I definitely agree on the average user being more suited to a Linux preinstall. If they want something that just works, they should ask someone who knows. That’s what my parents did, which is why they’re happily running Fedora and have been for years. Fedora just works. I would never recommend PopOS to them.

Honestly the only reason why PopOS is ever recommended is because rather than the “Install Nvidia drivers” checkbox being during or after install, it’s when you download the ISO. That’s a silly reason to choose an OS. I told my dad to go to the Software app and search for the Nvidia drivers after the install, and his gaming PC works great with an Nvidia card.

The single biggest reason people don’t think Linux is easy is because they learned to use Windows when they were young and don’t remember that process. Since they don’t remember all of the hassle of learning Windows, the hassle of learning Linux seems unreasonable to them. Like seriously, no one is born with the knowledge of what the fuck C:\ means.

In reality, people are fine making decisions about basically everything they do. If they weren’t, we would all be driving the standard car, eating the standard food, and watching the standard show. Oh and we’d all be using Mac, which is the standard OS. Mac is the only mainstream OS which perfectly implements the POSIX standard, so by the most literal definition, Mac is the standard.

Hand Banana, no!!

After watching him type “yes, do as I say” into a window telling him he’s about to destroy his system, and then watching his surprise as his system is destroyed, there’s no possible way you can convince me that this guy isn’t a bumbling fool.

By that logic, SteamOS is not a selling point of the Steam Deck, and SteamOS is not a Valve product.

And yes, they do sell it on their laptops:

Yes. On their laptops. Also, you don’t need to sell something for it to be a product.

Haha, I managed to bork my wife’s Windows 11 install so hard the other day just by resizing the partition that not only would it not boot or recover itself, but it also lost a bunch of her files for some reason. Not all, but her entire AppData folder. Had to reformat.

Anyway, an average user would just try a different distro. He should try a different distro. PopOS kinda sucks.

Do you honestly think this video was not a review of Linux? Just because they call it a challenge doesn’t mean it’s not a review. But fine, we’ll call them testers. IMHO, that is the worst kind of tester.

Multiple times while he’s talking about his experience, he’s attributing bugs in Cosmic to everything except Cosmic. Cosmic’s compositor, especially, has a bunch of bugs, and he’s hitting them, while blaming them on Valve and Linux. He doesn’t understand where the bugs are coming from, which, sure, is a bit of an excuse, but, he’s still spreading misinformation. And the best you can say is, well, he’s only spreading misinformation because he’s ignorant. But how does he not realize that it’s his distro when the other guys never see those bugs??

The fact that you didn’t realize that what he was saying was untrue kind of proves my point. He’s spreading misinformation.

System76 makes PopOS.

That’s not the point. The point OP was making is that he shat on a competitor’s product without disclosing it.

The average user is just average. He emulated the worst, most inept, least knowledgeable, and most resistant to learning user he could. That’s not average. It’s prevalent, but it’s not average. He’s emulating the worst stereotypes of bad users and calling it what an average person would do, then implying that the experience he had would be the experience you, the average user, would have. It’s disingenuous and irresponsible.

He didn’t emulate an average user. He emulated an absolute moron. (But I suspect that’s because he is one. Every time he makes one of these videos, he convinces me further.)

Ok, so don’t review “Linux”, review PopOS. Then review Bazzite. Then review Cachy. Etc. Why teach (through implication) your normie users that Linux is all one thing?

You realize System76 makes laptops, right?

Saying someone shouldn’t use Linux if they didn’t do an hour of research into it is painfully elitist.

I agree. It’s a good thing I didn’t say that.

The right approach to reviewing a new kind of operating system is not to do one hour of research then complain to millions of people that the system isn’t doing what you’re trying to make it do.

IMHO, that is the worst kind of reviewer, one who just doesn’t know enough about the product or bother to research it enough to give an accurate review. Imagine if MKBHD reviewed Android by only taking a look at a Boost Mobile phone.

And it’s not gatekeeping to criticize someone for spreading misinformation about Linux. I’m perfectly happy with him using Linux. He can use it all he wants. I’ll never try to stop him. But when he makes these videos, he’s just being an idiot and an asshole. If he titled his video, “Giving PopOS One More Chance”, I’d be less disgusted by his behavior. Thank god for the other two for actually being the voice of reason.

I’m blaming someone who should have enough expertise to understand that that can happen and how to avoid it. I mean Luke literally brought it up himself as a criticism of Linus’ approach for that video in the WAN Show the other day.

You’re acting like Linus is just some nobody who has zero responsibility when he’s talking about Linux. That’s not true. For better or for worse, people will listen to his opinions and takes on things. If those takes are grossly uninformed, that’s his fault, and it’s irresponsible of him as an influencer. If he can’t be bothered to do more than an hour of research before spouting off his nonsense opinions, then he just shouldn’t be talking about Linux. Let someone more competent from his team do it.

He is shitting on Linux. Look at the thumbnail and title of the video. He’s pushing the narrative that Linux is difficult. Linux isn’t particularly difficult, it’s just different than Windows. If you have no knowledge of either, they’d both be difficult to use. I know for me, using Windows is such a pain in the ass, cause everything is so different than Linux, and I’ve been using Linux for 18 years. But I’m not going to say Windows is difficult just because I’m unfamiliar with it.

It’s way easier to do a lot of things in Linux than Windows, and to his credit, he does touch on this for a few seconds in his video. But he spends so much time focusing on the bugs in the beta quality software that no other distro uses that yet again, he’s going to be pushing people away from Linux as a whole because he doesn’t know what he’s doing.

He needs to realize that he’s not “cursed”, he’s just nowhere near the computer expert that he thinks he is. Again, he’s just a fool.

Ok, fair enough. Pop OS, once again, should be ashamed. It’s pretty egregious that they don’t make it very clear that this is beta (maybe even alpha) quality software.

So, as a normal person, when an OS isn’t working and has a bunch of bugs, wouldn’t the correct response be to try another OS? Especially when your friends aren’t having the issues you’re having. He’s tried Pop twice now, and both times, the clowntown devs have caused him headaches. Maybe try another OS and stop shitting on Linux as a whole because of Pop OS.

The problem with Linus is that he views himself as an expert in computers when really he’s just decent at Windows. He knows basically nothing about anything but DOS derived OSes. Give him something POSIX and he’s completely lost. He acts worse than a newbie, because a newbie at least knows that they know nothing.

He installed beta quality software and expected it to work without issue. Then when it didn’t he declared himself “cursed”. It’s not a curse, he’s just a fool.

That’s cause it’s not an act.

Every time he does this it’s just an astounding admission that Linus actually doesn’t understand computers at all. He’s good at Windows.