this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2026
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At this point, the remaining voluntary (as in: not forced by work) windows users are one giant ass Stockholm syndrome victim group/
Almost everything in Linux is easier to set up than on Windows, and thanks to the command line and basic architecture not changing, 10-15 year old tips are still valid today more often than not. Unlike Windows.
And Windows users who would fail to set up Linux from scratch & read online references to fill their knowledge gaps have most definitely never set up a Windows machine themselves, and are instead using preinstalled OSes, and buy a new computer when they need to upgrade to a newer OS version, as well as take their computer to an IT service person when something breaks.
I've been running debian as my main and my home-server OS for a couple years now. And I'm really happy for it.
But it hasn't been smooth sailing. I'm even on fully AMD systems. There's a bunch of stuff, biometrics and otherwise, that just doesn't work without random workarounds or even not at all.
And this elitist approach and tone is what turns a lot of folks away from even trying linux. Also, sure CLI might be great for a lot of devs, but regular users do need a GUI. And that is not fully there yet.
"Almost everything on Linux is easier to set up than on windows" has me rolling. This shit is exactly why people dismiss Linux as an option - linux enthusiasts refuse to accept the flaws in the OS, and that means those flaws never get addressed. God, or they've never had to deal with a driver incompatibility before, maybe they're just leading a charmed life...
And this is from someone that's daily driven Linux for well over a decade. Like it's a better option than windows, but it's not so great that there's not aspects that need to be improved.
It appears you have not installed any Windows from scratch in a long time, or tried to harden it, or solve a driver problem there. That's why you get confused. I was not saying Linux is always easy, I was saying it has overtaken Windows in almost every aspect, also because on Windows things have become more complex.
Regular users who "need a GUI" would be completely unable to install Windows at all, because the setup including activation (or workarounds) is way too complex for them. They might be able to install Linux from scratch though, because various distributions have good GUI installers and/or live images.
The average user doesn't install windows though. They buy the pc/laptop with Windows on it already, and use it till it's in the ground.
And I cannot just install ubuntu/mint on a laptop for someone and walk away either, cause if/when anything breaks, the fix isn't approachable. And trying to tell someone to use the CLI when they're not tech savvy is not user friendly.
Thanks for confirming my point. Windows isn't easier to operate, it just comes preinstalled.
Nor is it likely to be manageable for that user to fix issues on Windows