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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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.
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 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?
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.
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.
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…
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.
