Let’s make Windows 10 the last version ever used!
*Sat. 28 Dec. 11h* Stage YELL #KDEEco 's Call To Action against e-waste driven by #Windows10.
*Mon. 30 Dec. 13-15h* B&B habitat join the BoF to organize a global #FreeSoftware campaign to raise awareness of Windows 10’s EoL in 2025, the role of software in #eWaste, and how independent, sustainable #FOSS is a solution to keep devices in use & out of the landfill.
https://fahrplan.alpaka.space/jugend-hackt-38c3-2024/talk/ST8NJA/
As someone who is way into the idea of Linux, wants to switch, and is very gun-shy about the million little programs and extensions I might not be able to replace, let me tell you what is required of anybody who is actually genuine in their desire to see Linux gain the traction it deserves:
Don’t ever tell anybody to read the manual again. Just answer the god damn question. It’s good when answers to basic, common problems are peppered around the internet like that; it’s dumb and wrong and weird to think of it as a thing to be avoided. If you’d like to put a link to the part of the manual where the questioner could have looked to find it, that’s cool, too. Don’t just leave the link–there’s a good chance they didn’t understand it and that’s why they’re asking. Maybe they just want a person-answer instead of a reference-manual-answer, and it’s good when the answer exists in both forms. Every answered question is a contribution.
I would go even further: the version of reality where Linux beats Windows and ushers in an era of community-centric open source dominance is populated by a Linux community that considers “rtfm”, “pebcac”, etc to be borderline bannable offenses. If you are a small, weak person, and want Linux to be your way of thinking you’re better than other people, you’ll drive question-askers away, back to Inferiority Land, using your knowledge to dunk on them instead of help them, and call it a win. These are the ugly bridge trolls, who may as well be paid Microsoft employees, keeping people away from your community, and a serious change of pace might yield much smoother adoption. At the very least, the community owes it to their own work to see how much smoother.
As someone considering the switch seriously, the knowledge that I may have to deal with people like that is absolutely, 100% a factor, and I am someone who has no qualms about telling someone on the internet to fuck off, so it’s gonna be more of an issue for many others who are more conflict-averse.
The Linux community needs to take very seriously whether it actually wants increased open source adoption, or if it wants to remain a tiny minority so that it has a nice, large majority to feel better than.
I always try to help new users. I was a beginner once so I know how it feels to be told to rtfm by some cunt. Half the time I have an issue i’ll search it up only to find some reddit post with someone asking the same question and getting shit on by elitists who have nothing going on in their own lives. In any case, if you ever need help I or someone else would be happy to help to the best of our ability.
I hate it when you Google an issue and all you can find is a Reddit thread of the same problem where the only response is someone saying to Google it
I’ll take that over the windows ‘support’ forums where the people with superuser titles don’t understand basic questions and the answer tends to be to see if it gets fixed in a future version of windows.
And those posts are a decade old because they were never fixed.
OMG, LOL. Yes!
“Do <cut & paste from the MS support, please tell me if it helps” “Ehh, I was asking about something completely unrelated, bro…”
But even that beats the Atlassian forums, LOL
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I hear ya. My theory is the Linux community is a world filled with autism. I am autistic (late diagnosed at 30, using Linux since 10yo). I think many of us are undiagnosed. I legit think if people just assumed a bit of neurodivergence in us you’ll see we aren’t hostile. We also need better manuals, such as video series’, interactive tutorials and such. RTFM I agree is not welcome, but we do need these introductory materials (better than the arch wiki you autists) and we need high quality ones. I think that’s a worthwhile investment, no?
Linux is NOT a desktop OS. Ubuntu, Debian, Suse, Fedora are desktop OSses
KDE is a desktop
Linux is a kernel. Linux is Android, Linux is your NAS, the supercomputer where I work at and the servers that make the internet.
Discussing Linux in terms of a desktop OS is moot.
Windows includes FOSS, 99% of “all the small apps” are available in Linux, Mac or Windows.
All the ones that not: Photoshop or MS Office are available on the cloud and way more powerful than their desktop veresions.
You CAN have KDE / Kwin running on Windows.
The Linux community does enough. “We” basically own the internet. If any of us wants a Linux based desktop we install it and use it. The rest can use Android.