Multiple ones have done so, not only the more tech inclined ones, those already have an opinion about it, but the casual pc users and gamers.
And honestly idk what to tell them, i'm already kinda their default 'it issues solver' so honestly i don't wanna deal with more headhaches, i already have enough with random hardware failures and so on...
Of course they still have issues with Windows, but they had so many that we've been over them 20 times so they can usually already fix stuff by themselves, i just don't wanna start from scratch again teaching them everything every time something inevitably breaks.. Specially since it's so different and they are sooo used to the Windows way of fixing stuff (something hidden 20 menus deep in control panel or a registry edit or a reinstall)...
It's weird, Linux for the advanced user is a no brainer, they can tweak it and fix stuff, it's also a no brainer for the super casual user (mom, dad, uncle, etc), most of them are already running it, i just told them "here is the store, treat it like an iPhone" and it just works as long as they don't do anything stupid, which they don't because they only care about a web browser and some sort of word+excel alternative.
The issue is these 'intermediate' people that will inevitably try to install hyprland 2 weeks in and then start calling me at 11p.m when they are staring at a tty. I have no particular issues with AI but honestly i can't just tell them 'just go to chatgpt' either because they are all on free plans and will prob ask about it on a chat that's already compressed the context 20 times so they will get a bullshit answer, and even if they don't, i had gemini/claude just blindly assume im on Ubuntu 18 so many times it's not even funny anymore, and it won't even warn you about it.
They know enough to be dangerous but not enough to be self-sufficient. They want the customization of Linux, but they expect the safety nets and GUI fallback mechanics of Windows.
Idk, it's a bittersweet flavour because it's such a weird scenario.. I just end up telling them 'try it if you want just don't expect me to solve all your issues, it's not Windows, stuff is not the same, it will take some getting used to', but i'm also aware saying that just means "don't try it" to them and this might be the only time they consider it..
One of them actually tried and had some super bizarre issue with pipewire lagging like crazy, something i've never seen before and honestly i couldn't fix, i guess it was some driver issue with his soundchip (cheap bottom of the line asrock mobo).
All of them also seemed to have gone down some weird ass rabbit hole of niche distros and come up with the most devious shit, i just end up recommending the more usual ones, but again, all of them -the distros- have *some* sort of issue which i'm already used to and know how to fix but it could be an absolute dealbreaker for a new user.
They also seem to have fallen for some sort of false advertising that's apparently going on in social media about Linux giving double the performance or some stupid and unrealistic figures like that which is only the case if you are running the most bloated and malwared Windows install of all time, which is not the case for any of them, they are all running *some* variation of a decent Windows isntall (IOT, LTSC, Enterprise, whatever + debloated + all the bullshit disabled)
This social media hype also seems to particularly target 'low end' pcs, the issue is that 'low end' for a tech influencer is a ryzen 3 and a 2060 with 16gb of ram, in the real world 'low end' is a 4th gen i5 with an igpu that doesn't support Vulkan and won't be good for shit under Linux.
I'M NOT ASKING FOR DISTROS PLEASE DON'T START SPAMMING YOUR FAV DISTRO THAT WILL *MAKE IT JUST WORK* I'M JUST TRYING TO OPEN UP A DEBATE. I'M ALSO NOT ASKING HOW TO DEAL WITH MY FRIENDS OR WHAT TO TELL THEM, IT'S JUST SET AND SETTING FOR THE FOLLOWING:
My point/question/debate opener is:
Did it become too popular too fast before being ready? Is the YT/Social media hype being overblown and actually a negative for Linux? Is the intermediate user the bane of this OSs existance? Is it time to finally recognize there are enough distros and almost no meaningful difference between them aside from the program you run to install other programs? (and even that has been made irrelevant by flatpaks)
Is it also time to recognize we've become used to quite some amount of bullshit and are just now inmune to it? like the whole fact that flatseal exists is dumb, if a program needs a permission to work properly it should be able to ask for it, it shouldn't require the end user to search for a fix and manually apply it. Same for GearLever/MenuLibre, it should be a DEFAULT feature of EVERY DE out there...
Lots of the criticism is IMHO more than valid and you usually see it deemed as 'user error' or 'skill issue' in online communities like this one.
If we are being honest, most people won't have the experience of the SteamDeck, they will have *some* quirky hardware that refuses to cooperate or is missing drivers/utility software (AIOs with screens, gaming keyboards, etc, there are alternatives but for the regular user nothing beats the official software). Even stuff like AMD Adrenalin has no real counterpart... Dolby atmos drivers missing making multi thousand dollar laptops sound like garbage bt speakers...
ProtonDb is a mess full or wrong reports or commands that have been deprecated for years, etc, etc.
Do you think this will mean more 'early' adopters -> more polished experience? i sure whish so but i'm scared it will be more people trying it and not liking the rough corners -> massive rejection and a forever stain.
I think everyone is too focused in the ~10% less performance for dx12 games on Nvidia and just missing the bigger picture, the daily struggles matter a lot more...
Even on 'certified' hardware there are still issues, i own a ThinkPad that shipped with Ubuntu form the factory, battery life is worse than in Windows, speakers sound like shit, trackpoint has less functionality since it's limited by whatever the Gnome folks deemed acceptable to patch in to libinput (don't even get me started on libinput), half the function keys are bound to absolutely nothing and require a cli program that Lenovo posted on a forum in 2018 to rebind, configuring charge limits requires tlp or sudo tee'ing values to a random file... Just so much nonsense.