Linus was a total idiot in that video. It was embarrassing.

Astounding. This is why I got away from sysadmin work. Dealing with Microsoft products kills my enjoyment of computing.

And that’s all most people want from a computer, yet Windows always throws a curve ball at some point.

I just made this same basic point in response to another comment, but this is exactly right. It takes effort to learn anything new, and that effort isn’t always worth it to people. But that alone doesn’t make using Linux “hard.”

Waaaay easier on a longer timeline too! I first used Linux in the late 90s when the things the author of this piece talks about were true. You really did need to understand more than an average computer user just to get Linux installed.

That hasn’t been the case in a long, long time now, at least not with the easier distros.

What articles like this often fail to discuss is that Windows took effort for everyone to learn at some point too. Same with macOS. Same with your smart phone.

Learning anything requires effort, and not everyone wants to invest that effort - which is totally okay if they already get what they need from whatever they’re already using. But I wish that people would stop exaggerating how hard Linux is to learn simply because it will require effort.

I’ve been aware of this holiday for twenty or so years. It’s basically impossible to get a refund for an unused Windows license from any of the PC manufacturers.

Front-line employees just aren’t equipped to deal with such a request, then when you finally talk to someone who might have the authority to issue that refund - they won’t want to. You’ll almost have to talk to their legal department to get a refund.

I’ve even tried getting them to leave the OS uninstalled so I wouldn’t need a refund. No dice there.

Fortunately there are some decent PC sellers that won’t force a license on you, and some that come with a Linux distribution by default. I was very happy with both my System76 laptop as well as my Dell XPS.