams. They’d gladly attach their phone to a screen if it was easier than working on a different device. Whoever is really interested in learning things about their OS or distro of choice will do so in their own time and switch to something different if the need arises and not to become part of some cult like defenders of their holy distro (which it often feels like as soon as someone asks for recommendations). I have only recently switched to Linux Mint and am totally happy with it. I don’t feel like I absolutely have to try Arch for example. I got everything I need for now up and running and I have neither the time nor the need to learn anything else at the moment. Elitist posts like OPs are probably more effective in keeping people from trying Linux (that and the mass of names flying around for different parts, as well as the lack of beginner friendly documentation - although that has changed a lot since the last time I tested Linux a few years back)
Another hot take: Beginner-friendly distros are good for beginners.
Like many others, I wanted to rid myself of Windows but I needed it to as painless as possible so I was looking for something that feels like Windows but is not Windows. If I didn’t have Mint to ease me into it and instead had to set up Arch from scratch, I would have likely gotten frustrated and gone back to Windows. I don’t want to go back to Windows.
There’s a distro for everyone, and I’ll continue to recommend Mint to those who are getting sick of Windows and looking for a familiar alternative. That’s who it’s made for.
I don’t agree with op but I also don’t think recommending “windows-like” distros because they are “windows-like” is the best idea.
Sure, it might be the correct choice for an old person that’s not very tech literate, but I think recommending something like KDE Neon is better for techy people because it’s more exciting because of the slight non-windowsness, and so it motivates them to learn Linux more.
Also I fear that by recommending something like mint with cinnamon as the DE, we might be presenting Linux as old and clunky. I’m not saying that cinnamon is bad, but it doesn’t look as modern or well designed as kde, gnome or zorin. This was my impression of Linux for a long time after starting out with the raspi.
How is KDE slightly non-windows? Its applications and how they interoperability reminds me more of Mac I guess.
I find it hard to think you care about the beginner experience if you recommend Arch.
That depends on the beginner. We should consider which distribution to recommend depending on the user. Not every Linux newcomer is a typical Windows end user.
Apart from that, in my opinion, the relevant passage in the article is more about distributions that stand out from others. In my opinion, Arch is therefore only an example in this case and not a direct recommendation.
I both agree and disagree. I agree because, I dislike seeing mint recommend for new users. Only because its where I tried to start and I hated it. It felt like really bad windows. I think I was using cinnamon version cause that’s what I was recommend on reddit. Also the repo didn’t have a few of my core programs like teamspeak3. And I had no idea about how to add repos. Not sure if snaps or flatpak where around yet.
What made me stay was I found Arch. Got recommended a YouTube video of installing and setting up a Arch install and was fascinated. Also because of AUR it had everything I needed. Including TS3.
I disagree because, what I liked about my first arch install and later using manjaro for years. Was XFCE4. I had it setup just like windows with a start button( whisker menu) and a system tray. It was so familiar I could use it no problem. But also it was way more lightweight and more customizable.
Now I have switched to Hyprland and even though I have waybar installed I leave it off 99% of the time. I prefer having the entire screen left to w/e application I’m running. Which is pretty much just Alacritty terminal+Firefox+Steam+Teamspeak3/5. So pretty much the exact opposite of windows now . Also the Nix repo has everything. No more AUR or adding repos. Or even using flatpak.
That is really strange proposal. Windows-like system is standard for desktop environment. There are some variations, like OS X or GNOME, but they still follow same windows design after all. As for GNOME it is love or hate, anyway. I would never recommend Mint or Zorin not because they are Windows-like, but because they are old and there are more user-friendly distros, atomic distros are even noob-friendly, like Silverblue or Kinoite.
A year ago, I made the switch to Linux and started with Linux Mint, which served as an introduction to the Linux world for me. Now, I use the i3 on Debian stable for my primary machine. Bro let people learn gradually…
For techy people, sure. But in 90% of cases, people moving from Windows are looking for as little a paradigm-shift as they have to endure. I’m sure most regular Linux-users wouldn’t disagree that other distros are cool, but telling someone “use this thing it’s literally nothing like anything you know” is not going to get many takers from the population of people who just want their tech to do everyday stuff.
I mean the beautiful thing about linux distros is how customizable they are. My GNOME is much more similar to a classic windows workspace than what the developers intended thanks to extensions.
Personally I chose Fedora (gaming VM) and Debian (servers) as my first distros because I wanted to start with distros without upstreams and as they’ve been working out fine I haven’t felt any need to continue downstream to other distros.
I am a bit curious to try Arch and Gentoo, but that would be on a secondary pc for fun.Regarding muscle memory I setup shortcuts and some custom bash to make switching between my fedora and the windows pc at the office easier. And it was a whole lot easier than it would’ve been to make windows accept default linux shortcuts.
Super+E opens Nautilus for me, Super+D minimizes all open programs and Super+R opens up a terminal.
Writing excel in a terminal windows starts LibreOffice Calc while writing calc opens Gnome Calculator.I tend to agree with this. Linux isn’t one alternative and niche OS, it’s a massive community and ecosystem with loads of options and a deep history of its own. I switched from daily-driving windows to installing arch linux with hyprland and learned a bunch of new systems and ideas. My experience with Linux before this had been Ubuntu and Kubuntu.
I relearned a lot. Some harder things I adjusted to:
- vim
- tiled window management
- package managers (This is ignoring all of the software systems I had to learn about and install by choosing arch, this is just specific to my daily workflow.)
Exposing myself to that change and those new ideas gave me the opportunity to learn about alternatives and choose the best option for me. I feel far more productive with my changes.
Now a counterpoint: many users learned to use windows or macos over time, through their education or alongside its development. Those users may not have the time or desire to relearn key ideas or workflows, especially not in one big plunge. A distro like Linux Mint undoubtedly works really well to ease someone in.
Another consideration: many design decisions are shared by lots of software, visual and functional. Some are a product of how software and UIs have grown, like a shift towards flat design or common control schemes. It would certainly do more harm than good for Linux users to abandon ALL similarities with existing software; where that line is drawn is probably subjective.
Anyways, I still agree that the mindset of ideal Linux distros being “windows replacement” is very limiting. For new users who do have the time and desire to learn and adapt, trying alternative software is a great option to maximizing their computer’s potential. Even users on “beginner distros” can install pieces of software and learn about the ecosystem, since Linux is so modular.
